Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records. Instead, it's a measured and textured album, filled with subtle melodies and accomplished, jazzy solos that blend easily into the lush instrumental backdrops. But Aja isn't just about texture, since Becker and Fagen's songs are their most complex and musically rich set of songs -- even the simplest song, the sunny pop of "Peg," has layers of jazzy vocal harmonies. In fact, Steely Dan ignores rock on Aja, preferring to fuse cool jazz, blues, and pop together in a seamless, seductive fashion. It's complex music delivered with ease, and although the duo's preoccupation with clean sound and self-consciously sophisticated arrangements would eventually lead to a dead end, Aja is a shining example of jazz-rock at its finest. AMG.
listen here
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Steely Dan - Aja 1977
Popular Posts
-
Kathy McCord - Kathy McCord 1970 Kathy McCord released a lone self-titled LP in 1970, the first release from Creed Taylor ’s CTI Records, ...
-
The only album by the Steve Baron Quartet was a fitfully interesting but uneven effort, jumping between Baroque folk-rock, moody early si...
-
When you think of the Doors , "guitar" isn't the first thing that usually comes to mind ( Jim Morrison 's manic persona an...
-
A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge psychedelia with jazz-rock, Soft Machine 's debut ranges between loving...
-
The Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. On this side of the Atlantic, all anybody remembers them for i...
-
Tiny Tim 's 15 minutes of fame were starting to run out when Tiny Tim's Second Album was released in November 1968, and it sold onl...
-
David Lannan was a street singer from San Francisco, CA. 1970's Street Singer was recorded live outside The F.B.I. Stock Exchange City H...
-
Redbone was a Los Angeles-based group led by Native American Pat and Lolly Vegas . They hit paydirt in 1974 with the million-seller "...
-
Types Of Neckwear: Neckties, Ascots, Bolo Ties And More Although the traditional necktie is the preferred neck wear for most men , it is...
-
Judas Jump was a heavy progressive rock band, with lots of Mellotron, flutes, and sax in their sound and who had the distinction of inaug...
0 comments:
Post a Comment