Steely Dan - Aja (1977)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a LP, later replaced by a CD.

This album scores a spot in my all-time top ten album list. Easily. An epic piece of jazz-rock suitable for any occasion. The writing, playing, and production is all impeccable. Fagen and Becker went out and got LA's best session musicians and the results are obvious. Just listen to Steve Gadd and Wayne Shorter tear up the title track. Or Jay Graydon's perfect guitar solo on Peg. Or Michael McDonald's incredibly close overdubbed vocal harmonies on the chorus of that same song. To better appreciate the album, I highly recommend checking out the documentary about the making of Aja in the Classic Albums series. There's also a great book by about the album in the 33⅓ series by Don Breithaupt. The album was recently added to the National Recording Registry, which is an interesting mixed bag of stuff. In any case, I'll be taking this one to the hypothetical desert island with me.

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked Aja at #63.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "unique brand of richly texture melodies."
• CashBox: "high-quality, finely textured stuff"
• Record World: "A major work, certainly."
• Rolling Stone : "calculated mutation of various rock, pop and jazz idioms."
• Stereo Review: "Excellent, but..."
• Musician: "There's intelligence operating here, and much good taste."
• Down Beat (★★★★): "another worthy collection"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #3
• CashBox: #3
• CashBox CD: #8

Tracks: 7 tracks stretching out over 40 minutes. I don't know if I could pick a favorite track even if someone put a gun to my head.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I was totally unfamiliar with this album when I first purchased it when I was in high school. I think it came in a batch from the infamous Columbia Record Club. I was hooked from the get-go.

This music also reminds me of many, many evenings spent on the back deck of my friend Richard's house on 6th St in BC. I often wish I could recapture/relive some of those evenings with the opening measures of Black Cow pouring out of his Advent speakers through the French doors and on to the deck.

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Liner notes: I poured over the original liner notes, trying to make sense of it all. Those notes aren't included in my CD copy, but you can read them by clicking on the pic below: