Aja [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Steely Dan

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 23, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00003002C
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (226 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,061 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #54 in

  Music > Pop > Soft Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

History gives Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen the last, hearty laugh on this, the crown jewel in their remarkable canon of '70s Mensa pop. Sneaking onto the charts a half-decade earlier with sinuous, jazz-inflected "rock," the dysfunctional duo's acerbic, anti-heroic visions had been critically lauded for their band identity and killer guitar riffs, then promptly challenged when the two songwriters retired from the road, dissolved any formal band lineup, and used the studio as laboratory. Aja carried the added indignity of its increased focus on sophisticated jazz models and musicianship, which carried the Dan's ambitions even further in terms of suave harmonies, intricate song structures, and brilliant playing. Time has proven them wiser than their rock crit detractors: These seven songs abound in knotty plots, sneaky imagery, and drop-dead brilliant performances from a blue chip studio repertory studded with first-call jazz players epitomized by Wayne Shorter's towering solo on the title song. From the hard-boiled jazz romance of "Deacon Blues" to the twisted Homeric vamp of "Home at Last," the veiled but ominous swing of "Peg" to the sci-fi eroticism of "Josie," Aja is a modern pop classic and the coolest fusion record no one ever thought to lump in that category. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

Limited 2008 UK 180gm vinyl pressing of this classic album, released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the long-playing record. This is an exact replica of the original packaging and contains a voucher enabling the purchaser to download MP3 versions of the songs within. Happy Birthday, my dear vinyl LP! Universal. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless masterpiece, a landmark album of sheer beauty, April 3, 2000

By	Sharon A. (Israel) - See all my reviews

Not many albums have influenced me as much as Steely Dan's Aja. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have created a most unique flavour of Jazz meets Rock where beatiful melodies, genius production and perfect performance blend to produce a timeless masterpiece. This album should be on the A-List of everyone who appreciates the beauty of music. The album is full of complex musical concepts which immediately remind the progressive rock fan some of the common manoeuvres in classic progressive rock albums. Take the title song "Aja" for example. This piece takes you on a eight minutes ride to diverse musical patterns that vary between rock and jazz moods, amplified by rich orchestration. Other songs such as "Decon Blues" and "Home At Last" constantly prove to be intriguing while "Black Cow" is captivating. The presence of saxophonist Wayne Shorter on "Aja" is blessed - as a serious Shorter's fan I was delighted to see his inclusion on the album and I regard this decision as a wise one - the solo part he plays is terrific, bringing his genius and gifts to combine perfectly with the different environment he plays in. I would also like to add it is worthwhile for Steely Dan fans to get the remastered version of the album, just for the sound quality. Usually I cannot tell the difference, but since I had the original CD release and heard it so much, I could compare. The difference is amazing, the quality is much better - you can actually hear new sounds and appreciate the separation of the different instruments. The liner notes are quite disappointing, so I ordered the DVD to learn more about making of this unusual album. This album made me buy all of Steely Dan's albums, so if you like it I would recommend underrated "The Royal Scam" and "Countdown to Ecstasy" albums, although all are excellent. Get this album, it may be one of your best musical purchases ever. I know my getting to know it was a bless.

62 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their best album, August 22, 2003

By	D. H. Richards "ninthwavestore" (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ask yourself this, if you have a decent "classic rock" station in your hometown: when you look at the track list to Aja what songs do you see that you might have heard played?

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.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate jazzy funky rock album. So outrageous!, September 18, 2007

By	K. Swanson (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.