Aja

Chances are you will have said "Deacon Blues," "Peg," "Josie." Dig a little deeper and you might have heard "Home At Last," "Aja" and "Black Cow." Heck, I know I have heard "I Got The News" on a deep cuts show or two. That's every durn cut on the album. That's how classic this set is.

Yes, it is the height of the California sound- smoothed out jazz flavored mellow weed influenced yuppie music, but damn if there has ever been any record that goes down smoother. This is math music, every note laid down precisely. No room here for the wonderful noise of punk that was bubbling up at the time.

And unlike say, Gaucho or Everything Must Go, Aja manages to inject some real soul into the music. Simply put Aja is Donald and Wally at their best of best.


The ultimate jazzy funky rock album. So outrageous!   September 18, 2007
K. Swanson (Austin, TX United States)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

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.



Maybe one of the best albums ever recorded   July 16, 2000
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Aja, Steely Dan's 6th release, is not unlike their other albums because it is full of great lyrics and music. However, this one is the most ambitious work ever released by the group. The title cut is the best example of this. While this song is recorded entirely by excellent musicians, drummer Steve Gadd really makes the song what it is. His groundbreaking technique of playing triplets by using two toms and the bass drum makes a cool sound effect, and it is used throughout the song. Without a doubt, his is some of the best drumming I've ever heard. The big hit of the album, "Peg," is and always has been my favorite Steely Dan song. The harmonies sung by back up singer Micheal McDonald are in my opinion the best part. The song wouldn't be half as good without him. Deacon Blues is also one of the most ambitious songs recorded by the group, with complicated horn charts arranged by Tom Scott. Despite the fact that it is 6 minutes long, listening to it feels much shorter. This album has everything that makes a great album. Great lyrics, great music, and lots of talent. If you buy any Steely Dan album, get this one.


Jazz Flavor   January 26, 2001
Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

On Aja, Steely Dan reached the perfect synthesis of their jazz, pop and rock mixture. The album contains a scant seven songs, but they are packed with classic Dan lyrics, slick production and tight musicianship. The first three songs, "Black Cow", the title track and "Deacon Blues" best typify the jazz-pop merger as they are lengthy cuts with stirring riffs, great musician interplay and Donald Fagen's all knowing vocals. "Josie" & "Peg" are bouncy, playful and chock full of big hooks. They show that the band aren't just cynics, but can be light as well. What makes Steely Dan such an interesting band is that they are willing to push the musical envelope and blur the lines between different musical styles.