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Rating: The metropolis, the great leviathan of our contemporary society.
At night a collection of neon lights, bar signs where an alcoholic drowns in his last glass, nightclubs where breathtaking women can be admired for a few coins, a continuous stream of headlights racing through its streets and inside the car a man absorbed in his thoughts and worries about the future turns on the radio and tunes into WJAZ and finds the voice of Jester "Il Notturno" to keep him company until the first light of dawn.
Donald Fagen, in his first solo work, after the "then certain" end of the Steely Dan partnership, manages to exemplarily narrate the nightlife, reconciling New York metropolitan stereotypes with the existentialism of a man alone in front of the night, the ghosts of the past, memories, and uncertainties that trouble his soul.
The horizons of "The Nightfly" do not stop at such a coarse philosophy, because Fagen wants to go back in time about twenty years and narrate American society at the dawn of the '60s, the Kennedy-era "new frontier" that reinvigorates the American economic and cultural dream.
But it is certain that the "New Frontier" is also that of Fagen himself, who embarks on a risky "unknown journey" without Walter Becker's Hawaiian spirit. A historic album then, and decidedly optimistic despite the darklight atmospheres, murders, and prostitutes and all that comes with it...
And when the first words of the beautiful soft jazz of "I.G.Y." are heard, it becomes immediately clear that the optimism is decidedly flaunted. Airplanes, subways, underwater tunnels, the frontiers of space, and humanity will have a future even brighter than the climate Fagen must have felt at the time. And with "Green Flower Street" and "Ruby Baby", American dreams of glory are abandoned to immerse in real life; that of the slums, of the serial killer waiting around every corner, of the nightclub where to spend the company with Ruby, a stunning woman, perhaps also a product of the collective imagination and stereotyped fantasies about prostitutes.
But while the first track presents a dance sound startling in its modernity and especially its digital sound, the ruby girl, a cover done and redone, (recall Dion) presents instead a jazz-retro taste that better suits the atmosphere of the album.
And on the same path of soft-jazz proceeds "Maxine", a sweet and elegant ballad that flows slow and pleasant, followed by the album’s key single, which briefly encapsulates Fagen’s vision on the politics and history of the '60s: "New Frontier" is perhaps a track with a more commercial and immediate taste but if pop it is, then it's worth admitting that it is decidedly quality pop... the kind that slowly died in the following decade amidst atrocious agonies.
The song's lyrics are very funny and interesting: a young man (perhaps the young Fagen himself 20 years earlier) finds himself maneuvering to win over and take to bed a super-sexy blonde, and must ironically retreat with her into a bomb shelter due to the widespread fear of a total war that was felt in the 60s.
But the true jewel of the album is, in the opinion of the writer, "The Nightfly", a track that captures in a few words the whole essence of the album, the sense of a new life but also of future music. The great and total novelty of "The Nightfly" is that it is the first album recorded entirely in digital, with a sound perhaps somewhat plastic, fake but extremely clean and pleasant.
The brazen Lester, a skilled DJ who broadcasts jazz music and keeps us travelers company, transmitting a sensation of absolute power over the night ("tonight the night is mine") and making it our benevolent friend. Behind such a soft text, Fagen shows a desire to cut ties with life and the past and to challenge himself on everything he had achieved so far.
The Steely Dan trademark returns, in the Latin rhythm of "The Goodbye Look", this time dedicated to the counterpart of the 60s scenario, Castro's Cuba; and then it twirls on the cheerful swing of "Walk between raindrops", but it is clear that the best of the album has already been squeezed out.
A historic album for pop and jazz music, revolutionary, distinctive, interesting, varied, absolutely a must-have.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 I.G.Y. (06:04)
Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K.
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time
The fix is in
You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we've got to win
Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be Spandex jackets one for everyone
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young
What a beautiful world this'll be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this'll be
What a glorious time to be free
03 Ruby Baby (05:39)
I got a girl and Ruby is her name
She don't love me, but I love her just the same
Ruby Baby how I want you
Like a ghost I'm gonna haunt you
Ruby Baby when will you be mine
Each time I see you baby my heart cries
I'm gonna steal you away from all those guys
From the sunny day I met you
Made a bet that I would get you
Ruby Baby when will you be mine
I got a girl and Ruby is her name
I'd give the world just to set her heart aflame
Got some lovin' money too
Gonna give it all to you
Ruby Baby when will you be mine
04 Maxine (03:49)
Some say that we're reckless
They say we're much too young
Tell us to stop before we've begun
We've got to hold out till graduation
Try to hang on Maxine
While the world is sleeping
We meet at Lincoln Mall
Talk about life the meaning of it all
Try to make sense of the suburban sprawl
Try to hang on Maxine
Mexico City is like another world
Nice this year they say
You'll be my senorita
In jeans and pearls
But first let's get off this highway
We'll move up to Manhattan
And fill the place with friends
Drive to the coast and drive right back again
One day we'll wake up, make love but 'til then
Try to hang on Maxine
05 New Frontier (06:21)
Yes we're gonna have a wingding
A summer smoker underground
It's just a dugout that my dad built
In case the reds decide to push the button down
We've got provisions and lots of beer
The key word is survival on the new frontier
Introduce me to that big blonde
She's got a touch of Tuesday Weld
She's wearing Ambush and a French twist
She's got us wild and she can tell
She loves to limbo, that much is clear
She's got the right dynamic for the new frontier
Well I can't wait till I move to the city
Till I finally make up my mind
To learn design and study overseas
Have you got a steady boyfriend
Cause honey I've been watching you
I hear you're mad about Brubeck
I like your eyes I like him too
He's an artist, a pioneer
We've got to have some music on the new frontier
Well I can't wait till I move to the city
Till I finally make up my mind
To learn design and study overseas
Let's pretend that it's the real thing
And stay together all night long
And when I really get to know you
We'll open up the doors and climb into the dawn
Confess your passion, your secret fear
Prepare to meet the challenge of the new frontier
06 The Nightfly (05:46)
I'm Lester the Nightfly
Hello Baton Rouge
Won't you turn your radio down
Respect the seven second delay we use
So you say there's a race
Of men in the trees
You're for tough legislation
Thanks for calling
I wait all night for calls like these
An independent station
WJAZ
With jazz and conversation
From the foot of Mt. Belzoni
Sweet music
Tonight the night is mine
Late line till the sun comes through the skylight
I've got plenty of java
And Chesterfield Kings
But I feel like crying
I wish I had a heart like ice
Heart like ice
If you want your honey
To look super swell
You must spring for that little blue jar
Patton's Kiss And Tell
Kiss And Tell
An independent station
WJAZ
With jazz and conversation
From the foot of Mt. Belzoni
Sweet music
Tonight the night is mine
Late line till the sun comes through the skylight
You'd never believe it
But once there was a time
When love was in my life
I sometimes wonder
What happened to that flame
The answer's still the same
It was you you it was you
Tonight you're still on my mind
An independent station
WJAZ
With jazz and conversation
From the foot of Mt. Belzoni
Sweet music
Tonight the night is mine
Late line till the sun comes through the skylight
07 The Goodbye Look (04:50)
The surf was easy on the day I came to stay
On this quiet island in the bay
I remember a line of women all in white
The laughter and the steel bands at night
Now the Americans are gone exept for two
The embassy's been hard to reach
There's been talk and lately a bit of action after dark
Behind the big casino on the beach
The rules are changed
It's not the same
It's all new players in a whole new ball game
Last night I dreamed of an old lover dressed in gray
I've had this fever now since yesterday
Wake up darling they're knocking the Colonel's standing in the sun
With his stupid face the glasses and the gun
I know what happens
I read the book
I believe I just got the goodbye look
Won't you pour me a Cuban breeze Gretchen
I know a fellow with a motor launch for hire
A skinny man with two-tone shoes
Cause tonight they're arranging a small reception just for me
Behind the big casino by the sea
I know what happens
I read the book
I believe I just got the goodbye look
08 Walk Between Raindrops (02:38)
A shadow crossed the blue Miami sky
As we hit the causeway by the big hotel
We fought
Now I can't remember why
After all the words were said and tears were gone
We vowed we'd never say goodbye
When we kissed we could hear the sound of thunder
As we watched the regulars rush the big hotels
We kissed again as the showers swept the Florida shore
You opened your umbrella
But we walked between the raindrops back to your door
In my dreams I can hear the sound of thunder
I can see the causeway by the big hotels
That happy day we'll find each other on that Florida shore
You'll open your umbrella
And we'll walk between the raindrops back to your door...
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Other reviews
By Socrates
That bony and angular DJ featured on the album cover... if he didn’t save my life, undoubtedly made it better.
‘Maxime’ is one of the best ballads ever written, with the decisive contribution of a young Michael Brecker’s sax.
