ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Album # 47 is Kamakiriad by Donald Fagen from 1993.

Kamakiriad: The return of Donald Fagen a mere 11 years after his classic solo debut from 1982; The Nightfly.

If you were a Steely Dan/Donald Fagen fan who loved The Nightfly chances were you found Kamakiriad less soulful, less direct.
It was labelled "cold" and somewhat repetative by some. I know I felt a bit disappointed when I first heard it. Especially as this was the album were Donald and Steely Dan-companion Walter Becker were reunited for real.Walter playing on and producing the record as well as co-writing one song; the beautiful Snowbound.

All this after a the 80's that saw Donald and Walter semi-retired from music. Walter getting his life back together in Hawaii and Donald fighting writers block.

Here's what a couple of critics thought about Kamakiriad back in 1993:

'Kamakiriad' is one of those antiquities known as a concept album. The low-energy melodies amble along in a pleasant but noodling way, with an exception being the jaunty 'Hey Nineteen'-like swing of 'Tomorrow's Girls.' That's where Fagen's perfectionism gets in the way.
You have to admire him for taking his work so seriously, but those diligent arrangements only tend to zap whatever spontaneity existed to begin with. And spontaneity -- or at least implied spontaneity -- is the trademark sound of '90s pop.
To anyone other than the baby boomer Dan fans who have been eagerly awaiting this album, 'Kamakiriad' will probably be perceived as a quaint theme park all its own: a pop world that has itself gone the way of the carnival calliope."
David Browne, Entertainment Weekly

"But 'Kamakiriad' isn't just an 'Aja' minor. For the first time, Fagen instills his music with full emotional openness, and without the old ironic knots to be negotiated. The prevailing tones of ache and longing have more dimension and resonance.
It can be funny and touching, but it adds up to a pretty hard-bitten confrontation with self, making the climactic transformation-redemption symbolized by the jazz way of life, in the best Steely Dan tradition -- all the richer."
Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times

"Where `The Nightfly' looked back on a mythical American past, 'Kamakiriad' places itself on the cusp on the millennium. This is the Fagen-Becker sensibility filtered through Philip K. Dick, a world of cyborg cuties ('Tomorrow's Girls'), virtual reality ('Springtime'), and a car called a Kamakiri that has a vegetable garden in the back ('Trans-Island Skyway').
'The Nightfly' was a monstrously hard act to follow, but incredibly Fagen has pulled it off. I don't know when he is planning to release his third solo album, but when he does I will be first in line, pension book in hand."
Tony Parsons, The Daily Telegraph

It wasn't an instant success with either record buyers or critics. What it has done is age well, and the DVD-A version released in 2003 with two videos from the early 90's is the way to go. Get it. Especially since Kamakiriad has proven to be the second record in a trilogy that is completed when Donald's upcoming Morph The Cat is released next month; March 2006.
From the press release for Morph The Cat:

“The Nightfly is sort of looking from the standpoint of youth, “ Fagen explains. “Kamakiriad would be more about midlife. This new one is about endings really. So in a way this really has become a sort of trilogy. In fact, there are plans to put all three albums out in a box where they belong.”

Another interesting thing about Kamakiriad for Swedes like us is of course the fact that Swedish guitarist Georg Wadenius plays on Kamakiriad. A gig he performed so well that he was hired for a Steely Dan tour in the 90s!

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