Posted on 05/17/2024 3:10:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Produced by longtime collaborator Gary Katz, the album went on to be the band’s most successful, and their first platinum disc.
The recordings of Steely Dan are so superbly crafted that it’s no surprise they have won honors for their studio engineering as well as their superior musicianship.
The band’s magnificent Aja album, released on September 23, 1977, went on to win a Grammy Award the following February 23. It was for Best Engineered Recording, Non Classical, for Al Schmitt, Bill Schnee, Elliot Scheiner, and Roger Nichols.
This masterwork, which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, came as Steely Dan were making their transition from their original hit style of the “Reeling In The Years” period to an ever more sophisticated and quite jazzy sound. At the same time, they not only retained great commercial appeal, but heightened it. Aja, produced by their longtime collaborator Gary Katz, went on to be the band’s most successful album and their first platinum disc.
The sixth Steely Dan LP, Aja made the US charts in October 1977, and within a few weeks, they had a hit on their hands from it. The catchy “Peg,” with distinctive harmony vocals by another friend of long-standing, Michael McDonald, began climbing the Hot 100 on its way to No.11. Early in the new year, a second hit was forthcoming in the shape of “Deacon Blues.”
En route to double platinum
No wonder, then, that the album became their highest-charting record in America, spending no fewer than seven weeks at No.3, en route to double platinum status. Rolling Stone placed at as high as No.145 in the magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
As writer Chris Morris opined in Variety, when the album hit its 40th anniversary in September 2017: “To be sure, Fagen and Becker were being true to their studio-obsessive, perfectionist natures as they sculpted their bestselling and most widely admired record. In a 2000 video about the making of the album, the pair can be seen offering tart commentary as they audition the rejected guitar solos cut for ‘Peg,’ finally performed with angular precision by Jay Graydon. They knew what they wanted, and they laboured hard to find the sweet spot.”
The urbane, airy sound of the signature hits, the title track, the spirited “Josie” and others made Aja a must-have for any album-buying record buff of the time. The presence of A-list musicians such as Joe Sample, Wayne Shorter, Larry Carlton, Jim Keltner, and Tom Scott only added to the elegant sound of an album that will never go out of date.
“ The older I get the more I like Steely Dan.”
You and me both.
L
That’s funny, but honestly, there’s no way that Steve Gadd wouldn’t recognize his own playing on the “out” drum section of (the tune) Aja. It’s not that it’s the greatest drum “solo” of all time, but the style is very uniquely Gadd.
Lol - one in every crowd.
Can’t Buy a Thrill
Gaucho
Katy Lied
Countdown to Ecstasy
Aja
Pretzel Logic
Royal Scam
and they’re all great
One of my all time favorites (and I have many), still have the vinyl and it’s in great shape. Larry Carlton was relatively unknown at the time, but he gave some outstanding licks on this album. I’ve been a fan of Carlton for many years now, and of course with all of the various band members. A truly outstanding album, as was most of their work.
The drum solo in Aja is Steve Gadd. Probably the best living drummer. He also played drums on “50 Ways to Lose Your Lover”
Larry Carlton’s playing on The Crusader’s “Chain Reaction” album is what turned me on to the whole jazz fusion genre back in the 70s
Aja lived to be 20 passed 7/6/22. I also love this album and still listen often❤️
McWaishie. 😔
I assumed as much.
Ah yes, Captain fingers.
I not a fan of Michael McDonald (or any singer who’s voice is so high pitched he sounds like he snagged his wedding tackle in the zipper of his trousers). S’why I prefer Russian choral music to Italian opera. Give me the thunder of bass baritones over the ear-piercing screech of tenors any day. Or to put it another way, Men (with a capital “M”) over castratos or contratenors.
I even cooled on the Doobies when McDonald joined the band. However, his vocals on “Peg” are one of the most extraordinary vocal performances of all time. He’s singing 4-part harmony -— with himself. The four parts are at half-step intervals, and he sang each part cold, not listening to any of the other parts for reference. All overdubs, all natural, no autotune or other electronic trickery, just perfect pitch. And it took about a thousand takes to get it right (by Fagen & Becker’s standards).
And the result is glorious.
Everyone should watch “the making of Aja”. It’s on prime.
I was gobsmacked a couple of years ago when I saw James Taylor in concert and discovered that Steve Gadd was the drummer in his band. They put on a great show.
There are other great stories from the making of this song, bass player, engineer, etc. lots of videos on YouTube about the making of song. I have not figured out if they are jazz musicians masquerading as Rock & Roll or Rock & Roll Masquerading as jazz musicians.
Lyrics are like wine in the music
I’ll learn to work the Saxaphone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
And I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
And
On the counter by your keys
Was a book of numbers and your remedies
One of these surely will screen out the sorrow
But where are you tomorrow
I can’t cry anymore
While you run around, while you run around
Break away
Just when it seems so clear
That it’s over now
Drink your big black cow
And get out of here
I used to be a huge fan of SD. I even saw them live in the 70s in Long Beach Cal. Great show.
Anymore, their music just bores the hell out of me.
If we look back at our past 30 years , we probably forgot some of the “cool” things we did at our respective employers.
Aja is probably just another “cool” thing that Gadd did. As you note, it’s not 50 Ways. But when you work at that level, “cool” things run into one another.
Steve Gadd playing with The Studio Band Of The US Army Field Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzFWSYFX4J8
Close, but Lee Ritenour was or still is known as “Captain Fingers” and was the name of a studio album by him. They were friends, an album “larry and Lee” is some cool jazz.
The Crusaders is the group that got me into Joe Sample and some others, a great group.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.