Album – 2 of 10 – Donald Fagen – The nightfly
By no means in any order of preference the next album that came to mind is the one from Donald Fagen – The Nightfly
I got to this album around 1986, despite it being released much earlier in 1982
The Nightfly is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen previously best known for his work in the group Steely Dan,
I knew nothing of such things, having been absorbed with punk music for a number of years, then new adult music as you became home owners, so things like the softer Eurythmics, Dire Straits, Joe Jackson and others.
So it is summer 1986, I’m a flat owner in Upper Norwood, I have a great job, great friends, I think I’d recently changed jobs, and I was living pretty much a way go lucky life. I’d take my laundry to the local shop and have that done for me, I’d go to Football every weekend and then the pub afterwards, and I’d get through the week without much fuss, oddly I don’t recall doing much cooking in this time, but I do recall having a pretty basic kitchen, which did have a microwave, and I have a humorous recollection of purchasing disposable plates and cutlery because it seemed easier. A Saturday trip to the the local Wimpy bar for the Egg-Cheeseburger to fend off the Friday night excess, alp of the block to the supermarket for the needful things and then down hill to get ready for the afternoon of football, which would invariably end at a pub, in Catford, followed by a curry and cocktails called “Pink Panthers“, but don’t ask me how to make one.
I’d moved on from owning Motorcycles, having crashed one and having one stolen, and public transport was good enough for the circle I moved in,
The Nightfly a smooth smokey quiet night time kind of hazy jazz, they lyrics mournful, calling to a simpler time, and seem laid in nostalgia or the dreams of nostalgic times. There’s also some whimsy. A lot of this might be to do with the Artwork that hints at a night-time DJ. Indeed An advertisement in Billboard shortly before the album’s release described the album cover: “At 4:09 a.m., silence and darkness have taken hold of the city. The only sound is the voice of The Nightfly”
An Album of only 8 tracks, and of only 38 minutes long, it seems now to have been plenty long enough to be taken to a better, simpler time.
The Nightfly by Donald Fagen I have it on Vinyl, you can listen on Spotify
Read about Album 1 of 10 – David Bowie – Station to Station here
The Beer:
It’s a Garage Project – Grinderman, a 650ml bottle of a beer that is 6.5% ABV which is about 3.1 standard drinks. Brewed by Garage Project this one is in the style that is a Sweet Stout, a beer I’ve not had before, but I could have sworn that I had, it’s that weird.
Something dark stirs down at the carnival grounds. The Old Grinderman sits and begins to crank out his bitter-sweet tune to the shrieks of his simian companion. There’s darkness within. Grinderman, strong milk stout, brewed with oats, chocolate wheat and roast barley, fortified with lactose and infused with a charge of dark roasted Acme & Co coffee. These ingredients combine to create a bitter-sweet coffee hit that’s strong enough to satisfy the monkey on anyone’s back.
Grinderman emphasis on grin.
This only just became available again I think I missed it first time around. There is a big green coffee kick, that rawness you get from cold-brew coffee in this.
It looks great in the glass with a lovely head that could be firmer but is persistent.
I don’t get any real sweetness from this that is unbalanced or out of place.
I like this but this is a beer that launches to a high and then it’s just plateaus thereafter and not much else happens.
Didn’t stop me loving it thought
If I was measuring this the pdubyah-o-meter would easily go a solid 8
A life just as ordinary 