Product Details

• Actors: Steely Dan
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Eagle Rock Ent
• DVD Release Date: October 3, 2006
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000I5XD06
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,953 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This profile of Steely Dan's elegant 1977 masterpiece, Aja, is a feast for Dan fans, a thoughtful, satisfyingly detailed assessment of the album and its bejeweled fusion of jazz, R&B, rock, and pop. Better yet, the documentary's producers elicit atypically straightforward, revealing interviews from the group's stealthy principals, songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who jettison enough of their signature sarcasm to touch on the autobiographical threads, cultural anomie, and serious musical ambition audible in their work. In that respect, the production rivals any extant interviews with this proudly cerebral, occasionally evasive musical team.

The duo, along with producer Gary Katz, engineer Roger Nichols, and a generous cross-section of the crack New York and Los Angeles musicians featured on the sessions, dissect the sleek layers of the songs both musically and lyrically, both in modern performances featuring the original players and in control-room playbacks of the original multitrack master tapes. Becker and Fagen prove articulate, self-aware, and dryly funny subjects, and the subtlety and richness of the music offer an ample canvas for discovery. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

Pioneering pop/jazz band Steely Dan, formed by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker in the early 70Â’s, had already secured five U.S Top 40 albums before the release of Aja in 1977. Aja, however, was to prove to be the biggest selling album of Steely DanÂ’s illustrious career, reaching Number 3 in the U.S. Billboard chart, spending a year in the Top 40 there and also reaching number 5 in the U.K.

Aja was the first British Top 10 hit for Steely Dan and was also the first album by Becker and Fagen as a duo. Becker and Fagen, renowned for their relentless perfectionism in the recording studio, recall the history of an album that was a year in the making, but rewarded by a prestigious Grammy Award® and three major hit singles, Peg, Deacon Blues and Josie. Michael McDonald, later of the Doobie Brothers, who did guest backing vocals on Aja, the late British musician Ian Dury, record producer Gary Katz, and the legendary session musicians who worked on Aja, also contribute to this fascinating documentary.

Steely DanÂ’s Aja has proved to be one of the most outstanding jazz-rock albums in the history of popular music. This is a vivid portrait of a 70Â’s record that is still as fresh and as memorable more than two decades after its release, a true Classic Album.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aja--one of the greatest albums every produced.., April 7, 2000

By	Gavin Hadley (Avon, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Classic Albums: Steely Dan - Aja (DVD)

This insiders look at the recording process plus a peek into the Becker/Fagen persona is extremely well done. How the Aja album is able to simultaneously evoke southern CA and NY imagery starts making sense now. Hearing all those Peg guitar solos that never made the cut along with Don and Walter's commentary is something that any Dan fan or guitarist will appreciate. I always thought that the SD was largely Don Fagen and that Becker was sort of along for the ride but this DVD sheds new light on that for me. Walter Becker is an incredible producer and I would be willing to bet he contributes well over 50% lyrically. But where would they be without that Fagen voice?

I'm not sure where Aja stands on your list of favorite albums, but it's at the very top of mine. Listen to it a couple of times, then watch this video. You will have a new appreciation for the album--its creators Becker and Fagen and the many musicians who played on it.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh nothing, just the deconstruction of a masterpiece..., February 26, 2001

By	Jon Ell "jon-el" (Aliso Viejo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Albums: Steely Dan - Aja (DVD)

This DVD is a must-see/must-own for any serious fan of the Dan. Aja remains the duo's landmark album; more than that one of the shortlist of truly significant, groundbreaking "rock" albums of the '70s. Presented in a documentary style, it gives a brief background into the history of the band, then proceeds directly to the music itself. Donald and Walter attempt to break it down song by song, track by track, supplementing their revealing insights with interviews with the individual session players on each song, e.g., Larry Carlton, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Wayne Shorter, Michael McDonald, etc. I've shown this DVD to friends not intimately acquainted with SD and turned them into instant fans of the music. Btw, this makes a great companion to the Two Against Nature DVD. Although it lacks "2vN's" lush DTS 5.1 sound, it more than makes up for it with a truly revealing look at a remarkable album for all time.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Education in the making, May 17, 2007

By	S J Buck (Kent, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a marvellous DVD on the making of Steely Dans great album Aja. All of Walter Becker and Donald Fagans legendary perfectionism is on display.
Fortunately for us all the tapes of their sessions were saved, so we are able to hear some of the fabulous guitar solos they rejected for Peg; but then when you re-hear the original you understand why. There are interviews with many guest musicians: Jazz Tenor great Wayne Shorter.
Drummer Bernard Purdie who demonstrates his uniquely funky drumming style.
Michael McDonald talks about some the fiendishly difficult backing vocals he multi-tracked with himself.

This is an essential purchase for the Dan fan or for anybody generally interested in the music making process by two of the most fascinating musicians in the business.