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

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.

How can something be excessively perfect? Maybe it's like over abundant or past history.

How can something be excessively perfect? Maybe it's like over abundant or past history.

I suspect the human element is lost or reduced when something becomes so perfect that every drum beat is identical. Sometimes it is the little imperfections or slight variations that give feeling to music... a little emphasis here, a little restraint there. There is a mechanical or machine like sound to the drumming on this album....stunning album, without a doubt, but unsettling to those who fear the Borg ;-)