Here are some customer reviews of
Morph the Cat
: As other reviewers here have noted, it does take time to truly take in everything in any new Dan or Fagen record. I've yet to get in deep with this one but my initial reaction is...if you liked the last two Dan albums, you'll dig this one. It's very much more of the same.
First off... the hooks involved on this CD are quite possible the kinds of hooks that we might hear on the next SD CD. This is a very funny CD.. The song MTC is very humerous and it is quite fun to listen to the lyrics on the whole CD...
I can't explain why, but the song 'H GANG' sticks in my head.. a very good song that really stands high on this outing.
I would say that every song on this CD is pretty darn good. The only song that I find myself hitting the foward button on is the song BRIGHTNIGHTGOWN. That is only because it is a tad too long. The chorus is repeated like 60 times at the end of the song... good song except the last two minutes or so....
But if that was the only complaint, it was ONLY that little quibble that kept it from being a 5 star CD.
There is a sense of foreboding on the release... and it may come from the fact that DF is getting older, but it is not a foreboding that one might find on a release of someone who might be giving up... it is more like a feeling of someone who is aware of mortality. Refreshing... a lot of boomer age folks are writing like this (Bob Dylan, Springsteen, even the new David Gilmour ON AN ISLAND is like this) but it is a good thing to be aware of where you are and what you feel. Even at the end of the ballgame.
Good CD, if you like Steely, you will like this.
Have fun.
 I find it interesting that there is a 2-star review from "a true fan", who is disappointed in the new CD, Morph the Cat. My experience with all of the Steely Dan/Donald Fagen works are that unlike the vast majority of pap that is manufactured for the masses, these works are so deep, so multi-layered, that to draw an immediate reaction of disappointment is unfair and somewhat foolish. I still discover new delights in Aja or Nightly, and expect to be doing the same in 20 years with Morph.
And yet this work does provide immediate delights as well. From the muted trumpet solo in The Great Pagoda of Funn, the beautiful fade out on Mary Shut the Garden Door, the intricate harmonies on the title song, the kick-butt bass and drums throughout...this CD fits in beautifully as the third part of the Nightly/Kamakiriad/Morph trilogy. I highly recommend it for those who look for complexity in their music, and for those who look for music to inspire, not simply conform. Great stuff, Don...thanks for all you've done...you're a freakin' genius my friend.
 The Eighties were hell for Steely Dan fans as "Gaucho" and "Nightfly" were out before the decade really got off the ground. The Nineties saw Donald Fagen and Walter Becker return to the world with a pair of solo albums and a live Steely Dan. By comparison, this decade has been a literal gusher of productivity with two SD albums and now Fagen's latest. Unfortunately, as much as I am grateful to again hear new material, I only wish it came across as something more inspired. Don't get me wrong, the recording itself is sonic perfection and the instrumentals on "The Great Pagoda of Funn" are impeccable. And the charming "Security Joan" will always bring a smile. However, I cannot help but wonder if this album represents the best that Donald Fagen can do and if not, then I hope it's not another decade before we hear that album.
Enough with the super psycho-bubble review crap that keeps bring up the Steely dan of yester years. Move on and grow-up because life is not static. This album epitomizes the genius and evolution of Donald Fagen at his finest. If this album sounds like the Steely Dan of the 70's I will not definitely buy this thing because I belive times are changing as people also change, but because this album is unique in it's own simple way and a product of Don's real-time analysis of the things that's happening around us with the accompaniment of excellent music this is surely a gem. H Gang rules and What I do is awesome and I also like The Great Pagoda of Funn plus The Night Belongs to Mona and the Brite Nitegown plus Mary Shut the Garden Door. The title track grows a lot in me a lot each passing day. After all is said and done this album is as unique as Donald Fagen's voice and like a wine it tastes a lot more better as it age. I'll buy 2 of this album for safe-keeping to posterity.
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