Rock's Backpages Library Rock's Backpages

Donald Fagen: Kamakiriad

Geoffrey Himes, Washington Post, The, March 1993

DONALD FAGEN'S first album in 11 years, Kamakiriad, can be judged from two different perspectives. On the one hand, it marries tartly ironic lyrics with lush jazz harmonies in ways well beyond the reach of today's ambitious pop-rock composers from Sting and Billy Joel to Mark Knopfler and Brenda Russell. On the other hand, Kamakiriad has neither the substance nor the impact of Fagen's best work with Steely Dan. In other words, anyone who has missed Fagen's lusciously scored tales of alienation will enjoy his new solo album much as they enjoyed lesser Steely Dan outings like Gaucho or Can't Buy a Thrill, but won't get the high-voltage thrills of Aja, The Royal Scam and Katy Lied.

Total word count of piece: 286

Not yet registered to read this free article? Enter your email address in the first field below and we'll send you a password to read all free articles on Rock's Backpages. Once you've received it, please login using the same email address (as your username) plus the password you've been sent, using the LOGIN form below.

If you've registered (or are an RBP subscriber), you don't need to request a new password. Simply enter your email address and password in the LOGIN form below...

REGISTER

LOGIN

For full access to all RBP articles, click here to subscribe.

The email we send will come from the address webmaster@rocksbackpages.com. If you don't receive the message please be sure to check any spam filters you may have in place.