Morph the Cat is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen. Released on March 7, 2006, to generally positive reviews from critics, Morph the Cat was described by Fagen as his "death album" in an interview with Fred Kaplan of The New York Times. Musicians on the album include drummer Keith Carlock, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, bassist Freddie Washington, and guitarists Frank Vignola, Jon Herington, Wayne Krantz, and Hugh McCracken.
Overview The album is the third installment in Fagen's personal trilogy: The Nightfly about youth, Kamakiriad about midlife, and Morph the Cat about endings. As Fagen spoke of the album, “I’m starting to get older and began to think about mortality a little more. My mother died in 2003 and that was a big shock. When your parents start to die off, that’s going to be a revelation. So for me, this album, although it might sound quite cheery, is really talking a lot about death.” PopMatters expanded on this idea, "Lyrically, Morph the Cat is a logical successor to the first two Donald Fagen solo albums, The Nightfly and Kamakiriad. While Nightfly was set nostalgically in the 1950s and 1960s of Mr. Fagen’s youth, Kamakiriad and Morph are present-tense missives from middle age and late middle age, respectively." The Guardian also described the album's theme of mortality as "blackly appropriate that the funky 'Brite Nitegown' lists three encounters with death: a verse each for sickness, murder and drugs. With razor-sharp horns and Prince-like vocals, it's a killer." In 2006, Fagen also commented that his next project (Sunken Condos, released in 2012) will not be related to these three autobiographical releases, and that "it will be something completely new and it won't be part of this trilogy." The album also has distinct political overtones. Fagen said that "Mary Shut the Garden Door", which depicts a frightening alien invasion, was inspired by the 2004 Republican National Convention in Manhattan and contains allusions to those then in power in the United States. “What I Do” has been described as "a dastardly clever conversation between the ghost of Ray Charles and a young Donald Fagen seeking romantic tips".
Release Morph the Cat was released on CD and on a CD/DVD-Audio 2-disc package, with a 5.1 surround sound mix engineered by Elliot Scheiner. The surround recording won the Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album. Track listing All songs written by Donald Fagen.
Personnel
Musicians
Donald Fagen – lead vocals, backing vocals, Fender Rhodes (1, 2, 4, 9), piano (6, 7), organ (6), melodica (8) Ted Baker – piano (2, 5), Wurlitzer electric piano (3, 6), Fender Rhodes (7, 8) Jon Herington – guitar solo (1, 2, 9), guitar (3–8), guitar chorus solo (9) Wayne Krantz – guitar (1–3, 6–9), guitar solo (4, 5) Hugh McCracken – guitar (1–3, 9) Frank Vignola – guitar (1), guitar tag solo (9) Ken Emerson – guitar (3) Ken Wessel – guitar solo (6) Freddie Washington – bass (1–3, 5–9) Harlan Post Jr.Pseudonym for Fagen. – acoustic bass (7) Brian Montgomery – remedial bass (9) Keith Carlock – drums (1–3, 5–9) Gordon Gottlieb – percussion (2, 4, 6, 7) Bashiri Johnson – percussion (4) Joe Pasaro – percussion (5) Phonus Quaver – vibraphone (1, 5, 8, 9), marimba (1, 4, 9) Walt Weiskopf – tenor saxophone (1, 2, 7, 9), tenor sax solo (1, 2), alto saxophone (4, 5) Roger Rosenberg – baritone saxophone (2, 4, 5), bass clarinet (7) Lawrence Feldman – clarinet (2), tenor saxophone (4, 5), flute (7) Illinois Elohainu – flutes (8) Marvin Stamm – trumpet (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9), trumpet solo (5) Mark Patterson – trombone (4, 5, 7) Howard Levy – harmonica (3, 7), harmonica solo (3) Jennifer Battista – handclaps (6) Eddie Jackson – handclaps (6) Camille Meza – handclaps (6) Candice Predham – handclaps (6) Jerry Barnes – backing vocals (1, 5, 9) Michael Harvey – backing vocals (1, 6, 9) Amy Helm – backing vocals (3) Carolyn Leonhart – backing vocals (3, 8) Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals (3)
Technical
Produced by Donald Fagen Engineered and mixed by Elliot Scheiner Overdub/Pro Tools engineers – T.J. Doherty (at Avatar), Brian Montgomery (at Sear and Sugar Sound) Second mix engineer – Brian Montgomery Assistant engineers – Eddie Jackson, Jim Keller, Chad Lupo, Steve Mazur, Brian Montgomery, Matt Scheiner, Bryan Smith, Allan Thomas Piano technicians – Sam Berd, Wayne Williams Drum/guitar technician – Artie Smith Music copyist – Gary Blu Mastered by Darcy Proper at Sony Mastering (New York, NY) Additional mastering – Joseph M. Palmaccio Mastering assistant – Maria Triana Management – Irving Azoff Production coordinators – Jill Dell'Abate and Cindy Osborne Production assistant (Hawaii) – Mary Lou Arnold Art direction – Jeri Heiden Design – Ryan Corey Photography – Danny Clinch
Charts + Chart performance for Morph the Cat Chart (2006) Peakposition Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 44 US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) 5
References
External links Donald Fagen interview in Sound on Sound – article by Paul Tingen, about the making of Morph The Cat, August 2006