Sunken Condos

What can I say, but for a chance listen to BBC Radio 2, wouldn't have known that Donald Fagen had a new cd out.

Put it on in the car on the way home from work and it was like meeting up with an old friend for coffee whereby the passage of time seemed like a heartbeat.

I absolutely love this album from the opening track to the closing track. Another masterpiece from the genius that is Donald Fagen.

It all starts with a signature groove so nasty it could be a pantomime villain and before you can shout "behind you" we are deep into the new Donald Fagen LP "Sunken Condo's". With the "Nightfly Trilogy" now safely tucked away the erstwhile Steely Dan frontman is free to cast away the concept shackles and provide a straightforward set of expertly delivered jazzy rock tinged with soul. Whether he and Walter Becker will ever follow up the decade old "Everything must go" is a moot point but frankly as long as both artists produce wonderful solo material from time to time we should pay homage to the mighty forces. There have been some reviews claiming that "SC" ranks alongside "The Nightfly" as Fagen's best solo effort to date. This suggestion deserves outright scepticism since his first solo album recorded nearly 30 years ago remains peerless and his latest doesn't match it. What "Sunken Condo's" does represent is further evidence of that unswerving and alarming quality control that Fagen has achieved on all his albums ensuring that nearly all of them remain head and shoulders above most artists. It's all about cool detachment, a sprinkling of cynicism and songs like onions that you peel away and discover different layers. By doing so they reveal something slightly quirky and original. The delight of an unnoticed backbeat, deep bass run or a jazzy guitar phrase so that every listen sucks you in to Fagen's sheer level of musical craft.

The albums opener is the louche jazz of "Slinky thing". It has everything you would expect from Fagen present and correct. The band is tighter than a gnat's chuff, lyrically we have females standing next to a "Reptile cage" and great understated guitar solos from Jon Herington. Next up "Not the same without you" is so pure Steely Dan it could have been on "Gaucho" where ironically forty years after "Can't buy a thrill" Fagen tells us "that I'm evolving now/at a really astounding rate of speed". Who are we to argue? Third track "Memorabilia" is one of those upon first listens seems rather repetitive but stick with it since it turns out to be a lovely song. "Weather in my head" is one of the toughest urban blues songs Fagen has penned and references Al Gore with great horns from co-producer Michael Leonheart, while "New Breed" has one of those slight reggae vibes which are a specialty of our hero and echoes "Gaslighting Abbie". One bump in the road is the cover of Issac Hayes funk anthem "Out of the Ghetto" which would no doubt make a great encore in a live show but doesn't really fit here. Do not fret too much however since Fagen follows this with his best song in many a long year and the albums highlight. "Miss Marlene". This is a brilliant and effortless collection of jazzy grooves so infectious they could cause a pandemic and his acerbic nasal croon is as good as ever. A fine Fagen lyric underpins it and the band is cut loose resulting in some of the greatest "Dan style" instrumentation since "Aja". Download it immediately and think kindly of your reviewer. More cool nasty funk follows on the truly excellent "Good stuff" a song which deals with the shipping of an illegal special brew which requires that "Tonight we jack the convoy/ Two hundred barrel run /Trucked in from Agooey/In East Patterson". Closer "Planet D'rhonda" has a superb solo at its heart from jazz guitar giant Kurt Rosenwinke (thank you Erik) but at this stage it sounds like one of the weaker songs on the album.

So there it is. The master returns with yet another dose of what Adam Sweeting has described with pinpoint precision as "a set of impeccably tailored grooves which wear their expertise with insolent nonchalance". "Sunken Condo's" also confirms that there are a generation of musicians like Donald Fagen who qualify for Saga holidays but who refuse to lie down and indeed seem to be thriving into the third age. This album is quite a treat and you really would be very foolish not to let it soundtrack your daily existence for a short while.

You know exactly what to expect from Donald Fagen: that distinctive nasal whine, unpredictable chord changes, jazzy grooves galore, acerbic lyrics (some very nice stabs at self-deprecation here), and some top-notch horn arrangements, all expertly packaged and smoothly (if at times a little too smoothly) delivered by a band as tight as the proverbial you-know-what.

It's never been particularly easy to draw a neat dividing line between Don and Dan, but for a band notorious for its meticulous (if not downright obsessive) attention to detail Fagen brings an unexpected lightness of touch to "Sunken Condos", perhaps the result of having shared production duties with long-time cohort Michael Leonhart.

For all that, the album boasts some notable Danesque moments - the bluesy "Weather In My Head" and "Miss Marlene" two strong examples.

Some highly elegant soloing elevates tracks such as "Memorabilia" and "Planet D'Rhonda" whilst a surprising choice of cover in Isaac Hayes' "Out of the Ghetto" is deconstructed and given the full DF treatment but survives to tell the tale, dropping another memorable solo along the way.

For an artist into his fifth decade of making music it's hardly surprising that parts of this album should sound a tad familiar. "Good Stuff" borrows both melody and rhyme scheme from "Two Against Nature" whilst "The New Breed" has strong overtones of "Janie Runaway".

A little more grit would have been welcome but by and large "Sunken Condos" comfortably maintains Fagen's proud quality-control standards, even if ultimately it breaks little new ground.