The 1982 Listening Post - Donald Fagan - The Nightfly

 Reviewed by Jon Lulu

Released: October 1 1982 Donald Fagan The Nightfly Genre: Post-Dan Sparkly Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5 Jon’s Rating: 5 out of 5 Highlights: I.G.Y. Green Flower Street New Frontier The Nightfly Allen's Additional Highlights: Ruby Baby Walk Between Raindrops So much can be said about this record by me that it's overwhelming to figure out where to start. Perhaps these two words will work: it sparkles. These are eight beautifully executed, precisely arranged, and expertly played tracks, each one engineered for a bright new world of better living through technology. Indeed, this was an early all-digital recording by the master of precision himself, the singular Donald Fagen. The album is TIGHT. It’s not a Steely Dan record but it does have that crystalline feel they sometimes achieved (Hey Nineteen, anyone?), and a genre-defying sound. But more than any Steely Dan record, this one feels to me as though every single note is planned and conceived as part of a greater whole meant to evoke the dawn of a new technological era – and to question it. In fact, the all-digital recording is its own instant irony, a perfect and earnest forum for a harsh look at the tech-enabled futures envisioned by generations past. Nowhere is this more in your face than on the two giant (and I mean GIANT) tracks, I.G.Y. and New Frontier. After all, what says naive optimism more clearly than a young man attempting (in New Frontier) to use his dad’s nuclear bomb shelter as the venue to seduce his dream girl … by sharing his big plans “to learn design and study overseas”? Answer: nothing. “I hear you’re mad about Brubeck; I like your eyes, I like him too.” Cringe! Do you think it worked? Or did he just jack off that night in the dugout that his dad built in case the Reds decide to push the button down? Regardless of what happened that night in the shelter, the kid was clearly coming off a high provided by the magical future envisioned by the International Geophysical Year of 1958. IGY is perhaps my favorite song ever. It sets the tone for the album (track 1) as a celebration of amazing, and maybe impossible or even wrongheaded aspirations. IGY smolders with cynicism while extolling the virtues of technology – and while sounding absolutely amazing. It must have been as clear to Fagen in 1982 as it is to us today that trusting “a just machine to make big decisions; programmed by fellows with compassion and vision” to make us “eternally free… and eternally young” is, ahem, fraught. But hey, the song also predicted we'd get “spandex jackets, one for everyone” so some things really worked out! Beyond those two giants, a self-aware romanticism pervades, from when the narrator reminisces about idealized love that never really was in Between the Raindrops, to when Lester the Nightfly tells his late night radio audience, “you’d never believe it, but once there was a time when love was in my life” on the title track, which is probably the third best song on an album of great songs. Lyrics and ethos aside, it is the sound of this album that has enthralled me for decades. All the talk of science and precision is not to say the record doesn’t have soul. It does, and that is what makes Fagen so unique. One can imagine his perfectionism as simultaneously devoted to spotless musicianship, *and* aware of the naivete of that ideal in the first place. Green Flower Street, Ruby Baby (a fully Fagan-ized cover of the Drifters song), Goodbye Look, and Maxine are all beautiful, smooth, and basically flawless, rounding out a spectacular record. From the moment I first heard it in the early 80s all the way through to the night, nearly four decades later, when I dragged my girlfriend to see him play much of it at a casino in Michigan, Nightfly has been “the go-to” album for any range of purposes for me. It’s a touchstone. It was the soundtrack for a million long drives and it is the benchmark for any new amp, equalizer, speaker, headphone or earbud I have ever bought. (OK, you claim this thing has good sound? Lets see how it handles New Frontier). This album has been in my ears 10,000 times. It never gets old. What a beautiful world this will be. What a glorious time to be free. Indeed.

The 1981 Listening Post - J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame

 J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame

#519

October 26 1981

By Jon Lulu with assist from Jeremy Lulu

J Geils Band

Freeze Frame

Genre: new wave / post punk / bluesy party

Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Jon’s rating: 3.75 out of 5

Jeremy’s rating: 3.0 out of 5

Highlights: 

Freeze Frame

Centerfold

Angel in Blue

I approached this review from the perspective of having a ton of nostalgic affinity for the two songs everyone knows, and not much else.  I was never a J Geils “fan” (I do not know if such a species exists) and I know next to nothing about them.  But I did have this album at the young formative age of 13 or so.  To add to the fresh-ears approach, I asked my musically talented  son Jeremy (18) along for the ride… A fresh listen, without the nostalgia factor.  I think that explains the 0.75 gap in our ratings. 

FREEZE FRAME!! Is how it starts.  You know this.  The title song - from the jump - says, “this is a party.”  From the shutter clicks that follow the opening exaltation to the bouncy beats, to the keyboards and horns, all the way through to the hand clapping and the minor scat singing and the camera clicks at the end, Freeze Frame, the opening song, is a promise of a party and a follow through to fun.  I don't know what that song is about and I don't care. I'm hooked on the sound and the style from the beginning. Great start. 

Next up, Rage in the Cage tries to continue the vibe and it does an ok job. But if this is a party, then this is the part where you've already said hi to all the people you want to see and and every one is happy to see you too. It’s upbeat but the music kind of fades into the background and is more functional as you grin and pour some drinks. People are dancing. It's working. The next day no one will remember what song was on. 

Centerfold!!  We’re back! The band is commanding attention with its super catchy tune, and a sort of scandalous concept.  Those soft fuzzy sweaters! The neglige! The fall from homeroom purity to the pages in between. So scandalous!  (reader: are you reflecting upon the innocence of that treatment of sex on the radio then, as compared to today’s WAP motif? I was; what a softer time we seemed to grow up in).  "Take you to a motel room and take ‘em off in private!"  OMG. I was maybe 13.  The dark side of sex was here. "I guess I gotta buy it!"  Yup!  But besides all its puerile intrigue, Centerfold is a great catchy pop tune with an uncanny sing-along quality.  Na na na na na na, etc. You’re already singing it in your head I bet.  Pro-tip: this is a killer secret karaoke weapon. Save it for emergencies. 

Do You Remember When is a mediocre filler song that belongs in the shadow of Centerfold. Nothing after that song will likely shine as bright, so this fits here. It kinda sucks.  Maybe useful as a soundtrack to a bad 80s film montage, but that's about it.  I don't know. Don't care. I was ready for it to be over the minute it started. 

Insane Insane Again.  “Pretty good” with a shoulder shrug. That's what my review-mate, Jeremy has to say about it. “Eh. Lot of sound effects” he adds, continuing, “pretty good, not great.” maybe he's right, and I think he's being kind.  But… I see that his toes are tapping. So. Apparently the party is still on.  I don't hate this song either. Does it need to be in my life?  Not exactly. But I won't shut it off when it comes on.  Grab another drink, smile and throw your arm around a pal. We are still having a good time.  (aaand, wait, why is this song still on??  Peter Wolf and company can't seem to kill it). 

Okay, finally.  That one is over, yielding to Flamethrower.  I ask Jeremy, “what do you think of this one?”  “They all kind of sound the same to me,” he answers . Yup, again.  It’s not bad. Not great. And not really necessary except I guess as a vessel to carry the two big ones to market.  This song also Would. Not. Die. Why does it clock in at 5 minutes?  (See the previous sentence).  

River Blindness.  Wait.  Huh?  We are doing West Side Story with a bluesy experiment vibe now?  Was not expecting that.  Jeremy said it sounded more 90s and I can see that.  We both agreed that the theatrical vibe and featured syncopation was a good and welcome break from the tiresome road we had been on for the last three.  But where are we in our party?  It's getting late. Some shit has gotten weird. Most of the best people have left, and that dude no one knows with the Flock of Seagulls look is controlling the music now. Ok whatever. 

It’s been a long road since Centerfold.  What ever happened to our homeroom angel?  We get a clue in Angel in Blue, the darker and much more wholly tragic deeper dive from Centerfold. What happened to her is… not good.  But this is a good song, with depth.  Maybe some of that other boring stuff in the saggy middle had meaning too but I was not paying attention. Perhaps it was the cleaner melody, catchy production and darker mood of this one, but suddenly I am paying attention to the music and the lyrics.   Our Angel has traveled a hard road too, from a girlie magazine to "scoring in cars" and doing lap dances in bars.  Her soul is dead.  “And the bees they had stung her, The birds they had flown; There were guys she could number; But none had she known; And she never had dreams; So they never came true.”  Man, the J Geils Band went deep and dark.  I had no idea. 

This is it. The party's nearly over. People are sizing up who they may end up with or what's next for a night that's getting foggier… and sadder. It's time to rally, put that depressing stuff back in the dark corner of the mind and try to salvage a little rebellious fun before the sun comes up. 

What do you do to close out the night after hearing about how badly things ended up for that cute girl from homeroom class?  Go outside and take a Piss On the Wall.  The final song gives the world and this night a solid middle finger. "All I know is I just gotta take a wiz."  It's a fitting and satisfying quick-hit catchy end.   The night’s over. As Peter tells us, all that's left is to try to "hold it steady while I piss on the wall." 

With those final words from this album, it's now time to get some sleep and hope the hangover isn't too bad. 

https://open.spotify.com/album/48joW5905AMbTFLvy8ZWch?si=OcV-oyVfRl2TtiaYuSl_Dg