As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Monday, December 21, 2015

LP #2 Donald Fagen – The Nightfly (1982)


Steely Dan, the long-running collaboration between Fagen and Walter Becker, put out some great albums in their time, but Fagen’s first solo effort actually outshines the best of them. Fagen completely nails the loose concept that he puts forward in the liner notes: “The songs on this album represent certain fantasies that might have been entertained by a young man growing up in the remote suburbs of a northeastern city during the late fifties and early sixties, i.e., one of my general height, weight and build.” “Walk Between Raindrops” would have been a great song for Sinatra – it was actually recorded by Mel Tormé – while “The Goodbye Look” spins a wonderful tale of Caribbean political intrigue. Fagen also does what for me is the definitive version of the Leiber-Stoller classic “Ruby Baby”, eclipsing the fine earlier recordings by the Drifters and Dion.
 
Favorite tracks:
The Goodbye Look
Ruby Baby
New Frontier
I.G.Y.