Spin Back - May 26
Kamakiriad — Donald Fagen (1993)
Eleven years after his solo masterpiece The Nightfly, Donald Fagen returned with an album as elegant as it was conceptually eccentric: a concept record following a narrator driving his Kamakiri, a futuristic, steam-powered car complete with an onboard hydroponic garden. Described like that, it sounds absurd — but listening to the album, produced by Walter Becker, Fagen's longtime Steely Dan partner, who also plays bass and electric guitar here, it all comes together with an almost cinematic sense of purpose.
The sound is that unmistakable sophisticated jazz-pop that Fagen made his signature: smooth grooves, impeccable horn arrangements, and a production so polished it already sounded, even in the '90s, like a memory of elegance from another era. Tracks like "Springtime" and "Snowbound" (the latter co-written with Becker) remain among the finest moments of his solo output, while "Trans-Island Skyway" opens the record by dropping you straight into the journey.
It's not an album for everyone, and it's not the most immediate listen either — some find it cold, almost clinical. But for those willing to be led by the concept and the atmosphere, Kamakiriad is a journey worth taking more than once.
Listen to the album: