Donald Fagen's Nightfly - Love it or Hate it?

I bought the LP when this it was first released and thought it was a great recording, sonically and musically.

Now I still like the music but do not like the very digital sound. One of the earliest digital albums.

Love the optimism of IGY

Love it! Great songs and great sound, except the bass should have been brought up a little more in the mix.

Great album. So is Kimakiriad. Morph is a distant third.

Nightfly, to me, is an all-time classic. I recall being floored hearing Fagen do "Walk Between the Raindrops". The arrangement in that song is, well, perfect...leading me to ask ,

Does anyone know what the above poster means when they say "too perfect".

Don't get me wrong-I like the record. But I can understand that someone might say it's "too perfect". Like much of Steely Dan's stuff, it' kind of a mixture of happy upbeat pop and pseudo jazz but if your tastes lean toward other types of music that a lot people consider to have a real "edge" like small group jazz, rock, blues, r&b or stuff like Tom Waits/Bob Dylan then "Nightfly" can seem to be a bit sterile and mechanical.

It probably boils down to what kind of mood you're in.