HiRez Poll Fagen, Donald - MORPH THE CAT [DVD-A]

[humprof]

Fans like us who watch the skies . . .

. . . know that Morph the Cat floated over Manhattan--and the rest of the US--15 years ago today, on March 7th, 2006. (Some sources say March 14th; Wikipedia says the 7th. Dandom says that while the scheduled release date was pushed back to the 14th, Fagen still kicked off the Morph tour at the Beacon on the 7th. Anyway: finally, the anniversary of a classic album that's younger than my own offspring!)

At least one more time before I meet the fella in the Brite Nitegown, I want to fly through La Guardia and see if I can find Security Joan. (“Search me now!”)

I never actually voted on this one, though. It's got another peerless Scheiner mix (Grammy for Best Surround Album, 2007), that slick late-period Steely Dan sound (with lots of bass--I don't mind), and a great selection of slinky, groovy songs. It's not my favorite Fagen album;"Great Pagoda" and "The Night Belongs to Mona" are weak spots for me. But not weak enough to bump this as low as a 9. So: 10.

 

[windhoek]

That's funny, The Great Pagoda of Funn is the great highlight for me lol:

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Can we just take a minute to regard how absolutely glorious is the chorus in "Morph the Cat"?! Talk about 3-D imagery - every time that chorus comes around, you can just see that big foggy cat, floating out across the Manhattan skyline! Wonderful stuff, as good as anything he's ever done in my book. Also, I thought the idea of Morph was such a lovely post-9/11 sentiment at the time.

Just sayin, heh.

 

[humprof]

Can we just take a minute to regard how absolutely glorious is the chorus in "Morph the Cat"?! Talk about 3-D imagery - every time that chorus comes around, you can just see that big foggy cat, floating out across the Manhattan skyline! Wonderful stuff, as good as anything he's ever done in my book. Also, I thought the idea of Morph was such a lovely post-9/11 sentiment at the time.

Just sayin, heh.

Nice message for pandemic-stricken New York, too...

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Absolutely!

 

[sjcorne]

Best part of the disc for me is the last two-or-three minutes of "Brite Nitegown"--it's like you're in the middle of a perfectly-arranged hurricane of guitars and horns. I just love the interplay between the guitars in the rear channels throughout that track.

 

[edisonbaggins]

What's the deal with his so-called trilogy?

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Best part of the disc for me is the last two-or-three minutes of "Brite Nitegown"--it's like you're in the middle of a perfectly-arranged hurricane of guitars and horns. I just love the interplay between the guitars in the rear channels throughout that track.

Yowzah. In anyone else's hands, that bass line might get too repetitive. But Fagen knew exactly how to stack all that stuff on top of it (and all around it!), to keep the tension up.

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

What's the deal with his so-called trilogy?

I dunno man - I stopped reading when I got to two hundred and fifteen bucks, heh.

 

[humprof]

What's the deal with his so-called trilogy?

The first two were (loosely speaking) concept albums; the third, less so. Record Collector puts it succinctly:

The Nightfly [was] a set of songs inspired by his own adolescence, Fagen’s boyish dreams gloriously articulated on New Frontier, a witty reaction to growing up in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis.

1993’s Kamakiriad continued the theme of yearning for a better life, from the perspective of a middle-aged man travelling the world in a steam-powered car, surveying the state of the planet . . . 2006’s Morph The Cat was partly inspired by both 9/11 and the death of Fagen’s mother, ruminating on mortality and the regrets of chances squandered.

(Or was that not what you were getting at...?)

I see a new thread entitled "Comments Inspired by Morph the Cat" in our future...

 

[bguzman]

What's the deal with his so-called trilogy?

Kind of a money grab if you ask me although I fell for it. You get The Nightfly, Kamakiriad, and Morph The Cat on DVD-Video with Multichannel, Stereo, and MVI. There's four of Dan's videos as well. MVI works about half of the time, made for a 2000ish computer, and often results in a crash on my desktop. Also there is a CD of the albums and "bonus" tracks. I found mine pretty reasonable and yet it looks like they want stupid money for it now. Still if you can find one at a reasonable price it is still cheaper than finding and paying for the three on DVD-A.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

What's the deal with his so-called trilogy?

Isn't it also purported to be a chronological type trilogy based on past (Nightfly), present (Morph), and future (Kamakiriad).

 

[edisonbaggins]

I have all 3 DVD-As. Didn't know there was an MVI!
Or a concept of any kind.

 

[ctoelle]

Best part of the disc for me is the last two-or-three minutes of "Brite Nitegown"--it's like you're in the middle of a perfectly-arranged hurricane of guitars and horns. I just love the interplay between the guitars in the rear channels throughout that track.

Bright Nightgown is my favorite song on this album, exactly for this reason

 

[humprof]

Bright Nightgown is my favorite song on this album, exactly for this reason

I've got lots of favorites, but "Brite Nitegown" is right up there. In terms of arrangements, it's the closest Fagen ever came to James Brown.

 

[himey]

I have all 3 DVD-As. Didn't know there was an MVI!
Or a concept of any kind.

You haven't missed anything, I promise you...

 

[edisonbaggins]

You haven't missed anything, I promise you...

The only MVI I have is Rush Snakes & Arrows.
Too bad the 5.1 mix is dynamically super compressed and lossy dullby.

 

[himey]

The only MVI I have is Rush Snakes & Arrows.
Too bad the 5.1 mix is dynamically super compressed and lossy dullby.

Same and only hands on experience with MVI...

 

[bguzman]

These have 5.1 DD, 5.1 DTS 96/24, and LPCM 96 Stereo. Pretty much the same as DVD-A in my experience.

 

[edisonbaggins]

These have 5.1 DD, 5.1 DTS 96/24, and LPCM 96 Stereo. Pretty much the same as DVD-A in my experience.

Huh?