Aja

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

1 Oh my God Steely Dan is such a boring band, and living proof that putting personality into music is much more important than being technically proficient. Supposedly this album also helped invent the genre of yacht rock which makes it infinitely worse. Honestly, I’d even go as far to say that I’d rather listen to a Beatles album over this.

I'm sorry, hellyeah, that after giving you so much grief about Jeff Buckley that I now must do this to your beloved Steely Dan. But I just couldn't with "Aja." I kept continuously laughing out loud at the cheesiness of so many parts. Steely Dan definitely has a signature sound that I now recognize as Steely Dan. But it only works for me on a couple of their biggest hits, and those were not to be found here (I did recognize "Peg"). Apologies, but this one is even below the JBZ for me.

gawd this is terrible. I thought these guys were good. Maybe just a couple of good hits? Not sure I can finish...

Teemamusiikkia - toki tahallaan, mutta eihän tällaista jaksa kuunnella kuin korkeintaan hyvin hiljaa taustalla.

Se, että käyttää musiikin hirveyttä koukkuna, ei tee musiikista vähemmän hirveää.

Fuck these critics and their love of Steely Dan

I’m just not a fan of Steely Dan. I find them incredibly boring.

I don't understand how dehumidifiers work. I don't understand the space/time continuum and I don't understand the popularity of Steely Dan

Couldnt relate to this at all

This one is making 1001 feel really long. Not sure I get the entitlement of bands like this to have multiple entries on the list. Released in 1977 I'd suggest this helped inspire punk.

Dull

Supposed to be a classic, and I suppose it is if you like this sort of thing. Personally, I think jazz and rock should always be kept separate.

No. Just no.

Initial thought after one song: It's "jazz" in the worst sense. Generic, soft, cheesy, and likely something played in the background. I feel a bit icky listening to it. In fairness, it's possible my brain has been programmed by worse albums and media that came after this to categorize this style of music as bad/corny/etc... or it was always that way. Also, most of my favorite music was probably recorded in a dingy basement on the cheapest equipment possible. Could this record be 'too clean' for me? It could be entirely subconscious.

Wasn't a fan.

Ugh.

Didn't like this much. Had to give up half way through Peg.

No!

Ni es mi rollo ni he aguantado una escucha entera.

ich will es ja mögen, aber es ist dann doch einfach nur scheußlich. und die alf-titelmusik hat jetzt auch was eingebüßt.

I hate Steely Dan.

Don't like

Another one that just isn't for me. The sort of thing I could live with as background music in a decent restaurant, but I've no desire to actually sit and listen to it again.

Boat Rock

I hate Steely Dan

boring-ass soft rock garb

Yacht rock at its worst - bland music with awful, cringeworthy lyrics.

Don't like

;-)

Awesome!