Donald Fagen - New Frontier CD Video (1988)

So I'm sitting here minding my own business when I read the following post on another blog: Stereo Review In Review: September 1988. The blog post in question summarizes an article regarding CD Videos before posing the query "Wondering how many of these are in the hands of the folks over at the CD Project…"

Well, not only was the answer a big, fat zero; I had never even heard of such a disc until reading that post. But with a challenge like that, I simply had to possess a CDV of my own, post-haste. Regular readers of this blog are aware of my mild-to-moderate eBay addiction, plus Donald Fagen's LP The Nightfly is on my proverbial "desert island" album list, so it wasn't long until this CDV was ordered.

click to enlarge

Come to find out that a CDV is a 5" gold disc, basically half-laserdisc and half-regular CD; it plays the audio tracks (usually 2-4 songs) in a CD player and the video clip in an laserdisc player. Combo players were also manufactured briefly:

Adjusted for inflation, $1,300 in 1988 equals $2,856 in 2020

CDV had relatively short life span (ca. 1987-1991) and was eventually replaced by by the Video CD in 1993. Since the latter VCD discs are designed to deliver video only, I don't feel compelled to figuratively run out and buy one, but ya never know.

Tracks: As advertised, the two audio tracks readily play on all my CD players. Track 1 is listed as the 7" version at 4:24, but discogs doesn't list any 7" at that playing length. In any case, I previously didn't have any edit other than the album cut, so this CDV did more than simply appease my curiosity.

Soon after I saw the video for New Frontier on MTV, I owned The Nightfly LP and anyone who rode with me in my car in 1983 was subjected to this song (it was for their own good, really). Musically, it's a great piece with tight vocal harmonies, exotic chords (B9, F#6, C9+11, etc.), and great solos from Larry Carlton on guitar and Hugh McCracken on harmonica. Lyrically, the song takes us back to the Kennedy years and the beginnings of the Cold War. Not political at all, it simply uses that era as a backdrop as the lyrics tell the story of a teenage boy trying to lure his date down into a backyard fallout shelter for a night (or at least a few minutes) of passion. If I'd had a fallout shelter in my backyard in the early '80s, I'd have tried the same move.

Track 2 is Maxine, with vocal harmonies that echo those of The Four Freshmen and lyrics that capture the anxiousness of high school romance - big plans with no idea how to get there.

Track 3 is allegedly the video of New Frontier (now readily available on YouTube, below). None of my CD players acknowledge the track, but that's no surprise. My desktop computer's DVD drive didn't even recognize a video file, so I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to be able to access this 1988 technology in 2020 without buying a refurbished laserdisc machine (that ain't gonna happen, folks). I've got four more devices that will read 5" discs, so I might as well try those:

• Nintendo Wii: ✘
• Sony PS4: ✘
• Microsoft Xbox One S: ✘
• Sony BDPS3500 Blu-ray Player: ✘

0-for-4. Ah, well, it was worth a shot. Open to suggestions.

I guess CDV filled a small niche for fans back in the late '80s. At the time, CDVs would have provided the only way to view a specific music video on-demand other than on VHS or full-on laserdisc. A very small niche, indeed. I doubt I'll be purchasing more, but there's always a chance.

Question: since they were released in the late '80s in standard CD jewelboxes, were some CDVs packaged in longboxes or blister packs? Hmmm...

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above. Also, I have specific memories of singing Maxine while working late nights at the Burger King drive-thru during the spring and summer of 1983. My co-workers must have loved that.

$3.35/hour

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sunken Condos (2012)
Morph the Cat (2006)
Kamakiriad (1993)
The Nightfly (1982)