A portrait of the artist as a young man, The Nightfly is a wonderfully evocative reminiscence of Kennedy-era American life; in the liner notes, Donald Fagen describes the songs as representative of the kinds of fantasies he entertained as an adolescent during the late '50s/early '60s, and he conveys the tenor of the times with some of his most personal and least obtuse material to date. Continuing in the smooth pop-jazz mode favored on the final Steely Dan records, The Nightfly is lush and shimmering, produced with cinematic flair by Gary Katz; romanticized but never sentimental, the songs are slices of suburbanite soap opera, tales of space-age hopes (the hit "I.G.Y.") and Cold War fears (the wonderful "The New Frontier," a memoir of fallout-shelter love) crafted with impeccable style and sophistication. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Elliot Scheiner (Tracking), Elliot Scheiner (Producer), Zachary Sanders (Vocals), Donald Fagen (Harmonica), Randy Brecker (Horn), Jeff Porcaro (Drums), Donald Fagen (Synthesizer Harp), Elliot Scheiner (Engineer), Dave Bargeron (Horn), Valerie Simpson (Vocals (Background)), Greg Allen (Art Direction), Roger Nichols (Percussion), Michael Omartian (Piano (Electric)), Wayne Yurgelun (Digital Editing Assistant), Robin Hurley (Producer), Mike Morongell (Digital Editing Assistant), Roger Nichols (Sequencing), David Tofani (Sax (Alto)), Elliot Scheiner (Mixing), Michael Omartian (Keyboards), George Lydecker (Authoring), David Tofani (Horn), Donald Fagen (Horn), Bob Ludwig (Mastering), Greg Phillinganes (Soloist), Valerie Simpson (Vocals), Starz Vander Lockett (Vocals (Background)), Greg Phillinganes (Synthesizer), Steve Khan (Guitar (Acoustic)), Daniel Lazerus (Overdub Engineer), Greg Phillinganes (Keyboards), Dave Bargeron (Trombone), Greg Allen (Design), Cory Frye (Editorial Supervision), Anthony Jackson (Bass), Frank Floyd (Vocals (Background)), Donald Fagen (Organ), Donald Fagen (Liner Notes), Gordon Grody (?), Dave Bargeron (Vocals (Background)), Gordon Grody (Vocals), Ronnie Cuber (Saxophone), Ed Greene (Drums), Abraham Laboriel (Bass), Roger Nichols (Engineer), Michael Omartian (Piano), Greg Phillinganes (Piano), Spencer Christu (Authoring), George Delmerico (Art Direction), Steve Khan (Guitar), Robin Lane (Assistant Engineer), Michael Brecker (Saxophone), Cheryl Smith (Assistant Engineer), Elliot Scheiner (Mix Down), Larry Carlton (Guitar), Donald Fagen (Vocals (Background)), Zachary Sanders (Vocals (Background)), Starz Vander Lockett (Percussion), Ginger Dettman (Project Assistant), Michael Brecker (Sax (Tenor)), David Dieckmann (Authoring), Leslie Miller (Vocals (Background)), Ronnie Cuber (Sax (Baritone)), Dean Parks (Guitar), Steve Jordan (Drums), Rob Mounsey (Horn), Marcus Miller (Bass), Gary Katz (Producer), Steve Woolard (Project Assistant), Hugh McCracken (Harmonica), Donald Fagen (Arranger), Michael Brecker (Horn), Greg Phillinganes (Clavinet), Robin Lane & The Chartbusters (Assistant Engineer), James Gadson (Drums), Daniel Lazerus (Engineer), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), Donald Fagen (Synthesizer), Steve Pokorny (Project Assistant), Chuck Rainey (Bass), Donald Fagen (Vocals), Mike Morongell (Assistant Engineer), Gordon Grody (Vocals (Background)), Donald Fagen (Keyboards), Leslie Miller (Vocals), Ronnie Cuber (Horn), Daniel Lazerus (Vocals (Background)), Andrew Thomas (Screen Design), Donald Fagen (Piano (Electric)), Roger Nichols (Special Effects), Frank Floyd (Vocals), Hugh McCracken (Guitar), Rob Mounsey (Keyboards), Rob Mounsey (Horn Arrangements), Rick Derringer (Guitar), Will Lee (Bass), Donald Fagen (Horn Arrangements), Greg Phillinganes (Piano (Electric)), Wayne Yurgelun (Assistant Engineer), Daniel Bazerus (Vocals (Background)), Rob Mounsey (Synthesizer), Dave Bargeron (Euphonium), Randy Brecker (Trumpet), David Tofani (Saxophone), Greg Phillinganes (Synthesizer Bass), James Hamilton (Photography)
The Nightfly is the first solo album by Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen, released in 1982. It was one of the first fully digital recordings of popular music. The album was certified Platinum for US sales of over 1 million copies and produced two popular hits with "IGY (What A Beautiful World)" and "New Frontier". It also received several 1983 Grammy Award nominations.
The common thread among the album's tracks is the cautiously optimistic mood of the late 1950s and early 1960s (i.e., Fagen's youth), particularly as reflected in "I.G.Y."'s lyrics. The liner notes describe the album's songs as representing "represent certain fantasies that might have been entertained by a young man growing up in the remote suburbs of a northeastern city during the late fifties and early sixties, i.e., one of my general height, weight and build."
In the UK the album was certified Platinum in 2004, despite only reaching #44 on the charts following its release. It has also gone Platinum in America. This relatively low-key but long-lived popularity led the Wall Street Journal to dub the album "one of pop music's sneakiest masterpieces" upon the release of a 25th anniversary edition of The Nightfly in late 2007.[1]
Paul White, editor-in-chief of Sound On Sound Magazine, said The Nightfly "is always a good reference for checking out monitoring systems and shows what good results could be obtained from those early digital recording systems in the right hands."[2]
The title song mentions WJAZ, an independent radio station in Pennsylvania.
