Morph the Cat
Encyclopedia
Morph the Cat is a Grammy Award
-winning 2006 album by Donald Fagen
, his first solo release since 1993. The nine-track album was released in the US on March 14, 2006.
Additional musicians performing on the album include drummer Keith Carlock, guitarists Wayne Krantz
, Kenny Wessel, Jon Herington
, Hugh McCracken
, Ken Emerson
, clarinetist Lawrence Feldman, pianist Ted Baker and saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, among others.
The album, a mental rumination
of death and old age, blends Fagen's patented storytelling and groove-oriented, backing vocal-laden style. "H Gang" is the lead single. It is available in digital format. The album was released as an audio CD, a vinyl record and a Special Edition CD/DVD. The DVD features versions of the album in Dolby Digital
/DTS 5.1 playable on DVD-Video
players and high-resolution stereo and surround tracks for DVD-Audio
players. The 5.1 mix won the 2007 Grammy Award
for Best Surround Sound Album.
Fagen embarked on a 20-date studio tour (with the Donald Fagen Band) on March 1, 2006; nearly two weeks before the release of the album itself. Fagen performed songs from his latest album, his earlier solo work, as well as classic Steely Dan
favorites. The tour was his first solo tour "since high school." The dates left out many areas along the USA's eastern seaboard and its south/southeast regions, leading some fans to correctly surmise that Fagen would join partner Walter Becker
on a summer Steely Dan tour.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning 2006 album by Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
, his first solo release since 1993. The nine-track album was released in the US on March 14, 2006.
Additional musicians performing on the album include drummer Keith Carlock, guitarists Wayne Krantz
Wayne Krantz
Wayne Krantz is an American jazz fusion guitarist. He has played with top artists such as Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Billy Cobham, and others, but is most active as a solo performer.-Biography:...
, Kenny Wessel, Jon Herington
Jon Herington
Jon Herington is an American guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer, most known for being a session musician. Currently, he is known for being Steely Dan's lead guitarist...
, Hugh McCracken
Hugh McCracken
Hugh McCracken is a rhythm guitar player and session musician, arranger and producer based in New York.Especially in demand in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he appears on many recordings by Steely Dan, as well as albums by Donald Fagen, Jimmy Rushing, Billy Joel, Roland Kirk, Roberta Flack, B. B...
, Ken Emerson
Ken Emerson
Ken Emerson was an Australian cartoonist and comic strip creator. He is best known for writing the comic strips The WarrumbunglersThe Warrumbunglers title is sometimes written with a hyphen but this is most likely a stylistic decision to fit the long title within one panel of the comic strip. and...
, clarinetist Lawrence Feldman, pianist Ted Baker and saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, among others.
The album, a mental rumination
Rumination (psychology)
Rumination is a way of responding to distress that involves repetitively focusing on the symptoms of distress, and on its possible causes and consequences. Rumination is more common in people who are pessimistic, neurotic, and who have negative attributional styles. The tendency to ruminate is a...
of death and old age, blends Fagen's patented storytelling and groove-oriented, backing vocal-laden style. "H Gang" is the lead single. It is available in digital format. The album was released as an audio CD, a vinyl record and a Special Edition CD/DVD. The DVD features versions of the album in Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
/DTS 5.1 playable on DVD-Video
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
players and high-resolution stereo and surround tracks for DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....
players. The 5.1 mix won the 2007 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Surround Sound Album.
Fagen embarked on a 20-date studio tour (with the Donald Fagen Band) on March 1, 2006; nearly two weeks before the release of the album itself. Fagen performed songs from his latest album, his earlier solo work, as well as classic Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
favorites. The tour was his first solo tour "since high school." The dates left out many areas along the USA's eastern seaboard and its south/southeast regions, leading some fans to correctly surmise that Fagen would join partner Walter Becker
Walter Becker
Walter Carl Becker is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist and a co-writer of Steely Dan.-Career:...
on a summer Steely Dan tour.
Track listing
- "Morph the Cat" – 6:49
- "H Gang" – 5:15
- "What I Do" – 6:01
- "Brite Nitegown" – 7:16
- "The Great Pagoda of Funn" – 7:39
- "Security Joan" – 6:09
- "The Night Belongs to Mona" – 4:18
- "Mary Shut the Garden Door" – 6:29
- "Morph the Cat (Reprise)" – 2:53
- "Rhymes" (Bonus track, from downloaded album and The Nightfly Trilogy MVI Boxed Set) – 4:22
- "Hank's Pad" (Live) (Bonus Track, from The Nightfly Trilogy MVI Boxed Set) - 4:48
- "Viva Viva Rock 'N' Roll" (Live) (Bonus Track, from The Nightfly Trilogy MVI Boxed Set) - 2:42
Production
- Producer: Donald Fagen
- Tracking Engineer: Elliott Scheiner
- Overdub/ProTools Engineers: Brian Montgomery, T.J. Doherty
- Mix Engineer: Elliott Scheiner
- Second Mix Engineer: Brian Montgomery
- Assistant Engineers: Eddie Jackson, Jim Keller, Chad Lupo, Steve Mazur, Brian Montgomery, Matt Scheiner, Bryan Smith, Allan "A.T." Thomas
- Piano Technicians: Sam Berd, Wayne Williams
- Drum/Guitar Tech: Artie Smith
- Music Copyist: Gary Blu
- Mastering Engineer: Darcy Proper
- Additional Mastering: Joseph M. PalmaccioJoseph M. PalmaccioJoseph M. Palmaccio is an American mastering engineer born in rural South Carolina.Palmaccio has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has won 3 in the Best Historical Album category for mastering...
- Mastering Assistant: Maria Triana
- Management: Irving Azoff
- Production Coordinators: Jill Dell'Abate, Cindy Osborne
- Production Assistant: Mary Lou Arnold
- Art Direction: Jeri Heiden
- Design: Ryan Corey
- Photography: Danny Clinch
Charts
Album| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | European Top 100 Albums | |
| 2006 | The Billboard 200 | 26 |
| 2006 | Top Internet Albums | 26 |
| 2006 | UK Top 40 | 35 |
External links
- Complete lyrics
- New York Times — Album Preview
- Donald Fagen interview in Sound on Sound - Article by Paul Tingen about the making of Morph The Cat