ALBUM OVERVIEW: — As half of seminal pop/jazz/rock outfit Steely Dan, Donald Fagen is one of contemporary music?s most inventive masterminds. His solo career leveraged strengths of his writing, producing and performing part... more »nership with Walter Becker in Dan, and explored new territory along a more personal singer-songwriter trajectory. With his 1982 solo debut The Nightfly, Fagen won massive critical acclaim for a fluid, soulful work he described as representing "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." Reviewing it for Rolling Stone, David Fricke wrote, "this album is about dreams . . . Fagen conjures a world where all things are possible, even to a kid locked in his bedroom." 1993?s Kamakiriad continues Fagen?s sonic journey by following the adventures of a mythic lead character touring the world in a fant! astic car. With 2006?s GRAMMY®-winning MorphThe Cat, Fagen delivers a masterpiece rivaling Nightfly?s potency that Rolling Stone called his "catchiest, most immediate compositions in decades." Together, these works spotlight the ongoing genius of a true music visionary ? on Rhino?s stunning new MVI editions, they?re a sensory revelation.
MVI CONTENT:
? Donald Fagen?s complete Nightfly trilogy ? The Nightfly, Kamakiriad & Morph The Cat ? on 3 MVI discs and 3 bonus CDs
? 3 bonus audio tracks on The Nightfly MVI. 4 bonus tracks on the Kamakiriad MVI. 3 bonus tracks on the Morph The Cat MVI
? A fourth bonus CD that compiles all 10 extra tracks on one disc
? DTS 5.1 Surround, Dolby 5.1 Surround, and Advanced Resolution PCM Stereo mixes of all three albums
? Pre-encoded MP3 audio files of every song
? Two audio interviews with Donald Fagen, one from 1993 and one from 2006
? Digital Album Booklet (PDF) with expanded liner notes for each album with a track-by-track commentary by the artist
? Music videos for "New Frontier" and "Century?s End" from The Nightfly and "Tomorrow?s Girls" and "Snowbound" from Kamakiriad
? Ur-Tone® computer application ? create custom Donald Fagen ringtones
? Song Lyrics
? Photo Gallery
? Special web links to the artist?s site and to ringtone purchase
? MVI Updates ? register to gain access to bonus content
ALBUM OVERVIEW:
As half of seminal pop/jazz/rock outfit Steely Dan, Donald Fagen is one of contemporary music?s most inventive masterminds. His solo career leveraged strengths of his writing, producing and performing partnership with Walter Becker in Dan, and explored new territory along a more personal singer-songwriter trajectory. With his 1982 solo debut The Nightfly, Fagen won massive critical acclaim for a fluid, soulful work he described as representing "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." Reviewing it for Rolling Stone, David Fricke wrote, "this album is about dreams . . . Fagen conjures a world where all things are possible, even to a kid locked in his bedroom." 1993?s Kamakiriad continues Fagen?s sonic journey by following the adventures of a mythic lead character touring the world in a fant! astic car. With 2006?s GRAMMY®-winning MorphThe Cat, Fagen delivers a masterpiece rivaling Nightfly?s potency that Rolling Stone called his "catchiest, most immediate compositions in decades." Together, these works spotlight the ongoing genius of a true music visionary ? on Rhino?s stunning new MVI editions, they?re a sensory revelation.
MVI CONTENT:
? Donald Fagen?s complete Nightfly trilogy ? The Nightfly, Kamakiriad & Morph The Cat ? on 3 MVI discs and 3 bonus CDs
? 3 bonus audio tracks on The Nightfly MVI. 4 bonus tracks on the Kamakiriad MVI. 3 bonus tracks on the Morph The Cat MVI
? A fourth bonus CD that compiles all 10 extra tracks on one disc
? DTS 5.1 Surround, Dolby 5.1 Surround, and Advanced Resolution PCM Stereo mixes of all three albums
? Pre-encoded MP3 audio files of every song
? Two audio interviews with Donald Fagen, one from 1993 and one from 2006
? Digital Album Booklet (PDF) with expanded liner notes for each album with a track-by-track commentary by the artist
? Music videos for "New Frontier" and "Century?s End" from The Nightfly and "Tomorrow?s Girls" and "Snowbound" from Kamakiriad
? Ur-Tone® computer application ? create custom Donald Fagen ringtones
? Song Lyrics
? Photo Gallery
? Special web links to the artist?s site and to ringtone purchase
? MVI Updates ? register to gain access to bonus content
SELECTIONS:
*The Nightfly MVI
1. I.G.Y.
2. Green Flower Street
3. Ruby Baby
4. Maxine
5. New Frontier
6. The Nightfly
7. The Goodbye Look
8. Walk Between Raindrops
-Bonus Audio
1. True Companion
2. Green Flower Street (Live)
3. Century?s End
-Bonus Video
1. New Frontier (music video)
2. Century?s End (music video)
*Kamakiriad MVI
1. Trans-Island Skyway
2. Countermoon
3. Springtime
4. Snowbound
5. Tomorrow's Girls
6. Florida Room
7. On The Dunes
8. Teahouse On The Tracks
-Bonus Audio
1. Big Noise New York
2. Confide In Me
3. Blue Lou
4. Shanghai Confidential
5. Dean Seay Interview/Reprise Promo (1993)
*Morph The Cat MVI
1. Morph The Cat
2. H Gang
3. What I Do
4. Brite Nightgown
5. Great Pagoda of Funn
6. Security Joan
7. Night Belongs To Mona
8. Mary Shut the Garden Door
9. Morph the Cat (Reprise)
-Bonus Audio
1. Rhymes
2. Hank?s Pad (Live)
3. Viva Viva Rock ?N? Roll (Live)
4. World Café Interview (2006)
-Bonus Audio
1. Rhymes
2. Big Noise New York
3. True Companion
4. Confide In Me
5. Blue Lou
6. Shanghai Confidential
7. Green Flower Street (Live)
8. Century?s End
9. Hank?s Pad (Live)
10. Viva Via Rock ?N? Roll (Live)
Donald Fagen Photo
CD Reviews
"The Nightfly" trilogy gets the deluxe treatment from Rhino.
Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 01/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Good-We get surround sound mixes in the MVI format for all three of Donald Fagan's solo albums plus bonus tracks for all three albums (various b-sides, soundtrack songs, live cuts, etc.)and music videos for the first two albums "The Nightfly" and "Kamakiriad". The surround mix on the MVI discs sounds terrific with a nice mix by long time collaborator Elliot Scheiner and mastering by Bob Ludwig.
The Bad-All the discs have the ORIGINAL CD mastering. That wouldn't be a bad thing but "The Nightfly" despite having nice dynamics could use an update. The other two discs sound fine the way they are. "The Nightfly" on CD never had the warmth or depth of the original vinyl. It still doesn't.
The album liner notes and lyrics are ALL on the MVI discs. I'm all for including them but I do like to have hardcopy of them as well. There's something to be said for holding a booklet and reading it as you listen (particularly if you're not near a 5.1 system and/or your computer and want to listen to the CD). It wouldn't have put out Rhino all that much to include the ORIGINAL booklets with the lyrics and credits. All we get here is a one sheet insert with info on MVI on the back.
The Ugly-Honestly there isn't anything ugly about this set at all except that if you got these albums in previous DVD-A and have the original CDs you've basically got everything here except the bonus disc (and bonus tracks) all of which (except two live tracks)have been released before. It'll be a double dip for except for the bonus CD that has all the 5.1 bonus tracks in stereo on a single disc and new liner notes.
Also, when I took out "The Nightfly" MVI disc it kept PLAYING and wouldn't let me play "Morph". I'm not surprised because it does upload files of the MVI to your computer in the form of mp3's I did, however, not expect it to do so without prompting. Eventually I just had to close the program so I could play "Morph" and had to start all over again. I got the error message "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disck into drive.." or "Please insert 'The Nightfly'" disk" which I thought a bit odd. You can skip registering (the info goes to the company that makes MVIs)and it does promise bonus content but to be honest it didn't pop up immediately instead just taking me to Donald's site.
It would have been nice to include Donald's performance from the "Rock 'n' Soul Revue" album of the Steely Dan tracks as well but they were originally Steely Dan tracks so that's probably why they weren't included.
Conclusion: This is a terrific set for Fagan/Steely Dan fans. The box is sturdy with a nice design and the MVI DVDs (which will play on DVD players or computer DVD drives)and CDs are in the same case. We also get an extra CD that has all the bonus tracks in stereo complimenting the CDs (which are the original mastered versions without any bonus tracks on them).
The CDs sound fine but "The Nightfly" (which has a terrific dynamic range and sounds good on this CD)probably could have benefited from a remaster (not a loud compressed one which is probably what we would get so maybe this is a good thing). The other three discs sound fine (the CD with bonus tracks clearly has been remastered for this set or, at the very least, the volume has been adjusted for each so that they sound like they belong on the same disc and not like some haphazard compilation).
A booklet would have been nice as well for those of us Luddites that actually like to hold booklets in our hands and read them.
These are minor complaints overall about a terrific set. The glitches in the MVIs are pretty minor overall. If you have the DVD-A releases of these albums and the CDs the only reason to get this is for the bonus track disc and new liner notes.
"
Almost perfect, but with a few glaring oversights
A. Gammill | West Point, MS United States | 11/30/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"First of all, let me say how much it pains me to give this anything less than 5 stars. I consider "The Nightfly" to be my favorite album of all time, period. And the two subsequent Fagen solo discs would probably make my Top 10 list as well. And releasing them in this cool MVI format makes perfect sense for an artist who has always been forward-thinking as both a songwriter and musician.
But let me get this out of the way: The CD's (NOT the MVI DVD's, mind you) of Nightfly and Kamikiriad do NOT appear to be remastered. If you play them back-to-back with the original CD pressings, there does not appear to be any difference. For a more jarring confirmation of this theory (and it is, ultimately, just a theory I guess), put all 3 albums in a CD changer and notice the sonic difference between Morph the Cat and the other two. Even the impressive "10 Extras" disc sounds better by comparison. The MVI discs are fabulous--I'll get to those in a second--but for the money, and considering how much time has elapsed between the original CD releases and now, it seems odd to me that this set seems to include nothing more than the original discs with new label on them.
Now, if you're a fan of Donald Fagen at all, there's no question that the MVI discs are gonna rock your world. As others have pointed out, you simply haven't heard these albums until you play them in 5.1 surround sound on a home system. Words do not do this thing justice, you literally have to hear it for yourself. And considering that you NEVER see Fagen's handful of music video clips anywhere, it's quite a treasure to have them here. "Snowbound" could be the strangest video I've ever seen. And I mean that in a good way.
All of the bonus tracks, save for the 2 live ones, have been previously available. But having them all on one disc is great. Unlike most artists' "b-side" material, this stuff is every bit as good as his commericially-released tracks.
The other complaint I have is that none of the albums' original liner notes have been reproduced. I've always felt that, in the case of Donald Fagen, the notes always greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the songs. All 3 of the original discs are "concept" albums, and Fagen's personal notes help flesh out the pictures his words and music create.
Bottom line: Despite the disappointments detailed above, this is still a must-have for Fagen fans.
"
FINALLY? THE LAST WORD?
BOB | LOS ANGELES, CA | 02/10/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"
After a multitude of different format releases (especially for Nightfly), this box seems to put the final word on providing the best audio versions available of Fagen's complete catalog.
Tip 1: If you want to prevent the MVI from auto-launching, hold your Shift key down, then close the optical drive drawer, and keep the key depressed for 30 seconds or so (you can do this for any optical media content that you don't want auto-launched).
Tip 2: If you're looking to rip the best-sounding Fagen audio to MP3, you're in luck: Unlike the previous DVD-Audio releases, these discs are DVD-Video, so with the proper SW tools, you can extract the high-end audio from them and convert them to MP3 format.
For the Fagen-completist, this also includes the ability of extracting the audio off the video versions, which all vary from the album tracks.
All of it makes for the most fabulous-sounding Fagen MP3's ever, and eliminates the horrendous dynamic range differentiation between the first two albums and Morph.
Tip 3: The liner notes for each album are on the MVI discs.
Other notes:
The mix on Kamkiriad is quite different from that on the standard CD.
The audio on the Extras CD is virtually identical to the audio of all the duplicate MVI-tracks.
The Morph standard CD sounds virtually identical to the MVI disc.
So, all in all, quite worth the money, although, albeit slightly annoying for the number of times the catalog has been re-released in different formats."
Fair deal if unless you already own the originals
R. W. Powell | Newark, New York United States | 12/21/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This was a good deal for me as I did not own any of these albums already. No surprise that the music is great. Not sure why it took me so long to check out these albums. If you liked later Steely Dan stuff, you will like this too. 4 albums @ $15 each is all right. I am disappointed in the "extra" content. Not sure what the big deal is about video, which I will watch one time & forget about it. I registered the product which enables download of "extra content", but I have not noticed anything extra."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1