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Big Album Bake Off #5: Gaucho Vs The Nightfly

Which is the better album?

  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
I think it has to do with whoever is doing the mastering. For example, the SHM-SACD version of Gaucho is quieter than the SACD layer of the hybrid SACD version, so just as some CDs are mixed too hot so it is with SACDs - or not as the case may be.
 
Nightfly as I bought it as a Christmas present in 85 for my dad and when he opened it he didn't know who Fagen was... Needless to say it became one of his all time favourite albums.
 
Nightfly is to steely dan as Eraser is to Radiohead. The unofficial album in the set!

Always a fan but “aja” and “royal scam” rank higher on my preference list.

Maybe my digital copy of nightly is
Letting me down
 
I bought The Nightfly when it was first released. It came with a free cassette version too. Not sure if this was a nationwide promotion or just something my local record shop was including.
 
Tony L said:
Never made much of an impression on me that one, nor Sunken Condos, I like Morph The Cat though. I’ll give it another go.
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I maybe even slightly prefer it to Nightfly! The track "Springtine", after a slow intro, becomes a huge chunk of funk which has been known to invite Terpsichore into Arkless Mansions... far from a pretty site I'm sure!

BTW after a good listen to The Nightfly on CD last week whilst neighbours out and testing Mandryka's KSA50 at rather higher than normal levels I'm now inclined to agree with you re the mastering of the CD version:)
 
shrink said:
Nightfly is to steely dan as Eraser is to Radiohead. The unofficial album in the set!

Always a fan but “aja” and “royal scam” rank higher on my preference list.

Maybe my digital copy of nightly is
Letting me down
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Eraser is terrible though
 
Played it twice last night. It’s not bad, but falls a long way behind both The Nightfly and Morph The Cat for me. It just doesn’t have any songs that stick in my mind in the same way as those two so it just merges into one solid block, plus his voice sounds especially weak somehow. The Nightfly is by far the best for me, a real classic album that I put second only to Aja in his entire catalogue. I’ll dig Sunken Condos out for another go later too, but again it made little lasting impression.
 
Tony L said:
[Kamakiriad] just doesn’t have any songs that stick in my mind... so it just merges into one solid block...
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It’s very one-paced IMO, which reinforces that impression - but ‘Snowbound’ and ‘Tomorrow’s Girls’ are great songs.
 
windhoek said:
Kamakiriad also contains On The Dunes so it ain't all bad :)

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Sorry windhoek only now saw your post...Best track on the album...The drumming on the outro is incredible.

Listening to 'True Companion' from the 'Extras' disc in the box set now, another great track.
 
irons1965 said:
I do love 'On The Dunes' though - The outro is up there with 'Third World Man' as one of the best:)
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But to get there you have to get past ‘Where the rents are high and seabirds cry’ and ‘I’m pretty tough, but the wind is rough’ although I admit that could be Dan humour.
 
Tony L said:
Nightfly for me. The bass playing/sound just knocked me out when I first heard it. It was my entry-point into Steely Dan, though when I got to Aja shortly after I realised I’d heard a lot of it already.

I’ve no idea why given it was such an early digital recording, but Nightfly on vinyl sounds astonishingly good. I have a promo-stamped UK 1st press and it regularly comes out for a spin.
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I have a spare MoFi one step lp if you’re so inclined!
 
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