Aja

AJA was Steely Dan's last great album. After five fairly hard-rocking jazz-, blues-, and R&B-based masterpieces in a row, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker must have realized that they'd taken cynicism as far as it could go with THE ROYAL SCAM, and were thinking, "Where do we go from here?" With AJA, they found an answer, playing complex, jazzy, easy-listening pop-rock that epitomizes the essence of cool in rock & roll. With its roots in Basie rather than Berry, AJA provides an escape from the noisy punk rock and prefabricated disco and teen-idol pop dominating the music world in 1977, and, unlike the duo's late-90s/early-00s "comeback" albums (ALIVE IN AMERICA, TWO AGAINST NATURE, EVERYTHING MUST GO), this one has real soul in it, showing R&B roots as well, albeit in a mellower way than the first five albums did. If you buy this CD, along with the first five, you'll have all the Steely Dan you need.

I love Rock and I love Jazz. This is the best combination of the two.

After the soul-informed pseudo grit of The Royal Scam, Steely Dan returned to their sophisticated jazz-rock-pop roots with Aja. Aside from being their most polished, tightly constructed album to date, Aja also features some of Walter Becker and Donald Fagan's strongest songwriting, their most efficient use of session musicians, and some of the smartest and most compelling experimentation of their careers. Of course, this record's also got their typically warped sense of lyrical finesse, full of elliptical jazz references, subtle irony, and genuine emotional affectedness masked by ditched sarcasm. Witness "Deacon Blues," a work of compelling, subtle beauty and airy melodies. Over a nimble, layered instrumental backing, Fagan sings a heartfelt yet subtly barbed ode to his muse, with guitars and horns moaning wistfully in the background. "Peg" is pure laidback funk-jazz, with a deviously catchy melody making way for rolling rhythms and a guitar solo that quietly sets the song on fire. "Home At Last" is a slow, dramatic beauty, and the title track is an epic wash of musical ideas, a gorgeous meld of rock, jazz, and eastern sounds, with an oceanic drum solo thrown in to boot.

To be honest, though, the other three tracks here aren't nearly as strong. "Black Cow" does feature a great chorus and a sparkling electric piano solo, but it just doesn't sustain interest. "Josie" faces a similar problem- it's a jazz-funk workout along the lines of "Peg," and it does feature some beautiful flourishes, but it also gets bogged down in a fairly clichéd rhythmic pattern and a vocal that verges on annoying. "I Got The News" has some wonderfully dirty lyrics, but its unoriginal melody and rhythm (the latter sounding like an unsuccessful attempt to ape "Peg") just plain don't work.

So, I don't see this as the Dan's masterpiece (as many people do), but it still is a fantastic album in its own right. Even the weaker songs have their moments, and the best songs are simply stunning.

5.5 stars

I've lived my life with Aja as a chief soundtrack since it came out. I got it as a kid for Peg, and it has matured like excellent wine since.
The older I get, the better this album gets. On the walkman throughout my travels in various continents, in my car as I went coast to coast many times a year, on the turntable for many sweet evenings watching sunsets fade into the gloaming....Aja never fails. Perfect background music that opens up like a 100-year lotus to reveal, upon serious listening, many layers of harmonic and melodic and rhythmic sophistication. Plus you can play it over and over back to back, and it just never seems to get boring. I can't think of many other recordings of any sort of music that hold up this well after a thousand or so listenings; maybe Kind of Blue, certain Bach pieces, Segovia's finest moments, and that's all that comes immediately to mind. Whatever mood you're in, Aja will heighten its highs and temper its lows. It's magic!
Don and Wally hit it way out of the park with this one. Seven perfect songs, not one second of fluff, some insanely great guitar solos, one of the best drum solos on record (Steve Gadd on the title track), a great Wayne Shorter alto solo on the same cut, Larry Carlton's inimitable snappy edge on Josie, lyrics that never grow old in their elliptical irony ("I cried when I wrote this song, sue me if I play too long"), and simply gorgeous production make this a gem beyond gems.
This may have been the peak of analog production; the ride cymbals breathe and shimmer, the Strat tones are snappy and fat, Tony Jackson's bass on Peg pumps and pops, and on and on. Some of the greatest studio players ever are here, and at their best.
The title track is my favorite Dan tune of them all, except maybe Your Gold Teeth II. You can just float away into heaven behind this song.
No praise is too high for Aja; if you don't own this, no matter what kind of music you like, buy it. You will not be disappointed. It's like a friend that never lets you down.

Steely Dan has to be one of the most unique rock bands in the history of rock music. They are really totally unclassifiable, maybe the only category they can be placed into is Steely Dan. There's jazz, rock, blues, prog rock, pop, it's all there. This band really created their own universe, and it's never been in more evidence than on this album. There's so much to enjoy here, from the intense, impeccable musicianship, to the great, funny, and cryptic lyrics. Every song is equally memorable, with my favorites being the underrated title track (a long, complex song), Deacon Blues, and Peg (one of my favorite Steely Dan songs). They would make one more album after this (Gaucho) before retiring and reemerging later. They are one of the most mysterious, unique bands ever to grace the scene.