Yes, I love Donald Fagen. Yes, I love The Nightfly, but I’d rather listen to the album that beat it for album of the year, Toto IV. Why such sacrilege? The Nightfly sounds too much like Steely Dan. Yes, that’s great – and, I guess, how could it not? That being said, Fagen’s second solo effort, the Top 10 and Grammy-nominated Karmakiriad, sounds like a proper solo album. How is that, when Walter Becker produced it, played all the bass and solo guitar, and even co-wrote one song? Donald Fagen has an even more fleshed-out lyrical theme for the album, which sounded weird at the time but I always enjoyed. Musically and sonically, the album is tight and precise yet funky and funny. “Countermoon” is a gem lyrically, and Fagen has rarely found such a great groove. “On the Dunes” is as vivid as anything Fagen has done; Cornelius Bumpus, of Doobie Brothers fame, adds his name to the short list of great Steely Dan / Walter Becker / Donald Fagen sax men. Karmakiriad is the highest-charting Donald Fagen album for a reason.