Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen returns with his fourth studio album for Reprise delivering a lithe, urbane, instantly recognizable hybrid of rock, jazz and funk. Sunken Condos begins a new chapter in the creative evolution of this innovative artist, whose career is going strong after forty years. Great sound mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk, pressed to 180g virgin vinyl at Record Industry.

• Mastered by Scott Hull
• Mastered at Masterdisk Studios NYC
• Pressed on High Performance 180g Clear Vinyl

Morph the Cat wrapped up an alleged trilogy in 2006 - a trilogy that only became apparent when Donald Fagen's three solo albums were boxed in a set called The Nightfly Trilogy in 2007 - and Fagen then 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 Fagen and 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. That Sunken 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. - Thomas Erlewine, All Music

“Sunken Condos is everything fans expect from the Steely Dan co-founder, keyboard mainstay and lead vocalist: wry humor, a look at relationships, a sense of unease and superb sound, with playing by a crack set of players.” - Mark Brown, MSN Music

“The band, especially guitarist Jon Herington, is predictably hot and smooth, Fagen's voice oily-sweet as ever... to this day, no one does booby-trapped boutique pop better.” - Will Hermes, Rolling Stone

“Sunken Condos is jazzy, bluesy and as musically precise as anything Fagen has recorded, with or without Steely Dan." - Michael Gallucci, Ultimate Classic Rock

"Sunken Condos boasts impressive musicianship. William Galison's harmonica adds a touch of sweetness to the proceedings while Michael Leonhart's vibes bring an eerie otherworldly chill... Fagen and Leonhart coax nice riffs out of pianos, clavinets, organs, and synthesizers. The 180-gram LP I listened to boasts remarkable clarity... The Cold War motif of 'Memorabilia' will resonate with Nightfly fans... 'Planet D'Rhonda'... its lush, airy soundscape ultimately won me over - that and the line about CPR." - Music 3.5/5, Sonics 4/5 - Jeff Wilson, The Absolute Sound


Track Listing:

LP1 Side A
1. Slinky Thing
2. I'm Not the Same Without You
3. Memorabilia

LP1 Side B
1. Weather In My Head
2. The New Breed
3. Out of the Ghetto

LP2 Side C
1. Miss Marlene
2. Good Stuff
3. Planet D'Rhonda

LP2 Side D
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Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com