Published on Jan 17, 2006
For much of the 1970s, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
— essentially the heart and soul of Steely Dan — worked on
fine-tuning the songwriting and sound that would make their group
legendary. On their sixth album, Aja, they nailed it.
Always using a mixture of jazz and rock, Becker and
Fagen steered their musical boat closer to the world of jazz on
Aja, and somehow came up with a slew of songs that have not
only become legendary, but sound like they could have been recorded
yesterday, not almost 30 years ago. There’s a reason this remains
one of their most popular albums; dig a little deeper into these
words to understand why.
For starters, I’ve never been one who’s been on the
bandwagon of Steely Dan’s cynical lyrics. Sure, you can
occasionally pick up a sneer here and there, even on a casual
listen. But while other reviewers tend to focus on the dark side of
the band’s lyrics, I’ve always been more interested in how the
music seems to power the words.
Yes, you can hear this on the hit single from this
album, “Peg” — and it’s rightfully a classic. I know this gets
overplayed on commercial radio, and I can’t help myself; I love
this song. Maybe it’s that absolutely tasty guitar solo, maybe it’s
the harmonizing vocals meshing with Fagen’s lead line, maybe it’s
the uplifting tempo of the song. (For the record: props to Jay
Graydon for his solo guitar on this song.)
Despite the popularity of this track, the more I
listen to Aja, the more I find one or two others I like, if
not even more, than just as much. “Deacon Blues” has been getting
more airplay on “deep-cut” radio stations in the Chicagoland area,
and for good reason. Despite its clocking in at just under seven
and a half minutes, this could well be the defining track of Steely
Dan and their jazz-rock style (and, yes, even the cynical lyrics
taking the side of the Everyman). Likewise, the title track is one
that is simply infectious, and you can’t help but get caught up in
its almost reggae-like rhythm in the chorus.
Another track just begging for re-discovery is “Black
Cow” — and I’ll admit on this one you can almost feel the cynicism
and sarcasm just dripping off of the speakers. Be that as it may,
it’s a track that defies you to find something wrong with it — and
the truth is, you won’t be able to.
For all of the praise that I can heap on Aja,
I almost feel guilty in saying that “Josie,” another one of the
tracks that does get regular airplay, isn’t one of my favorites.
Sure, I like it, but it’s not one I found myself returning to time
and time again on this disc. Maybe this one, thanks to
oversaturation, has indeed worn out its welcome (albeit
unintentionally), and time will re-charge its batteries in my mind.
Still, it does capture the spirit of Steely Dan and the sound they
strove to capture for the better part of a decade.
It’s wrong to say that “Home At Last” and “I Got The
News” are merely filler tracks, but compared to the magnificent
work that surrounds these two tracks, they sadly don’t quite hold
up as well. This isn’t to say they’re bad; most likely on a weaker
Steely Dan album, these would have been the standouts.
Anyone who really wants to discover Steely Dan
without relying on any of the best-of packages on the market would
be best served starting with Aja. Admittedly, I still have
Gaucho to listen to as I write this review, but I just have
a hard time seeing how Steely Dan could outdo themselves on this
one.