Album Of The Week #310 - Steely Dan Aja

[Scott]

Pitch hitting this week! And I'm happy to do it for our friend. I have no idea if this is an anniversary week, or some other theme, but I know this... Not showcasing this album for 309 posts is enough. SO it gets the coveted #310 slot...

Its Steely Dan's masterpice, Aja!

Allmusic says...
Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records. Instead, it's a measured and textured album, filled with subtle melodies and accomplished, jazzy solos that blend easily into the lush instrumental backdrops. But Aja isn't just about texture, since Becker and Fagen's songs are their most complex and musically rich set of songs -- even the simplest song, the sunny pop of "Peg," has layers of jazzy vocal harmonies. In fact, Steely Dan ignores rock on Aja, preferring to fuse cool jazz, blues, and pop together in a seamless, seductive fashion. It's complex music delivered with ease, and although the duo's preoccupation with clean sound and self-consciously sophisticated arrangements would eventually lead to a dead end, Aja is a shining example of jazz-rock at its finest.

But theres more too..
Aja is the subject of one of the Classic Albums, a series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. The documentary includes a song-by-song study of the album (the only omission being "I Got the News", which is played during the closing credits), interviews with Steely Dan co-founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (among others) plus new, live-in-studio versions of songs from the album. Becker and Fagen also play back several of the rejected guitar solos for "Peg", which were recorded before Jay Graydon produced the satisfactory take.

When DTS attempted to make a 5.1 version, it was discovered that the multitrack masters for both "Black Cow" and the title track were missing. For this same reason, a multichannel SACD version was cancelled by Universal Music. Donald Fagen has offered a $600 reward for the missing masters or any information that leads to their recovery.

In 2010 the Library of Congress selected Aja for inclusion in the United States National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance.

Additional musicians...

• Victor Feldman – electric piano (1, 3, 7), vibraphone (5, 6), piano (5, 6), percussion (2, 4)
• Joe Sample – electric piano (2), Hohner Clavinet (1)
• Paul Griffin – electric piano (4), backing vocals (4)
• Michael Omartian – piano (2)
• Don Grolnick – Hohner Clavinet (4)
• Larry Carlton – guitar (1, 2, 3, 5, 7), guitar solo (6)
• Denny Dias (2), Dean Parks (3, 6, 7), Steve Khan (4) – guitar
• Jay Graydon – solo guitar (4)
• Chuck Rainey – bass (all but 3)
• Paul Humphrey (1), Steve Gadd (2), Bernard Purdie (3, 5), Rick Marotta (4), Ed Greene (6) – drums
• Jim Keltner – drums (7), percussion (7)
• Gary Coleman – percussion (4)
• Tom Scott – tenor saxophone (1), Lyricon (4), horn arrangements
• Wayne Shorter (2), Pete Christlieb (3) – tenor saxophone
• Jim Horn, Bill Perkins, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso – saxes/flutes
• Chuck Findley, Lou McCreary, Slyde Hyde – brass
• Michael McDonald (4, 6), Timothy B. Schmit (2, 5, 7), Clydie King (1, 3, 6), Sherlie Matthews (1, 3, 6), Venetta Fields (1, 3, 6), Rebecca Louis (1, 6) – backing vocals

Side one...

1. "Black Cow" – 5:10
2. "Aja" – 7:57
3. "Deacon Blues" – 7:33

Side two...

4. "Peg" – 3:57
5. "Home at Last" – 5:34
6. "I Got the News" – 5:06
7. "Josie" – 4:33

[Niels (Mod)]

Easy listening from Scott? That must be a first?!!

I know the name Steely Dan, but that's it.

Black Cow is a pleassant listening- experience, but I'm afraid, I will be bored after 2 or 3 tracks if it's more of the same.

Actually once, around 1990, I tried listening to and buying music sounding like this, or kind of like this. Anita Baker?! Isn't that almost the same......shit? Harry Connick Jnr. isn't exactly the same, but that kind of music, I tried to "get in to" 25 years ago. Or The Tears For Fears-album from 1989?! Not long after, I was saved by Grunge. Thank God for Grunge. I might make a T-shirt saying that.

Aja is playing, and it's fine, but I'm feeling sleepy already A little Toto-feeling, also. I'm no Saxophone-man, never was never will be.

Now I'm thinking about Frank Zappa. If it was MUCH weider, it wouldn't be that far from some of his creations.

Deacon Blues is more of the same. I can easily hear, that it must be a great album for people liking this kind of music, meaning you, Scott. I miss the weirdness of Frank Zappa in the music.

Peg is a bit more Disco, than the other songs. Do I like Disco? You answer that. Yeah, I heard Michael McDonald, alright. Hey, guitar, nice. Actually not a bad track. I like the "speed". Maybe my favorite-track on the album.

Home At Last is sounding a bit boring. But they are excellent musicians. TOP-musicians!! Also the singer (Steely Dan?). Hmm, still not really a bad track. I must remember this album. There's always a time, where this kind of music comes in handy. Maybe my sister would love it? I'm not kidding. Just thinking out loud.

There - I've just emaild my sister about this album. I bet she'll like it. Maybe she knows it already?!

The rest of the album is just as good. Yes, I actually think this album is very, very good. It's not really my style, but I really enjoyed listening to it. I don't think it'll be the last time.

Very nice one, Scott.

[Scott]

Well that ended differently than I thought!

[Niels (Mod)]

You know what? I've heard this album 3 times in a row. I really like it. And my sister likes it.

I guess I was open for this kind of music right now.

[Jon]

I bought this sometime in the late 70's/early 8o's because it was in a cutout bin and I believe it had some sort of sticker on it proclaiming its Grammy win. So, I figured it just had to be good.

Well, I didn't like it too much. Too mellow.

Years later I bought it again and totally dug it. Don't know why I missed the jazziness of it way back then, but I got it the second time around. Kinda jazzy like Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". Mellower jazziness to be sure, but both are chock-filled with jazziness.

This was the only SD album I had for the longest time. I had a couple greatest hits comps throughout the years and picked up their comeback album "Two Against Nature" (which I didn't and still don't like much for some reason) but this album was the only early albums I had. 

Wait. I think I had "Gaucho" when that came out. Didn't like it then either. Now I do.

Finally rectified that a few years ago and I have all their studio albums because they were 4.99. Unbeatable price. Like 'em all. Compared to to their earlier albums, this one is the mellowest, but I revisit it a lot. Put me in a mellow mood and makes me want to light up, but that's illegal (for now) in this state, so I have to fight the urge.

[Scott]

I first heard this at my friends house in 77-78 (Close to that anyway)  and I didn't know what to think either.  I had just begun to get into Kiss, April Wine, The Cars etc....  So it passed me by.

But now its a different story, Steely Dan is a great band for me, almost all of their work is incredible, but you're right about Two Against Nature...