Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos

The Tune for Today is:

Donald Fagen - Slinky Thing

It was an October morning 
Near the carousel. 
I met a light young beauty, 
And we talked there for a spell. 

We walked up by the green lawn, 
And my heart began to sing. 
Mad man on a bench screams out, 
“Hold on to that slinky thing, 
Hold on to that slinky thing.” 

Went to a party. 
Everybody stood around, 
Thinking, “Hey, what’s she doing 
With a burned out hippie clown?” 

Young dudes were grinning, 
I can’t say it didn’t sting. 
Some punk said, “Pops, you better 
Hold on to that slinky thing, 
Hold on to that slinky thing.” 

More light, more light, more light, more light, more light, more light. 
More light, more light, more light, more light, more light, more light. 

Today we were strolling 
By the reptile cage. 
I’m thinking, “Does she need somebody 
Who’s closer to her own age?” 

Try not to worry 
What tomorrow may bring. 
I’m just going to do my best to 
Hold on to that slinky thing, 
Hold on to that slinky thing. 

More light, more light, more light, more light, more light, more light. 
More light, more light, more light, more light, more light, more light. 

Today we were strolling 
By the reptile cage. 
I’m thinking, “Does she need somebody 
Who’s closer to her own age?” 

Try not to worry 
What tomorrow may bring. 
I’m just going to do my best to 
Hold on to that slinky thing. 


(Repeat and fade) 
She smiled, 
There’s a sun in my sky. 
She laughed, 
That’s my power supply. 
She stayed with me, 
I know heaven is right here on earth.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Morph the Cat wrapped up an alleged trilogy in 2006 -- a trilogy that only became apparent whenDonald Fagen's three solo albums were boxed in a set called The Nightfly Trilogy in 2007 -- and Fagenthen busied himself with live performances, something he avoided at the peak of his popularity in the '70s and '80s. With Walter Becker, he took several classic Steely Dan albums on tour, he became a frequent fixture at Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles, and, in 2010, he became the ringleader of the Dukes of September, a superstar blue-eyed soul revue featuring Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. All this high-octane rhythm can be heard on Sunken Condos, Fagen's 2012 album and easily the liveliest solo album he's released since The Nightfly in 1982. Much of that is due to a pronounced emphasis on rhythm. Sunken Condos doesn't ease on its groove, the way the otherwise excellent Morph the Cat did.Sunken Condos crackles with energy even when things are smooth; witness how "Memorabilia" and "Weather in My Head," jazzy funk numbers both, never succumb to lite comfortable grooves, as Fagenand his peerless band keep pushing at the contours of their rhythms, letting the music breathe. And that addition of space is a marked difference from much of Fagen's work since Gaucho, when he began to place an emphasis on precision over feel. Certainly, Sunken Condos boasts an immaculate production and there is not a note out of place but it is unmistakably a feel album, one where it's a pleasure to hear the band play and to hear Fagen play with his delivery, sculpting his phrases with an impish glee. ThatSunken Condos also contains his sharpest songwriting in a long time -- whether they percolate like "I'm Not the Same Without You" or sweetly sigh like "Miss Marlene," the tunes are immediate the way the songs on Steely Dan's 2000 comeback, Two Against Nature, were -- is no coincidence. Long a master of obfuscation, Fagen plays it straight on Sunken Condos, tightening his songwriting and letting his music swing, and the results are an absolute joy.

Tune the album here

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