Donald Fagen: Sunken Condos (2012)

This is jazz-funk Fagen, spread over three sides of clear vinyl. It's a truly great record with lots of rhythms and grooves.

My copy is the USA and Canada pressing, which, for some reason, was pressed in Holland, though the jacket says it was printed in Canada. Anyway, what's interesting are the current prices. The recent median sale price on Discogs is about $50. Copies for sale range from about $50 to $85 Canadian. I recently saw a copy for sale in a local store for $68. I paid far less.

When I first heard the record, I was kind of stopped in my tracks when Out of the Ghetto came on. I'm not sure that a white guy should be permitted to sing Isaac Hayes' Out of the Ghetto. Fagen does a good job, but it made me wonder. Imagine a white guy singing these lyrics:

You've come a long way baby,
From wealth and food stamp lines,
You're moving on up,
And leaving poverty behind.

And this:

You've had a good education,
And seen the best of the schools,
But when you take a drink,
The ghetto comes out of you.

And, them, the chorus, or part of it:

I took you out of the ghetto
But I could not get that ghetto out of you.

It sounds like la mission civilisatrice to me. Again, can a white guy sing these lyrics?

When we go to the disco,
You drive the fellas wild,
When you shake your booty,
Ghetto style.

You're a hunk of raw sugar,
Got some real sweet hips,
Your love, your love, your love,
Is like a honey drip.

I have no answer. But maybe I reading too much. After all, the tracks ends this way,

Ghetto mamma, don't you change,
Ghetto mamma, stay the same.

Maybe it's simply cultural appropriation to sing lyrics written by a black man. That's what the virtue signallers these days might say. Add it to the list of things we can't do: yoga, eat ethnic food, and wear clothing originating in another culture.

In the end, it can't top Isaac's version. Anyway, I really like this record.

Donald Fagen: The Nightfly (1982)

I suppose an apt description of Donald Fagen would be to call him half of Steely Dan. The other half, of course, was Walter Becker.

Despite having heard a number of fairly decent Steely Dan tunes over the years, I ignored many friends who went on and on about how great they were. I knew a guy who managed to bring up Steely Dan as often as some guys referred to their sex lives. I was more interested in Bauhaus and Joy Division and the Cure. Fast forward a couple of decades, and I had found an appreciation for them.

Even while ignoring the constant refrains to listen to Steely Dan, I became a Donald Fagen fan, mostly because of Pete, who lent me a copy of this record on cassette way back when. I liked it immediately and bought a copy on CD. Later, I found a vinyl copy at a great price. The Nightfly, Donald Fagen's first true solo record, is brilliant and as interesting as Steely Dan.

Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, and Denny Diaz: You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It (Or You'll Lose That Beat) (Original Soundtrack) (1971)

I suppose you could look at this record as a pre-Steely Dan record, coming, as it did, about a year prior to the first Steely Dan record. Sadly, it's not as good as Steely Dan, though there are hints. People have to start somewhere.

You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It (Or You'll Lose That Beat) is a comedy-drama, what we would now call a dramedy.  I have never seen this film, described as a low budget outing. in any case, the record is probably only of interest to Dan fans. like me. Others might not get it.