In the role of a late-night radio DJ Fagen abducted his listeners with his shadow play of moods and fantasies on a trip into baby boomers’ adolescence during the late ’50s and early ’60s.
His songs are oscillating between naive technology optimism of the 50s (“I.G.Y.”), cold war fears (“The New Frontier”) and unrequited teenage love (“Ruby Baby”).
“The Nightfly” resplendent in clean virtuosity, but through all this sophisticated coolness shines loneliness. Donald Fagen had never stopped writing postcards to his friend Walter. „Tonight the night is mine/ Late line ’til the sun comes through the skylight“, he sings in “The Nightfly” – the darkest hour is just before the dawn. The Wall Street Journal described the album as “one of pop music’s sneakiest masterpieces”. There is nothing more to add.
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