The album follows a lengthy writer's block for Fagen; the songs are based on personal observations about middle age (as 1982's The Nightfly is lyrically described as fantasies of Fagen's youth.
It is an odd concept, and one that is not obvious to the listener, but reflection upon Fagen's liner notes while listening to the album does tend to evoke a vision of a non-apocalyptic near future, where swingers sip cocktails and fresh vegetable juices as they groove to synthesized jazz-rock. Evocative or not, this is not Fagen's best effort. The songs on "Kamakiriad" are mainly static one-chord vamps, with little of the interesting off-beat hits or chord changes that characterized most of Steely Dan's corpus (although, it must be said, Two Against Nature isn't too far conceptually from what Fagen is doing here). There is a slightly antiseptic feeling to "Kamakiriad". Although the drum tracks are not synthesized, they sure sound that way, and even the horns sound electronic at times, a far cry from the lush arrangements of "Aja". Another shortcoming of this record is the fact that the verse melodies don't sound very developed. The choruses are as catchy and cryptic as you would expect from Donald Fagen, but the verses are less than memorable. Walter Becker, who produced the record, as well as contributing bass and guitar, also co-wrote "Snowbound." Perhaps not surprisingly, it does the best job at evoking classic Steely Dan. "Kamakiriad" is pleasant as background music, but in the end it doesn't provide enough interesting moments to rank as a must-have. The static grooves, coupled with the long song lengths, and general lack of dynamic movement makes this record one of the least essential of Fagen's recorded output.
Track listing
01. Trans-Island Skyway (Fagen) - 6:30
02. Countermoon (Fagen) - 5:05
03. Springtime (Fagen) - 5:06
04. Snowbound (Walter Becker, Fagen) - 7:08
05. Tomorrow's Girls (Fagen) - 6:17
06. Florida Room (Fagen, Libby Titus) - 6:02
07. On the Dunes (Fagen) - 8:07
08. Teahouse on the Tracks (Fagen) - 6:09
Released: May 25, 1993
Recorded at: River Sound, Clinton Recording and The Hit Factory, New York , New York ; Hyperbolic Sound, Hawaii
Genre: Jazz-Rock
Length: 50:31
Label: Reprise
Producer: Walter Becker
Personnel
Donald Fagen - keyboards, vocals
Walter Becker - bass, lead guitar
Randy Brecker - trumpet, flugelhorn
Cornelius Bumpus - tenor saxophone
Angela Clemmons-Patrick - background vocals
Leroy Clouden - percussion, drums
Ronnie Cuber - baritone saxophone
Frank "Harmonica Frank" Floyd - background vocals
Diane Garisto - background vocals
Paul Griffin - Hammond
Amy Helm - background vocals
Bashiri Johnson - percussion
Birch Johnson - trombone
Mindy Joslyn - background vocals
Brenda King - background vocals
Curtis King - background vocals
Lou Marini - clarinet, flute, alto saxophone
Dennis McDermott - drums
Jenni Muldaur - background vocals
Christopher Parker - drums
Jim Pugh - trombone
Tim Ries - tenor saxophone
Roger Rosenberg - baritone saxophone
Alan Rubin - trumpet, flugelhorn
Catherine Russell - background vocals
Dian Sorel - background vocals
Fonzi Thornton - background vocals
David Tofani - flute, tenor saxophone
Georg Wadenius - guitar
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