Aja

2. Yawn.

ey nunca vip io

It's a no from me. One of the most 'session musician does a recording' album we've had. Lots of musicality but where does it go? Round and round and round.

Huske kje, sikkert terningkast 2 som vanlig

Well produced but boring af.

Dan, steely

cheesy, boring music you hear at a sandals resort. enjoy your nostalgia. There were 22 seconds of Josie I enjoyed.

jam band? jam band! jam jam jam jam jam balaya jam jam jam? band? jam!

It is what it is. I didn't expect anything else. Really not my thing.

Steely Dan is the band people talk about when they want to sound intelligent. I fucking hate Steely Dan and their dentist office smooth jazz castoff. 2/5.

I don't get it

I saw a lof of rather negative reviews and I get where they are coming from. It's not for everyone, which is fine. It worked forme on an early morning on a sunny day, but I probably wont listen to it again.

Dull

Wasn't terrible, but also kinda meh.

Funk-tatsic

I don’t understand why people call this a perfect album. The music is slow and overwrought

Liked peg, 1st half of album too long

First time listening to a Steely Dan album - time to see what all the fuss is about. The groove out the gate certainly caught my attention, but things never really carried my excitement from there - except maybe the occasional moment of recognizing a sample or two I've known forever but heard in its original context. I would definitely enjoy this album more if it were strictly instrumental - the vocals really do nothing for me. And even as an instrumental album I wouldn't love it, I would simply enjoy it more than I enjoyed this as is. The music is very obviously well-played but it's far too cream-of-wheat for me.

Ok. Interesting finding the song De la soul sampled for eye no. Some sounded like musicians joined the session later not knowing what the tune was.

booped along during work

Our second Steely Dan album in less than a week, eh? Okay then... Right off the bat, I had to check and make sure I had the correct song queued up, and yep, I sure did. And now I know that Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz sampled the opening snippet of "Black Cow" for their song "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)". I prefer the latter track (that opening bit is as funky as "Black Cow" gets, so kudos on separating the wheat from the chaff on that one, guys). I also prefer the De La Soul song "Eye Know (The Know It All Mix)" over "Peg," which it sampled. Two quality hip-hop samples from one Steely Dan album. Who'da thunk it? Unfortunately, the familiar sampled bits were the highlights of the album for me. The rest of it was too soft rock for my taste. Or perhaps I should say "yacht rock," a brilliantly descriptive term I was just reminded of. This definitely feels like rich wypipo on a boat music.

Aside from Peg, this album fell flat & was boring.

Two Steely Dan albums in a week is a bit too much for me to take.

2 not a steely fan

2.5/5 This album reminded me how much I really dislike saxophone/most brass and pretentious jazzy sounding music. Every song sounded the same, and didnt have anything catchy about it. I'm sure the artists are/were talented but it just came off like every person in the back thought they were the star. Will not relisten to this.

Wack

With a straight up feeling of a 90's late night show "The Late show with David Letterman with Paul Shafer and the CBS orchestra", not rock enough even soft rock, not even al dente. Not jazz enough, not funk enough. If this is what yacht rock is, I think it came pre capsized. "You're neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth." - Bill The Butcher

I was Steely bored!

It's a bit like having toast without any butter, it's acceptable but meh. At least I now know where Deacon Blue got their name from.

No es que sea un disco malo, que no lo es, pero bastante olvidable y un tanto repetitivo en algunas canciones

Funky but very samey

This one doesn't do much for me. Definitely prefer Can't Buy a Thrill

Steely din

Actually suffers from being too well produced... makes it sound very cheesy, but generally a solid listen. A slightly harsh 2*

I just can't get into this. They're great musicians, though.

Not my cup of tea.

creepy old man in a van tunes

I wanted to like this because I feel like as an aging middle-aged white woman, I'm nearly obligated to love stuff in this realm, and yet, here we are and I am bored to tears. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, but I don't find anything particularly right with it, either.

I thought there were a lot of songs I enjoyed by Steely Dan. Maybe it's the Velvet Underground effect.....I was blown away by Velvet, dived into all their music for several days, then ripped on most albums afterward, because they didn't compare to Velvet. Well, as Prince would say, "Nothing Compare 2 U" and Steely had the unfortunate circumstances of following Prince's 1999 and several days of binging on nothing but Prince. I do like Josie and even Peg. I don't like Deacon Blues because of the line, They call Alabama the Crimson Tide. Fuck Alabama, the OG of cheating in college football. Most of their team can't spell football, let alone speak coherently. And their inbred fans are some of the worst, but not as bad as all the Michigan arrogant assholes who don't realize their last consensus championship happen during WWII. But when your mom and dad are brother and sister, I suppose your life should revolve around football. Back to the album. Nothing got me excited or made me want to download any of the songs. Still though it was OK, but nothing to get excited about. I have a feeling it's going to take a while for the Prince buzz to wear off. 2

Technically good with good production and interesting harmonies but the songwriting is uninteresting and feels soulless

Boring. Really boring.

No thanks

So jazzy. Great musicianship but I couldn’t sit through this one.

Please no. Boring, dated and just not good.

Pfff....saai....Muzikaal zal het best prima zijn. Maar ik krijg mijn aandacht hier niet op gevestigd.

This was the one Steely Dan album that I had heard years ago. Back then, I didn't understand the hype at all. It's just mildly groovy, adult contemporary dad rock with little that grabs my attention. I think I liked one song. Hearing it again now, a new man with thousands of listening hours and an expanded palette since then, I've reached the same conclusion. The one song I like changed, but it's still mostly nothing for me. I've liked the other Steely Dan projects so far, but this one for me is a dud. Favorite tracks: Black Cow (used to be I Got the News). Album art: The cover is actually really cool (red white and black at it again). Some weird shape of color, and then suddenly you notice a woman's painted face. Far, far more interesting than the music it denotes. That's why I listened all those years ago and was so disappointed. 2/5

2.5/5

This album exists in my head as "the" album that guys born in the 50-60s use to test high end stereo equipment. Obviously a very high level of production, but I do not get excited to listen to the album.

2/5. It’s a technically good album but it feels like a group of people who just found out that jazz was a genre and made a whole album to try it out. I don’t feel the passion in it.

slickly nihilistic

Easy to listen to…perhaps too easy.

My lord

Incredible how some people get albums produced.

A good album but I have my issues. Vocals are an issue for me - no sense of command or facilitation. They hit the middle spot of being a bit wishy-washy. Musically, it is highly intricate - the mixing is insanely good (something I never appreciate unless it's an extreme, an example of bad is enter the 36 chambers, but obviously there are reasons). However, this in some ways can be detrimental to my enjoyment. "Smoothness" is something I enjoy in small doses - a guitar lick, a saxophone solo, a cymbal crash. When every track is smooth it lacks the power to grab me. Good music not great music, would play at a dinner party when I am 50. Fav song - Peg

Well, after three Steely Dan albums so far, I think I can say with some level of confidence that it’s just not my taste. I did like “Peg,” though!

Its really good Not really my style though 2

Meh. I know that’s sacrilege to the diehard Danimals, but I just don’t care. Peg is a bop, but the rest of it is pretty bland.

I had heard of Steely Dan, but I didn't realize it was soft rock. Or as I found out: Historically, Steely Dan has been most often and best described as jazz fusion. This is distinct from progressive rock (another common descriptor of Steely Dan) in that jazz fusion incorporates other musical elements like funk and reggae.

I just don’t like it

The first Steely Dan album I've listened to in full. Sounds like a collection of '70s TV themes. Peg is fun but better when sampled by De La Soul. Seems a bit directionless

Blazing out of the seventies and into your open plan sunken lounge comes Steely Dan. Like car keys in a bowl it sounds good in your mind, but in real life I'd be the one who cycles to the party. Felt this way about the album, a bit of a let down

Ultra easy listening

Okej, men inte mycket mer.

Not a Steely Dan fan.

Short, but concise album by Steely Dan, a jazz/rock ensemble with a core of two musicians: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The record itself is a very broad mix of of many jazz and rock subgenres, giving it a rather unique sound. The album is a quintessential leisure music - what I mean by that, it's a perfect music to relax and enjoy during a quiet evening, with a lamp of wine. The songs are really well written and produced, it feels like every track has its purpose, every instrument and every note is meticulously pre-planned and arranged. Steely Dan knew what they want and they achieved that in 100%. Songs are, from a more distant perspective, very similar to each other, it's easy to miss a transition from on to another, which feels like it's a one continous 40-minutes track, stretching for whole album. As a fan of different type of music, I had a rather hard time enjoying it after first few minutes - I felt like it's very repeatitive and unoriginal. In a context, album like that released in 70s must have been a great occurrence - not only it's something new, but also played and produced to perfection. But right now, it just gets lost in the sea of plenty of similar, or quirkier bands.

Não soou para mim nem como rock, nem como jazz.

I don't really get the point of this kind of music.

Very meh album…nothing stood out to me at all but never heard a band like this before.

I guess if I'm evaluating an album on the technical marvel of its production and the elaborate nature of the performances, then I would be lauding the genius of this album. If I am being honest though, it's just feels too full of itself to be enjoyable.

I enjoyed the instrumentals on this one

Nah. I mean this sounds like an album someone with a very expensive audiophile stereo would appreciate. It has great musicianship and instrumentation - but rather soulless and forgettable. It’s not devoid of humor but not enough to absolve it.

Could not get into this at all

More Steely Dan, but still no Do It Again :( Honestly I got very little enjoyment out of this. Had a lot of jazz-rock lately and it continues to bore me more than it impresses me. The sound may be good, but it doesn't *sound* good, y'know? Little snippets of lyrics I caught interested me more than the music. That, and the fact a couple tracks (Josie and Home at Last, I think) had decent choruses, just about earns it two stars.

Nojaa nojaa… on aika faijamusaa kyllä. Olis voinu olla vähä jotenki enemmän proge tai sit mennä enemmän sinne simon&garfunkeliin 2/5

Aja is relatively inoffensive but uninspiring groove rock stylings with some jazz, 2/5, move on.

Just a bit dull, really. Inoffensive, and a bit one-paced. No stand out tracks (unlike the last Steely Dan album we had), but it's well put together. 2/5.

Hmm neesten 1/5

minne om sånn pappa høyre på

Om ja sku ha levt på 70 talet sku ja antagligen ha kunna lyssna på dehär... Men int just nu

Wasn’t really feeling it

They’re good at playing what I’d consider, crap.

No sabía que existía el género dw Yacht Rock (anda, ve a buscarlo), pero me hace sentido. Eso sí, no es de mi gusto. No lo volvería a escuchar.

Another reason why punk rock had to happen. What was the idea setting to listen to this when it came out? A sunken living room with shag carpet and smoking skunk weed? People rave about the production but sure, if you like sterility.

This feels like a dentist office in 1983. Steely Dan is so weird to me---like, this was nominated for album of the year? Really? /shrug

Not a standout

Hmm no

technical but not soulful

Steely Dan was a term of abuse and now I see why, technically good but soulless. One star bonus for being sampled by De La Soul

Not my taste

Steely Dan is an ok artist with about 3 decent songs. His album with reeling in the years on it was acceptable. This is just pushing it. It’s alright but there is nothing that says to me ‘this is in the top 1001 albums ever written’

You either want killer songs or to be taken on some kind of journey. Don't really feel I got either with this. It just felt like an exercise in studio production

I actually love how cheesy this album is. I just wish each song wasn't so long. I keep zoning out before I can get to grips with the vibe and the story then I zone back in and Steely Dan is singing about China and I really want to know why but I do not want to listen again from the beginning. So that's not ideal to me. Just make each song shorter Steely!! I do like the vocals and the music is very tight. I'm low level pissed off at three songs taking about half an hour though haha, finding it hard to get past that. Maybe I would get on better with another of his albums.

A ovo ono mi je glazba, lagani gay jazz. ali ova stvar "Peg" znam od prije, i super mi je stvar, i iznennadio sam se kad sam skuzio da je to on, ali to je jedna stvar, pa dvojka

Smooth. Too smooth. So smooth there's actually nothing there.

So so, middle of the road...yawn

There's better Steely Dan albums for you dad's out there... fight me

Idk, with cover art like this, I would expect to listen to something interesting

Too bland to escape beyond muzak-level recognition - some interesting melodic ideas, but nothing punchy enough to draw attention.

This feels like endless elevator music with words. The recording quality does feel very high but not enough to compensate for the monotony.

Like a mix of Fleetwood Mac, Hall and Oates, and Barry Manilow. I prefer the first two, but the title track swings a little too Manilow for me. Peg is a feel-good classic. Generally, the album feels like it's missing soul and is too rehearsed or produced to get at my rock or jazz tendencies. It ain't natural.

not one i would really revisit. i like the lil jazzy bits tho

I’ve forgotten what I was going to say about this album and that in itself says it all

Real rating 2.5

I only recognized "Peg" from this record. The rest was pretty groovy in a kind of 70s booty music way. It kind of ran together for me and nothing else really stuck out. Maybe it requires another listen to appreciate but I will probably not do that.

While the musicianship is good the songs are dull and all sound very similar. Although that may be due to the production that is, to me, too clean.

It didn't offend me, and as background lounge music it worked ok. Very forgettable though, couldn't tell you the name of a song after.

Rockin lounge jazz, not great music

Ik had er meer van verwacht, werd snel saai

Beetje suf, weinig boeiends aan.

Anders dan de bandnaam doet vermoeden (Fagen and Becker named the band after a "revolutionary" steam-powered dildo mentioned in the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.) is dit wel echt enorm braaf zeg. Prima om aan te horen maar het wordt nergens ook maar enigszins spannend. Zoutloos.

Arjan kan jullie vertellen wat een Steely Dan is. Laten we het erop houden dat de muziek een stuk braver is dan de naam doet vermoeden.

It was quite nice but did nothing to grab me.

Da sprech ich Tags zuvor von Funk (ugh!) und schon kommt da was seitwärts angefunktes und die Ecke. Anfangs wollte es mir gar gut gefallen, bis mir schwerfiel zwischen den einzelnen Songs zu unterscheiden und alles zu einem langen Stück wurde. Wochenenden kann man die jedenfalls gut im Hintergrund haben, war bei Miriam Makeba auch so also gibt es: 2.0

Kjedelig

Meh

Eh. Enjoyable but not for me.

I do not like Steely Dan. Their music sounds atonal and uncanny in an unpleasant way. This album is technically proficient, and I'm sure fans would enjoy it, but it is not my jam.

I have never been a huge fan of Steely Dan. There's a certain "cheese factor" that gets in the way of me truly enjoying the music. And the vocals are not that pleasant for me. As far as supermarket jazz goes, they do it pretty well I guess. I have always felt that I "should" like them more since they are so well respected by people who's music taste I admire. But it's just not for me. This album is fine, not my favorite by them though.

Too much instrumental for my liking, couldn't stay focused for too long. Best song on the album in my opinion was Josie. It had a groovey beat, and some smooth lyrics.

Second Steely Dan album in the same week. I am having a shitty day and I am hating this album. I am finding the singer's voice super annoying. This could be background music in a fancy and pricey coffee shop.

Pop plus piano bar jazz but not pop enough for any real hooks and not piano bar jazz enough for anything to grab you. Almost like it was designed to be background music of no consequence. But other Steely Dan can be good, so I am not at all sure why anyone considers this to be the pinnacle of Steely Dan. Deacon Blues is almost good.

Exceptionally dull

I don’t like this at all. Genuinely unlistenable.

"Critics and audiophiles applauded the album's high production standards", says Wikipedia. "Smooth jazz-rock from the 1970s..." Oh, good grief, I'm going to hate this. After listening: Yep! Genuinely a contender for the worst album I have ever heard. If I ever get kidnapped by nefarious actors who wish to torture me, just play Aja and I'll give you whatever you want before the first bar is even over! Excruciating!

Yacht rock.. Vill säga vanilla, men det är en kränkning mot vanilj. Detta är som om man gjorde glass på vatten

I don't get it. 39 mins but feels like it goes on forever. 1/5.

Too produced and smooth jazz like for me

I like Steely Dan. I did not like this album at all.

Absolute bollocks! Just another american drivel rock album. Putting a load of talented musicians together does not necessarily make a good band. That’s another 40 minutes of my life I’ll never get back

Perfectly produced dreck.

I hate this

This could be the worst of the seemingly neverending collection of Steely Dan albums on this list. Easy listening to the point of banality, can't remember any part that caught my attention. Definitely no prog or jazz that sometimes appeared in the other stuff. Nothing else to comment on really, very much not essential.

Chevy Chase was Steely Dan's original drummer. And that's the beat thing I can say about them.

Still sounds like elevator music to me. I feel like I’m not on the correct sedatives to enjoy it.

I couldn't get past Track 2. This is everything I hate about 70s music.

Yacht rock vibe

Why?

Nicht so meins

un disco peor que el otro lpm

Please no more bland psychopath dross.

yeah baby, let's sing along, yeah, baby, being your whole neighborhood too, yeah, let's be smooth and sensual, baby, let's consume only weed, no alcohol, no hard drugs, let's sleep enough, let's eat enough, let's maintain a good relationship with our parents, oh come on, baby, don't brood, take some weed

I always KNEW there was something off about Steely Dan. Their profile says they "never truly enjoyed rock." Imagine making music you don't like! How can you possible expect anyone else to like it?!. This is bland. I couldn't tell the difference between the popular songs and the obscure ones. We are going through a very bleak patch on 1001 albums!

Kind of boring

There was one song that led to a de la soul song and that was nice

Gähn

Musically proficient but completely devoid of feeling. Great cure for insomnia.

zero soul negative aura theres only one reason why this album is so highly rated, ethnic nepotism.

I didn't think I'd dislike this as I did, but something about their sound makes my skin crawl.

boring

Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk?

It's a product of it's time line where Jazz was being used in Rock and this gives a funky feel to this album. To it's credit it's expertly crafted with top session players and the production is top notch But overall it's devoid of emotion that leaves me cold. Not a band I'd want to hear again

Not for me

how many more steely dan records are we going to getttttttttttttt

Really terrible

This sounds like somebody asked the SNL band to make an album of the jams they perform to keep the studio audience awake during the ad breaks.

Blech

Not my vibe

The 70’s were weird.

I hated this type of music back in the day and I still can’t stand it now. It’s definitely something my bank would play as their on-hold music just to encourage me to hang up and improve their call clearance times.

If I've learnt one thing on this journey, it's that I hate Steely Dan.

When I was young, I was worried I would grow up and age into soft rock adult contemporary. Listening to this album, I breathe a sigh of relief. I am not yet there. This album is subjectivity torture for me. I can hear why some people would love it, but I am not those people. This is my 20th daily album review, and solidifies my rating system: totally subjective. This is not a 1 star album objectively, but i would be happy to never ever hear it again.

Not for me

Ugh

And ya'll said Tricky was boring. I'm trying to picture for who, what, where, or when Steely Dan goes off, and all that comes to mind is possibly a golden alumni reunion at a state college. And I can't go back there.

I thought I would find Steely Dan bland but inoffensive, acceptable background music. To my surprise I found this album bland and deeply irritating. Can’t really explain why. Just not for me

Mongo is appalled.

Godammit, no more of this. Hated it, HATED it. Only redeeming portion was when I found that little bit that De La Soul sampled. Terrible.

The most inoffensive album you'll ever hear in your life. A great soundtrack for riding the elevator. Music for people who hate music. I think I might have not liked it.

It’s a vibe. Just not my vibe. In 1977 I was 17 years old. This was music for people who were almost or already dead. It still is. The hype surrounding this album was spectacular and silly. This album first made me realize that there was a hype machine around music. Punk was just hitting the far north of Canada and although a complete manufactured movement (Sex Pistols are just a boy band really) but whomever orchestrated this record into a hit record was the best in the business. I get that there are people who love Steely Dan. They have no taste. Smooth jazz rock is boring AF. Deacon Blues, like the rest of the album, is meticulously played with complex jazz notes, highlights the hooks present in Becker and Fagen’s songs hiding awkward and weird lyrics that somehow people convinced themselves this was genius. Honestly, singing the lyrics : I’ll learn to work the saxophone I play just what I feel Drink whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel. That’s fucking bleak. The other hit, Peg has 5 identical verses:. The line “Peg it will come back to you” is sung 10 times. Brutal. There is a reason they did not tour this record. Can you imagine theaters full of people sleeping and snoring as they pretend this moves them. I listen to these records all the way through. By the time I got to Home At Last, I thought I was in a hospital. Critical acclaim for inventing boredom. Ok. It’s a dud. Save your soul. This is music for funerals.

Nop

The first 10 seconds of track 1 are the only thing I'd ever want to hear from this, and that's only because it was the sample for Uptown Baby - a song 1000x better than anything that would follow on this album. Beyond that, get it off, throw it far far away from me. I don't want to listen to music because it was technically engineered at the highest level - ooo! I bet you'd love to read a math textbook next! I want to listen to music because it's good music, and this is not that.

American soft rock at its worst. One star from me

Hated it, so boring and spent every song wishing for it to end

Bored the whole time

Too slow, elevator crap!

Yeah, not so much.

I think I’ll let Steve Albini 2023 tweets provide my feelings on this album and any other Steely Dan album… I will always be the kind of punk that shits on Steely Dan Christ the amount of human effort wasted to sound like an SNL band warm up. "They spent three weeks on the guitar solo..." Three weeks of watching guitar players give it their all while doing bumps and hitting the talkback, "More *Egyptian* but keep it in the pocket..." "Their engineer invented a machine to play the bass drum..." Did he now. And yet it sounds like this. Look at yourselves. Calling them "the Dan." Go trim your beard. Two types of perfectionist: One will prepare, revise and rehearse carefully, with intent, honing an idea to a keen edge, ready to cut the cloth of execution. The other makes other people responsible by saying, "do it again," until by chance they are satisfied, then take credit. There's some video where they talk about every song on an album, and each one begins with the not-bald one saying, "this song is based on my deep love of the blues, just a very bluesy blues. Deep blues." Then lays his jazz dork hands on the fucking electric piano... Music made for the sole purpose of letting the wedding band stretch out a little. All you "I used to hate them" people, pleading their case like it's a natural infirmity. "I need readers now, take pills for my prostate. Get winded on the stairs. And oh, I like that cocaine shit music now. (and it's 1 star only because I can't give it a negative number. FUCK THIS BAND)

No way!!! Never

Kinda too mellow. 1 or 2.

Forgettable.

Bored to tears

I was expecting something more jazzy, or at least jazz-rock... But this is just a bland mix of mall jazz and vanilla funk. At the very best, it sounds like the opening credits of a late 70s exploitation movie. But most of the time it feels like a tired third-rate band playing at the bar of a cheap cruise boat for old people. I’m sure the musicians play very well, and I’m sure someone will find something good to write about this album. I’ll even admit they kind of grew on me by the end of the album... but it was too little, too late. I already gave them 40 minutes of my life, I can’t be bothered to find something better to say about them. It’s just about the opposite of what I personally like in music.

Shit

Today I learned I don't care at all about Steely Dan. Literally skipped thru every song. Just felt so cheesy.

Elevator music

This fucking guy shushed me at the Aja cover show and I will never be the same. End oppression.

Not my tempo

Zu langweilig

Steely Dan is in my category of "bands that make you immediately change the radio station if they come on"....along with Bob Seger and The Doobie Brothers. Worst Dad Yacht Soft Rock. Ick.

Did not like! I knew I wouldn’t.

Sounds like daytime TV intro music. ...or musak. 1,5/5

I find nothing interesting about this

Some of this sounded like bad 80s sitcom intro music

Without the surprise of the first album, I find this one super bland and boring. It’s not bad, it just feels one more time like the kind of music I’d play in my elevator… if I had one.

Can't get too excited over this one. The cover is a nice deep red on black to catch the eye. Nothing really caught my ears though. I had a mate back in the mists of time who would listen to a lot of Steely Dan, who the fuck is Dan and why is he so steely? I never saw the point of them, a bland continuous stream of same-ish strumming droll. Shopping centre music. And where are they now? Hah!, See, I said they would never last.

I can't understand the reviews and supposed quality of Steely Dan's album "Aja." Three hit singles, not a trace of it. This Steely Dan album is even lamer than the other albums I've already heard. I don't give it any points for that, so I give it the obligatory one. Seriously, folks, what's the catch here?

The production is fantastic but this style of yacht rock, which I understand was innovative did nothing for me. I didn't mind Home at Last but aside from that, I did not enjoy listening to this at all.

👎🏻

No.

This was even worse than I thought it would be.

My dad liked this album a lot. My first boss loved it too. The lyrics are clever, and somewhat thoughtful. Ok, that's the end of the compliments. The music is light jazz/light funk/yacht rock shit for yuppies. Fuck this band right to hell; they are literally everything I hate in music all in one package- and what's even more irritating is that b/c of all the old people in my life digging this record, I've heard it a lot, so I know all these songs back and forth and my brain gets a little hit of dopamine when I hear them. It reacts like listening to this garbage is pleasant. UGH.

Hated it. Self indulgent noodling. At least it was short.

nope

Having trouble coming to terms with this being the same band that brought us Haitian Divorce, Reeling in the Years etc. Thought it must have been an earlier work, but apparently not. Apparently they developed that good music into this tripe. It was bloody awful. And NO that doesn't mean I was full of awe. 1

Uffff. If the cast of ‘Friends’ formed a band it would sound like this. I bet they wore linen suit jackets and jeans and rolled their sleeves up. Ufffff.

As bad as Fagans solo effort. But with more mates rather than session musicians. Who would want to actually listen to this non entity?

B S M O H U R I S I T I N C G

I will never understand the great esteem people have for this band. It’s not good jazz and it’s not good rock and roll. It’s polished well past the point of any humanity. The more I hear, the less I like.

Not my thing. Very well produced but ultimately lacking

Zzzz

Reprehensible.

Stop

Silly, frivolous, boring elevator music. Punk could not arrive fast enough in 1977.

booooring as hell!!

Just couldn’t do it

I fucking hate Steely Dan. Perfect music for the lobby at the dentist office.

I can now understand why my Dad never introduced me to Steely Dan, they're really pretentious.

You might call it easy listening, but I don't think there is anything easy about getting through this album

meh

Vraiment pas pour moi

It’s baffling that Aja holds such an exalted place in music history. Listening to this album feels like being trapped at a dinner party you never wanted to attend, where the conversation is polite but utterly lifeless. There’s no spark, no urgency—just a relentless stream of pristine, overthought compositions that leave you cold. Sure, there are brief flashes of guitar work that hint at potential, but they’re swallowed by a sea of sterile smoothness. This is music stripped of grit and soul, so perfectly manicured that it borders on oppressive. You can practically hear punk kicking down the door to banish this kind of indulgent, hollow perfectionism. Even when I tried to meet the album halfway, listening with fresh ears and some goodwill, it failed to deliver. The much-lauded production is a technical marvel, but it only serves to highlight how empty the music itself is. For all its technical prowess, the songwriting is lifeless, the performances uninspired, and the arrangements feel like they’ve been sanitized to the point of irrelevance. Tracks like “Deacon Blues” aim for grandeur but crumble under their own weight, offering little more than an elaborate exercise in mediocrity. It’s hard to feel anything when the music itself seems designed to avoid any confrontation with raw emotion. Music should stir something in the listener—joy, rage, heartbreak, even discomfort. But Aja does none of these. It’s the sonic equivalent of beige wallpaper in a beige room, for people who dream in beige and wake up thankful nothing in their beige world has changed. It’s music for those who fear vulnerability, wrapped in a smooth, unremarkable package that flatters itself as sophisticated. This is not an album that makes you feel alive; it’s one that dulls the senses until you forget what being alive even means. Perhaps the most damning indictment of Aja is its infamy as a tool of torture for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. That, if nothing else, tells you everything you need to know.

yawn 1/5

vampires who feed off vampires who feed off vampires who feed off vampires. haven't seen real human blood for millennia. hated. (⌐■_■)

More like aaaaaaaaaahhhh

Simply not my style

I just don’t like Steely Dan.

It's like if an elevator music writer was trying to create the auditory equivalent of a PowerPoint star wipe

Can’t stand this shit

I chugged my big black cow and l’m definitely out of here.

I'm sure that somewhere this is someone's top album, but it's not mine.

Kinda hated it, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for yacht rock. Easy listening for boring people.

How does anyone even begin to enjoy this. It's so up It's own arse.

I've had to defend my dislike of Steely Dan since the 80s. I just don't get their sound, their vibe, their mellow muck. It might as well be elevator music to me.

Was not thrilled to get yet another Steely Dan record. This is 3 now on this list and I really hope that's it. I was always indifferent towards Steely Dan but am not starting to lean more on the side of strongly disliking them than just mere indifference. They are too much, and just feel like wankery. I don't need to hear anymore of their records.

Meh, middle of the road at best. I thought I liked Steely Dan, turns out I was wrong

I know people love the musicians in this band, but the songs are boring, the instrumental parts being the best. I can honestly say I would never listen to this album again.

Good band but all of their good songs could be pushed to one album - this is mostly dull as ditchwater

Not sure why we need one Steely Dan album in this list never mind three!

Another dull album for 1970’s american radio - honestly can’t see what about this I needed to hear before I went to bed today - far less before I die. Worse of all there’s several more of this bland Americana on the list - I can only assume the author needed to tick a “music for people with no taste” option. The only redeeming feature is that De La Soul sampled “Peg” and made it into a much better song.

Not for me.

This might be my least favorite type of music. This shit is for folks who constantly talk about their one black friend and wear fedoras with bulky white tennis shoes. This music is for dudes who tuck their t shirt into their jeans. This is grocery store background noise at best. Fuckin lameass smooth jazz with cheesy funk bass lines. Kind of impressive to take a bunch of genres, boil them down to their worst elements and then throw it in a blender. Listening to this album was a net negative on my life, and if I could give it a negative score then I would. Fuck steely Dan (If you enjoy this - please ignore and keep enjoying … and may god have mercy on your soul)

This is absolutely terrible. Generic-sounding pap. Nothing interesting.

Production wise this sounds great, but the music has me on the verge of boredom.

God, I hate Steely Dan.

ugh. This also failed to appeal. The whole album sounds like an extended intro to an episode of Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting. Sadly, no happy little listener here.

Another one I've been putting off for a thousand years. As I suspected it's not for me. Yacht rock, music for MOR tastes. Bland at best. Thank god it's over. I preferred it when I thought I wouldn't like but had never heard it to now knowing I don't like it having heard it.

Nein, nichts für mich.

Boring

Stupid lyrics. Boring songs. Better than Lou Reed.. but barely.

70’s

I FUCKING HATE STEELY DAN I’m only listening because this one doesn’t immediately make me insane like the others because my mom didn’t force my sister and I to listen to it in an inescapable car en route to Maine to see my aunt. Anyway like my other review fuck Don Fagen and yacht rock bullshit. Cocaine does not make everyone a better musician and this is PROOF lol. At a mere 35 minutes I am enduring this for the team. I get that they put a lot of effort into this and got a bunch of pro musicians and it was engineered all profesh but still this is GARBAGE. I’d love to poke this guy in the eye. The interlude in Aja, the title track, sounds like dentist office hold music. And that’s the best song on the fucking thing!! Deacon Blues was the “hit” on this one but dear god it SUCKS. Peg was also a single but again what the fuck is this. Funk for “mayonnaise is spicy” white guys?? The only listenable track for me was Josie but only because it’s the last song and it means it’s almost over. “Shine up the battle apple?” What the fuck does that mean. Go fuck yourself. Are they good songwriters? Ugh YEAH I GUESS as far as ability but god damn I hate this shit. Not as much as that French pervert Serge Gainsbourg but it’s close. This is music for people who hate music.

Didn't Guantanamo Bay prisoners get tortured to this album?

This is the “experimental” album? Sounds a lot like the others. Not for me.

Aujourd'hui, le grand ordinateur qui me sert de guide dans cette quête des 1001 albums m'a sorti un nom qui, à lui seul, évoque le velours côtelé, les studios d'enregistrement hors de prix et les moustaches soignées : Steely Dan. Et pas n'importe lequel de leurs disques. Le Saint-Graal. Le monolithe. L'album que les audiophiles caressent le soir avant de s'endormir : "Aja". Je vais être direct, parce que la vie est trop courte pour tourner autour du pot. Cet album me déconcerte. Il me fascine et m'emmerde dans un même mouvement, une sorte de valse schizophrénique qui me laisse sur le carreau, admiratif et profondément frustré. Si la musique était une simple démonstration technique, une compétition de figures imposées, "Aja" serait champion olympique, recordman du monde et probablement le premier album à être envoyé dans l'espace pour représenter l'intelligence humaine. Mais la musique, ce n'est pas que ça. Commençons par ce qui saute aux oreilles, ce qui justifie que cette galette soit dans ce foutu bouquin. Sur le plan technique, cet album n'est pas un 5/5. C'est un 6/5. C'est une anomalie, une sorte de perfection maladive qui dépasse l'entendement. Donald Fagen et Walter Becker, les deux despotes éclairés du groupe, n'ont pas enregistré un album ; ils ont mené une expérience scientifique en milieu stérile. Le studio était leur laboratoire, et les musiciens, des mercenaires de luxe convoqués pour exécuter la partition la plus précise jamais écrite. Et quelle équipe, mes aïeux ! On ne parle pas des potes du coin venus taper le boeuf. Non, on parle de la crème de la crème des musiciens de sessions. Larry Carlton à la guitare, Steve Gadd à la batterie (son solo sur le morceau-titre est une masterclass), le légendaire saxophoniste Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample aux claviers... La liste est longue comme un jour sans pain. Chaque type qui a posé une note sur ce disque est un monstre sacré de son instrument. Le résultat est un son d'une pureté presque angoissante. C'est chirurgical. Chaque instrument est à sa place, millimétré, sculpté au laser dans un espace sonore qui lui est propre. Écouter "Aja" avec un bon casque, c'est comme observer une montre Patek Philippe à travers une loupe de bijoutier. On est subjugué par la complexité du mécanisme, par l'agencement parfait des rouages, par la beauté froide et implacable de l'objet. C'est une merveille d'ingénierie, un triomphe de la production. On pourrait pratiquer une opération à coeur ouvert sur la table de mixage tellement l'environnement sonore est aseptisé. Et voilà, j'ai mis le doigt dessus. "Aseptisé". C'est le mot. Car c'est là que réside tout le paradoxe de cet album et la raison de ma note si basse. "Aja" est si parfait, si lisse, si méticuleusement poli qu'il en a perdu toute son âme en chemin. C'est une musique qui a été tellement pensée, intellectualisée et passée au crible de la perfection qu'elle en est devenue inhumaine. C'est une statue de glace : magnifique à regarder, impressionnante, mais totalement froide au toucher. On ne ressent rien. Pas une once de sueur, pas une goutte de sang, pas une seule putain de faille qui la rendrait attachante. Le rock, même dans ses formes les plus sophistiquées comme le jazz-rock, doit conserver une part de chaos, une étincelle de vie, un truc qui bave un peu sur les bords. C'est ce qui le rend vivant. C'est le petit défaut dans la voix, le larsen qui n'était pas prévu, le coup de caisse claire un poil en retard qui fait qu'on y croit. Chez Steely Dan, et sur "Aja" en particulier, tout ça a été impitoyablement effacé au nom de la perfection. Chaque break de batterie est calculé. Chaque solo de guitare, bien que brillant, semble avoir été répété un million de fois pour atteindre cette fluidité glaciale. Chaque harmonie vocale est d'une justesse qui confine à l'informatique. C'est une musique pour se branler le cerveau, pas pour taper du pied en buvant une bière tiède. C'est une démonstration, pas une invitation. On est spectateur d'une prouesse, pas participant à une fête. En fin de compte, l'écoute d'"Aja" est une expérience incroyablement frustrante. Mon cerveau est au bord de l'orgasme. Il reconnaît le génie, la maîtrise absolue, la vision quasi obsessionnelle de deux types qui ont poussé leur art à un niveau de finition rarement atteint. Je ne peux que m'incliner, dire "chapeau bas, messieurs, vous êtes des monstres". Mais mes tripes, elles, font la gueule. Mon coeur reste de marbre. L'album ne me raconte rien, ne m'évoque rien, ne me fait pas vibrer. C'est une conversation brillante à laquelle je n'arrive pas à prendre part. C'est un album que j'admire, mais que je n'aime pas. Et la différence est fondamentale. C'est un disque pour audiophiles, pour ingénieurs du son, pour musiciens qui veulent disséquer des partitions complexes. C'est une pièce de musée, magnifique mais intouchable. Pour le dire simplement, et pour conclure ce long laïus : c'est un disque pour le cerveau, pas pour les tripes. Et pour moi, la musique, c'est avant tout une affaire de tripes. 1/5 pour un chef-d'oeuvre technique, mais un désert émotionnel.

Just not a style I enjoy. Peg was a bit fun and familiar but nothing had me rushing back to relisten

Barf

fuck you steely dan and your shitty ass mediocre albums that somehow manage to go this list.

Please no disco

Hey Steely Dan is here again! Now they have some kind of jazzy muzak thing going on -- I'm going to just keep dropping them 1 star each time they show up.

Bland. Unimaginative. Awful.

I felt like I was being held hostage at some shitty middle class dinner party.

To quote the late Steve Albini, "Christ, the amount of human effort wasted to sound like an SNL band warmup."

Made it as far as track 3. Utter, utter pish.

I should probably mark this as 'did not listen' because I couldn't stand more than a couple songs.

Put me to sleep. 1/5

Another catch up album for me and the 2nd SD in a week. Pretty much the same as pretzel logic to me, I never sought them out in my younger years but was not too bothered by the “hits” in the background. The caveat to that is, I may have been under the influence of some Indicas at the time. 1.5/5

Not feeling it

This shit sounds like the MASH theme song played at a dentist's office. Pure garbage.

Not my taste

Whack

definitely not my thing.

1+ Stars (3/15)

I think that the bass was stale and the rhythms were very elementary and not in a genius way

I'm not even going to dignify this with listening to it.

Absolutely terrible

Feels like peak dad rock - couldn't really get through it! Feels like a mix of jazz, a little funk and some pop rock; sounds like department store music

I knew I didn’t like Steely Dan…

Boring songs

not sure about this, never really felt the love for Steely Dan. sounds just like every other jazz tinged band from the 70s.

My dad must have turned on the Weather Channel and then walked away again, leaving me to listen to the Doppler radar music.

I hate Steely Dan, this is the worst kind of dad rock and don't get me started on their fans!

Don't like

What an obstinately, aggressively bland album.literally nothing stands out, and everything goes on for far too long. Dire.

Boring. 70s muzak.

More funky and jazzy than expected... Sorry, but not good. Felt like jazz without much heart. SKIP: all!

Oof

Not having listened, I thought Steely Dan was rock music, and I checked Spotify to make sure I was on the right album. Blech. I kept imagining Ron Burgundy in a velvet leisure suit playing along with his flute.

I hate Steely Dan. Steely Dan is like Nickelback for me, a meme band that I’ve just committed to hating. I’ve heard Aja before, but never with a critical ear and even still, it just doesn’t do it for me. Smooth jazz like elevator music, hokey lyrics and dated harmonizing. Ciara said it’s the music that plays in hell and she might be right. Or at least on the elevator ride down. “Josie” is the best of the worst and thank god it’s a short album. I tried, but can now confirm Steely Dan ain’t for me.

Terrible. I could be tortured by bring forced to listen to this.

Dislike the vocals

Jesus this is awful. Just horrible horrible lift music.

Aja Aja sve si mi dalja😄

Not my Jam

Utterly devoid of anything with any merit whatsoever. What was the point of even making this, let alone adding it to this list?

Awful

i hated this.

More jazzy than countdown to ecstasy, combined with the worst bits of the 80s. Sounds like something the guy from American Psycho would like

Hated it

Lame. Pound for pound, the absolute worst band in this book

Heroin music that goes on way too long. Likely the single album that caused the shift to 3-4 minute songs