Morph The Cat - Donald Fagen
User Score
8.5 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 42 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 42
  3. Negative: 4 out of 42

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  1. FrankK
    Mar 21, 2006
    4
    Just like Dan, Fagen is at his best as a three and a half minute pop song performer. H-Gang, What I Do and the title tracks highlight an effort that otherwise embodies the overindulgent aspects of Aja & Goucho. Aside from these four songs, the rest is merely background music.
  2. Mack
    Apr 23, 2006
    2
    I just don't get it. It mystifies me how anyone could be so enamored with this vapid, smooth jazz-esque, ready-made keyboard-solo elevator music. Plus, does anyone notice how there's very little variation or perhaps evolution from album to album? If this album was created by a young indie band, it would be given terrible reviews - but slap Donald Fagen's name on it and it's a masterpiece? If the lyrics are so good, how about placing them in something other than a lazy soft jazz setting? How emotional connection with this 'musac' is possible is beyond me. Plus, most artists receive poor reviews when they just keep making the same music over and over - yet once again, Donald Fagen could release this same album every year and reviewers would fawn over it as a treasure. Come on. It's a shame how many wonderful albums are rated lower than this granola background music. Since when has being a huge Donald Fagen fan given reviewers such great street cred?… Expand
  3. RH
    Mar 17, 2006
    0
    Most of these reviews are from runofthemill publications.......hence why the rating is so high. Maybe if you are only listening to mainstream filth, you'll find this refreshing. Otherwise, ignore it like you would Steely Dan.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. Los Angeles Times
    75
    At his best he spins these tales with a mix of literary craft and jazzman's cool, animating his narratives with vivid and colorful language. [5 Mar 2006]
  2. The Guardian
    100
    The album is imbued with a post-9/11 dread, which deters Fagen from recycling the nostalgia and Lynchian fantasy of his previous albums.
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  3. Entertainment Weekly
    83
    With its precisely calibrated funk grooves, exquisitely tasteful playing, and general air of blissed-out languor, Morph is firmly in the smoothed-out tradition of latter-day Dan discs like Gaucho. [17 Mar 2006, p.111]
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