Donald Fagen: Morph the Cat

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Fagen
Fred Kaplan wrote in the New York Times: "Mr. Fagen, best known as the vocalizing half of the rock band Steely Dan, … wrote 'Morph the Cat' in the wake of Sept. 11, and it's an album about fellow New Yorkers dealing with the aftershocks -- tales of love and dread in a time of terror. … 'Morph the Cat' has the familiar Steely Dan sound: the dense chords, jazz vamps, laser backbeat, skylark guitar riffs and sly lyrics -- polished narratives of insouciant irony and cryptic allusions -- sung by Mr. Fagen in a nasal troubadour's wail. But this time, he's staring at the darkness with open apprehension. … Cut loose from Dan, Mr. Fagen writes songs that are 'more personal,' he said, 'and, as it turns out, more autobiographical.' … 'Morph the Cat' begins with the title song, which sounds like an R. Crumb cartoon theme about a cat named Morph who flies above Manhattan and seeps into apartments, spreading good cheer. But when the tune is reprised at the end of the album, after the songs about severed heads and so forth, Morph (as in Morpheus, god of dreams?) seems more menacing. 'Yeah, the cat is narcotizing the citizens,' Mr. Fagen said. …"