| Donald Fagen
was one of the two masterminds behind Steely Dan, the seminal
jazz-pop band of the '70s. Fagen's solo work has been a continuation
of the band's work of the early '80s — carefully constructed
and arranged, intricately detailed pop songs that are more substantial
than their stylish surface may indicate.
His 1982 solo debut, The Nightfly,
was the best album he had made in years; it covered the same
ground as the last two Steely Dan albums, yet surpassed it in
terms of ambition and achievement. After the success of The
Nightfly, Fagen suffered a case of writer's block; for the rest
of the decade he contributed music to the occasional film and
briefly wrote a column for Premiere magazine in the mid-'80s.
In the early '90s, he toured
with the New York Rock & Soul Revue as he finished the material
for his second album. With his former Steely Dan partner Walter
Becker producing, 1993's Kamakiriad sounded like Aja recorded
with '90s technology. It had some success on the adult- contemporary
charts, but it was overshadowed by the duo's decision to re-form
Steely Dan and tour for the first time in nearly 20 years; the
tour was a massive success. |
