Aja

So good but please dont call it yacht rock. A fenomenal jazz fusion record with mindblowing production and quality.

Soft / elevator music

Another Steely Dan album that made me feel nothing. I just don’t remember a single thing about this album other than Peg, and that’s because I knew it previously. It’s not a bad thing to listen to, but I don’t know that multiple Steely Dan albums need to be on this list.

Generic dad rock. Not bad, but much better stuff out there.

Dudes rock

Hmmm....human music.

Only 7 songs! First song is pretty funky! Like it so far kinda boring by the end and samey. Can see how this paved the way for a lot of music like this, but man did I have to start and stop so much

Ok tunes. Heard these in hip hop samples before

Very groovy, big fan of this

2.5

Naur

Easy money. Perfect as is. Stunningly produced. Aja and Josie are the worst songs on the album and I'm in love with both. MICHAEL MCDONALD ON I GOT THE NEWS. It's between this and Gaucho for the best Steely Dan album. Gaucho not being on this list is a travesty.

Would never really put this on just apropos of nothing, and these boys took 'emselves too seriously and it sounds like maybe were very undude with their studio musicians, but there's some songcraft here and if you can't see or appreciate it that's a you problem.

nice seventies sound. Good crafted songs. Nice harmonies

Ah yes. Steely Dan's Aja. A legendary album among audiophiles and well-deserved. Even to this day, it's a reference recording for audio system demos and evaluations. The production is nothing short of landmark. This album is just a joy to sit with, especially on a good, revealing system where you can really "see" the soundstage.

Ugh

High skill apparent.

Smooth and classy. Great cross between jazz and rock. Favourite Track(s): Aja, Peg, Deacon Blues, Home At Last Least Favourite Track(s): I Got The News

4 stars It’s both undeniably good and also kind of just there. I could take it or leave it. But if it’s playing there’s a lot to like. Soft dad energy jazz rock.

Can't quite get behind it

Really fun jazzy album. Nice instrumentals Favourites : Aja Home at Last Josie

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.

This is a band I’ve been exposed to by my parents for years but apparently I enjoy their hits more than their deep cuts. I know this album is really popular but it is a bit sleepy for me. Nothing really pulled me in. I think maybe I’m missing something and need to attempt another listen?

These dues have such serious music chops. Jazz rock fusion makes for some buttery soft yacht rock. Deacon Blues is such a jam. Peg is such a good fuckin song. Really this whole album is me going, “dang that’s a good song.” A generation of ska was made by marching band kids getting together and wanting to go nuts. This band feels like a bunch of jazz musicians getting together and doing rock n roll. I feel like a can diagram of steely Dan fans and Dave Matthew’s band fans is a circle. This is very good music that makes me feel nothing beyond, “wow this is very good music.” Which is good.

Perfect production, perfect sound. You could say this is a highly professional piece of work. Enjoy listening to this album for relaxation

Great production and musicianship. I just wish it had more soul. Peg is a bop, though.

Didn’t like!

God I love Steely Dan. This was easy listening, fun and funky. Nothing extraordinary.

Not bad, not great. I’m not big into Steely Dan, but liked the 70s rock/funk feel. Favorite Song(s): Peg

I thought it was A-Ha. Once, my friends covered Dirty Work, but that’s not on this record.

6/10… yacht pop / elevator music

Very chill. Lots of sax but i guess thats to be expected. Not a 5 but a 4.

good, very funky and jazzy! probably like a 4.5/5? rounding down though because it's just a little bit too inoffensive and plain for me, but very jazzy and fun

I usually think of Steely Dan as music for drinking beer in the garage, but this smooth, jazzy album is sophisticated enough for drinking brandy in the living room.

Never liked Steely Dan and this album didn’t do anything to change my opinion. Didn’t even have any of their good songs.

Herlig album. For meg en sterk firer.

So solid, especially the music arrangements/performance

Great album

Love it

Not really my thing although quite relaxing to listen to. It did spur me on to look into more of Steely Dan's music (I have never really listened to them before). I love: Do it Again (different album). It does sound like Pharrell W. spent a long time listening to Reelin' in the Years.

Groovy dad Rock. I can see this hitting on a nice summer night

My dad had this on constant rotation growing up. Big Dan isn't for everyone, but it's for me.

Loved it! I’d heard of steely Dan before but could never tell you one of their songs. Was expecting more of a rock album for some reason. Recognised the MF DOOM sample from operation doomsday straight off the bat, knew I would like it once hearing that. Obviously recognised peg too, that’s a great song. Love this genre especially from this era, could listen to it all day. Was bopping along to every song. Will definitely listen again and will explore more of their music too.

Absolute masterpiece.

Smooth, well produced jazz-rock that lacks the vigor and passion of either genre. We do get some quality instrumental playing, but the music has a smoothness and polish to it that makes it more palatable to the average listener. Lyrics are unimportant and take a back seat to the actual music, which is competently performed but lacks emotion.

great, tasty

Not my favorite Steely Dan record, but there's a reason we played half of it in Bad Business. Great listen.

Cool funky 70s rock

3.5 stars

This record is at the heart of what is adult orientated rock music. The rock in it is not very rock and the jazz side is not too jazzy. Middle of the road music, with middle of the road songs, performed by middle of the road musicians. And the production of the record is also very smooth and gentle to the ear.

A jazz-rock album which fuses cool jazz, blues, and pop into a masterpiece of an album. The production and mixing are amazing; filling soft melodies with jazzy solos and rich background instrumentals which flow seamlessly with each track.

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

Steely Dan is so hard to put in a genre box. Is it jazz, is it rock, is it pop? It's a bit of all of those things.

sophisticated, sharp - and somehow this avoids the feeling of being over-worked, despite the legendary tales of the near endless quest of the recording process.

Definitely something to cruise along to on the road, nothing that out there on here with very consistent funky "vibes" to be so blatant about it. Similar to Yes in terms of the general mood of the instrumentals here along with of course the funkiness. May need another listen due to not seeing too much variation, but I would not be complaining if this was put on while driving down to Chicago.

Nice smooth album. Jazzy and chill, very enjoyable. Don’t like enough for 5 stars but a solid 4 for me.

I’ve quite liked the other Steely Dan albums on this list but I found this a bit dull if I’m honest and it missed the great songs of their other stuff But disappointed as I thought I’d become a Steely Dan fan

Their best

Nice enough. Not blown away. Doesn't make me feel anything. A few familiar tracks, but not finding myself reaching to listen to any of it again. Gives the vibe that there is a man in a fedora sitting next to me tapping his knee, closing his eyes, and bobbling his head around.

Somewhat overrated. Well executed but the music very much lacks feeling. It’s just “insert jazzy chord here” over and over again.

No takeaways from me, but this put Steely Dan on the map for me, I didn't realize they had so many hits. Good album overall, but one I won't revisit

Maybe it’s because I’m at Rudy’s and I’m very high, but this album is just such a vibe and so pivotal to just being a dude. If you like this, you’re chill af and we should drink scotch whiskey all night long

Production here is amazing and I guess that alone warrants it's place on the 1001albums. It's clear that the musicianship's there too but this not my cup of tea.

okay funky this album surprised me I actually liked it quite a bit nothing too crazy but all genuinely enjoyable songs to listen to 4/5 8.21/10

I just wish it was The Royal Scam, my favourite Steely Dan album

A very well crafted album -- maybe too much so. This album, containing only seven songs, was released right at the cusp of a new age in music, where shorter songs were valued over eight-minute ego trips. Case in point: Their next album was Gaucho, another seven songs, a full three years later. Aja was released about the same time as Elvis Costello's My Aim is True. By the time Gaucho was released, Costello had released around forty songs, each a mini-masterpiece. TL/dr: Aja was well-crafted, but that's about all.

I’ve tried to get into Aja, I really have. Knowing its reputation among audiophiles and music critics, I even picked up a second-hand vinyl copy to give it a proper spin—only to find it too warped to play. Maybe that was a sign. While I quite like Can’t Buy a Thrill and appreciate Steely Dan’s musicianship in theory, Aja just leaves me cold. The pristine production and jazz-fusion polish feel more clinical than compelling. With the exception of “Home at Last,” which has a nice groove and some emotional weight, the rest of the album slips by without leaving much of an impression. It’s technically impressive, sure—but emotionally? Forgettable.

This is a great album!! I was relaxed listening to this album!!

It's okay. I didn't hate it but it's not great either.

If you're going to call it yacht rock, at least call it yacht rock for geniuses. Michael McDonald backing vox on every song ever, please!

I'll say this, we had to drive home late after a long day. Aja by Steely Dan kept my thirteen year old happily asleep for most of the ride. This album is how I imagine much of the late 70s radio music scene must have felt.

Mongo is appalled.

i like peg

I could listen to this album every day for the rest of my life and still enjoy it!

Not for me, but I understand why it is important.

Mmmmmm chill yacht rock

One of the blandest records I've ever heard, I literally have nothing to say about it. Two stars as the production was good.

This album would be terrible if it weren't so good.

I love this album. It combines the best part of jazz with the best parts of disco. I don't listen to either of those albums, but it sounds like relaxing NPC music with Earth, Wind, and Fire vocals. I'll need to give this one another listen to really understand the musicality, but it was a great listen.

Groovy. Jazzy. Fun. Yeah. I liked it. Not exactly my style of rock, but I'd listen again. I would come back to this in the future

Not for me. Great musician ship and layers to songs, but nothing stood out

4/5

Whether you hate Steely Dan or adore them, you can't deny that the vibes given off by Aja are undeniably some of the chillest and most relaxing you've probably ever heard. It starts off and you slowly sink into the music until you feel like you are rocking back and forth of a shiny sailboat under the basking sunlight. It continues to whip out song after song full of bangers in terms of the production and sounds Steely Dan mixes as well as some very solid songwriting that will surely give you plenty to chew on. It is super fun and can either be taken seriously or not at all and still have the same level of enjoyment all throughout. It is Aja and you should already know what you are getting into when you press play on this project. Was it really a surprise to anyone that I like this project? I am cheesy as fuck like that.

One of the best from a catalog of great records by Fagan and Becker.

Ihan mukavat vibat. Musiikillisesti silleen taidokasta ja nautinnollista kuunneltavaa, mutta hieman tylsä, joten meni lähinnä taustamusiikkina.

nicht meine Musik

Am interesting album, an unexpected mix of Rock and Jazz Fav songs - I Got The News, Deacon Blues 4/5

Awesome!!

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.

Hits from my youth. Radio music to me 6.0.

Steely Dan fucks

Bon, ça commençais bien, de la guitare électrique jazz dans un contexte rock. C’est de la musique qui me parle, habituellement. Mais là, c’est plutôt du yacht rock, un genre de rock qui vient de la Californie. Je sais pas c’est quoi le nom en français, je suggérerais "mononc’ rock", parce que ça sonne mononc’ en tabarouette, le yacht rock. Au final, c’était pas pour moi... une chance que l’album était pas trop long !

the bass is nice

Smooooooooth as silk. So smooth it's almost slippery. A band that has hined there sound and weaponized it to make an album with no fat.

Easy five stars. One of the best engineered albums ever recorded. ‘Nuff said.

Yes! Finally, on my 97th album....something good! Some philistines out there describe this as elevator music. I am sure this stuff is played on elevators all the time. However, if all music on elevators was this good I would have long ago changed my name to Deacon Blues and permanently moved into the Chrysler Building.

Its ok

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.

I've heard a few of their albums and given them a reasonable try, and even if they're never going to be my favourite this is by far their best album. The Dan stew reached perfection by Aja

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.

Fucking critics wanting everything to be more Jazz

Decent

Decent album

really vibing with this

Chillest rock ever

Nop

Es un álbum excelente, con muchísimo trabajo en la composición, el arreglo y la grabación. Evoca un estilo jazzero, pero con toques de rock, soul y funk. Hay una gran diversidad de instrumentación, dada la cantidad de músicos con los que trabajaron para la grabación. El álbum tiene tantas sutilezas y es tan variado que me sorprendí cuando terminó. Podría haber escuchado un álbum mucho más largo sin problema alguno. Dicho esto, personalmente nunca termino de conectar con Steely Dan. A pesar de que aprecio la enorme musicalidad con la que han trabajado, siento que hay algo del estilo que no es para mí. No termino de entender si es una cuestión de la atmósfera general, o las voces, o la precisión clínica con la que trabajan (en la lugar de buscar cierta crudeza que música como el jazz o el funk suelen tener). Tal vez es una cuestión de escuchar repetidas veces y adaptarse al formato. Pero esto es lo que me sucede en las dos escuchas que hice del álbum.

sweet

Great album!

Groovy and fun! Some of the songs dragged a little but overall great. Peg absolutely slaps.

There’s something about Donald Fagen’s voice that I really like. Unmistakable. Not perfect. It’s like Robert Smith or Björk or Kate Bush - it just has a uniqueness that makes it special. 
 I wanted to like this album, and I did to a certain extent. But it all got too bit too ‘easy listening’. So it’s a 3½ from me, but bumped up for that voice.

Kept falling asleep, not what I expected.

Behold the advent of jazzy yacht rock. The production quality on this album is insanely high, so as you're sipping your wine coolers on the deck of your 30-footer, there'll be nothing but high fidelity bouncing over the waves.

Not for me

I enjoyed listening to this album. Each song isn’t the same, I like the variations of instruments and it not screaming at me! Not all 1001 songs need to be punk!!

I surprisingly enjoyed this more than expected. Love all the instrumentation including sax. Lyrics seem to be a little corny at times, but easy to ignore and enoy.

Smooth as hell and wants me to leave my nonexistent wife and kids at home to go cruisin with the boys

I liked this one

Great music, album is too short. 4.5

Forgettable. Not amazing. Not terrible. Just there.

As the first notes of ¨Aja¨ come through my headphones all I can think of is the start to some kind of 70s mustachioed swingers party. This is before the AIDS epidemic, when coke was still sexy, when America was still young and innocent. Actively listening to ¨Black Cow¨ is a weird experience, not least because it seems meant to be passively listened to. ¨Aja¨ continues the theme of porn/swingers/sleaze, but maybe a little classier and set in an Old West theme. This is, te lo juro, music to be put on for a rendezvous or a tryst, something in the background. I feel like I’m a background character in ¨Boogie Nights¨ sitting here listening. Traveling through the guts of the album, one knows that one is completely in ¨dad rock¨ territory, if your dad has long sideburns, a moustache, aviators and wife swaps. Best songs: ¨Black Cow,¨ ¨Josie¨

For some reason people have decided that this is the DSOTM of yacht rock

I can understand why some people really likes this. It's good, but I don't think it is incredible either.

Insane musicians, incredible feeling and it sounds incredibly well. Not my favorite from them, but hey, that's still amazing.

Obviously some great players on this, particularly the rhythm section, but I just don't like the material that much. Also, why go to the trouble of finding all these hot shot studio musicians and then be like, yeah, but I'm going to do the [mediocre] vocals myself?

What more can be said? Perfectly engineered. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, these dudes knew what the fuck they were doing and what they wanted to achieve.

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.

„I wrote 7 songs but they are all meh“ 🤷‍♂️ „Let’s overproduce them so nobody notices“ „Splendid!“ 🥂 „Look now they even put it on the 1001 album list“ 🙃 “We trolled them so hard!” 🤘

Any excuse to listen this. Every track is a groove - the best musicians, amazing lyrics, a quirky voice. I used to hate Steely Dan. When this Gaucho were released they got played up and down WXRT in Chicago and I just got sick of them, never wanted to hear them again. When it was time to purchase my first CD, before I even had a player but knew this was going to be an amazing medium for playback, I bought a copy of ‘Aja’. Haven’t looked back.

70’s rock

70’s rock

Sounds like Dad rock, but the boring type. Did not get the lyrics either. Should I?

This falls under, "good but not for me".

It was fine

Good album

I will say this is an album I probably would've never listened to without this generator. I never thought Steely Dan would be my type of music. But I listened to the album all the way through and loved every song! Even made a new playlist to put all the song on. I love the 70's era and this album just encapsulates that era. I love the long instrumentals. I can't help but want to use the word groovy when listening to this album. While I was listening to the album I felt peace and chillness and alot of reflecting happening. All that to say I LOVE THIS ALBUM!

Eu gosto bastante de Steely Dan, acho uma banda verdadeiramente patrícia, e este disco evidencia bem o porquê. É um álbum imaculadamente produzido e tocado. Os musicistas expostos nestas canções são simplesmente fantásticos e impecáveis, e a produção por trás deles é tão aveludada que é impossível achar sequer um furo. O disco inteiro é um deleite pros ouvidos, e deve ser ouvido por todos, porque mesmo que você não tire o maior proveito das faixas, você certamente vai aprender (no mínimo) como a percussão deve soar em uma gravação popular. Só ouvir a faixa Aja pra ter uma idéia! Mas pra mim, pessoalmente, o disco vai além de suas qualidades técnicas. Eu acho a dupla incalculavelmente criativa em seus arranjos e em suas composições. Minha faixa favorita do álbum é Deacon Blues, e é o tipo de canção que fica verdadeiramente grudada na cabeça. E lembrando que este disco não é nem perto de ser meu favorito do grupo. Enfim, um álbum infálivel e imaculado merece 5 estrelas facilmente. 5/5

Like the jazz influenced rock.

American soft rock at its worst. One star from me

Perfection from start to finish. Each song a new wondrous story. No wasted lyrics and each instrument plays a part. Aja is dreamlike, deacon blues is funny and interesting which is almost impossible. Peg is the song of a thousand samples but the original has a kick like a farmyard mule. A lot of competition but this is the definitive steely dan album.

4.7

Sorry Dad, I don't like it as much as you do.

Love this album and listened to it twice today. Deacon Blues is one of my all-time favorite songs!

Sweet jazz rock! Production is nearly flawless.

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

Æ mér fannst hún bara ekki skemmtileg

Held að maður myndi njóta hennar best sitjandi í hægindastól, með glas af góðum drykk og ekki að pæla í neinu öðru. Naut plötunnar samt ansi vel, kom mér á óvart.

Very jazzy. Kinda reminds me of various Citypop / Japanese jazz fusion artists, especially Keiichi Oku with the "The Good Bad Girl" album.

Steely Dan is synonymous with yacht rock, much to Donald Fagen’s chagrin. I happen to love yacht rock, so I consider this a compliment. With that said, I don’t love Steely Dan as much as I do their counterparts. The musicianship on the album is excellent, but I’m rather ambivalent about Fagen’s voice. Certain songs like Peg sound so good with his vocals and others just fall flat for me. Michael McDonald’s backing vocals on a couple of songs definitely add dimension. I really enjoyed the various rhythms on the album and found them interesting. Some of the album sounds dated, but that’s added value in the yacht rock world. A little nostalgia goes a long way.

3/5 - fairly solid album, that's about all I can say!

My first Steely Dan album! I had heard a lot of mixed reviews about this band but had never listened to any of their music. Firmly enjoyed this album and look forward to hearing more!

Never liked

Very mellow - all very pleasant. An album to have on as mood music

As groovy as gentrified music gets. Five stars for musicianship and arrangements. Minus one because Becker and Fagen are squares riding on the shoulders of giants like Steve Gadd and Bernard Purdie.

it WAS GOOD CALSSIC sTEELY dAN

Steely Dan is weird to me because I think everybody knows who Steely Dan is but simultaneously nobody could tell me a single thing about them

Even if Steely Dan’s music isn’t your thing, Aja demands respect for its immaculate production and musicianship. The sound is pristine, every session player nails their parts with precision, and nothing feels out of place. As the pinnacle of Yacht Rock, it’s hard to imagine the genre getting any better. Personally, I find the singles from “Can’t Buy a Thrill” more enjoyable, but there’s no denying that Aja is the more flawless and fully realized vision and record.

Very plain and boring. Not bad but boring.

1. Cow - 2 2. Aja - 1.5 3. Deacon - 1.5 4. Peg -2 5. Home - 1.5 6. News- 1 7. Josie - 1.5

Excellent through and through, all great songs.

The high production standards mentioned in the wiki article are noticeable. The music. . . Is not my style.

Haven’t exactly had the greatest opinion of Steely Dan in the past but, this time, this album—as storied, hyper-aware delusional, apocalyptic yacht rock—actually made a good impression this time.

2/1089 I don't have the attention span for 7-minute songs, and especially not an album full of essentially the same 7-minute songs over and over, but I like the drum solos, and the production is indeed crisp. 2.5

nice and groovy but a bit too long songs ★★★½

Great album really enjoyed it

I liked a lot of the grooves on here. Not offensive to listen to, but also not extremely interesting either. I asked myself a few times why this album sounded like the intro to one of those educational TV shows you watched on vhs when the substitute teacher was in. I like Deacon Blues though.

Well, after getting Donald Fagen's solo debut, it was about time I got some Steely Dan. Both Fagen and co-founder Walter Becker dedicated themselves to perfecting their craft in the studio alongside a revolving door of session musicians. This habit led to a period of critical and commercial success, culminating in the release of Aja (pronounced "Asia"). For what it's worth, I consider this record to be a comfortable slice of smooth jazz rock. The warm production, clean guitar textures, soulful vocal deliveries, vibrant horn arrangements, and improvisational compositions all coalesce into this laid-back experience. I can hear how this album had a major influence on the yacht rock scene. Probably the crown jewel of this sound is "Peg", with its bumping groove, soaring guitar soloing, and multi-tracked backing vocals. Sure, the lyrics haven't aged well, and there are more challenging jazz-rock records from the likes of Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, and Mahavishnu Orchestra. But Aja is a pleasant record from start to finish, with plenty of intriguing passages to keep it engaging.

Listenable.

Muy reputado álbum de jazz rock que no alcanzo a determinar si es el culmen de un género que recoge múltiple influencias o si es el punto de partida que ha influido a cientos de músicos posteriores. Sea como fuere, a mí me ha sonado a antigua. De mucha calidad, pero falta de punch, para mi gusto.

Good album because steely always makes good music very easy to listen but more of the same this thou its probably one of their best records

One of the best sounding albums ever recorded! And I’m not just talking about the audio quality 😊

Bored the whole time

Now we’re talking! Anotherc album that makes you feel cool. Instantly cultivates a vibe. 4.6/5.0 Best Song: Deacon Blues

The coolest fucking album in the world. I wish I was in the studio with them doing coke and drinking whiskey. The ultimate vibe of jazz-rock-pop every one is on top form and just killing it, the drum solo in Aja is phenomenal, but that's what you get from Steve Gadd. Best Song: Peg, an absolute masterpiece, Michael McDonald on backing vocals with a voice like big hairy angel.

Super funky!

This music does nothing for me. It's jazzy, but none of the jazz is satisfying... more like 'jazz-ish'. The recording and musicians are great but it's so polished and unchallenging that it truly does sound like easy-listening background music to me.

3.5

So 70s but good

If you had of asked me 5 years ago how I felt about Steely Dan, I would have said mediocre at best. I thought they were cheesy and missing soul. But somehow over the last year I have discovered and developed a mini obsession with this band. I feel like after years of ignoring them something has recently clicked and now I can't get enough. They somehow combine a super tight, polished sound with infinite creativity. They blend jazz, rock, R'n'B funk and soul into music they sounds equal parts improv and tediously rehearsed. I think Aja is a perfect example of what they do well. There are little hooks and earworms between super out there guitar and horn solos somehow all coming together. I could listen to this over and over and not get bored.

I thought I knew Steely Dan, but I was not prepared for such smooth, funky, jazz rock when I first listened to this album. It really makes you want to sit back and relax on a yacht with a nice glass of whiskey. This is a really solid album front-to-back, the production and the playing are all next level. I Got the News is the track that really stood out to me; I absolutely loved the staccato, off-kilter piano line.

Too slow, elevator crap!

Funky! I like it, even though it kinda slips in to the background. Then something catches my attention and I listen more actively for a while. Great musicianship. 4/5

Love it. Own it.

This album has tremendous production quality. Lots of studio musicians and great arrangements. This is a great record. Pitchfork: 10.0 Rolling Stone: 63 Best Songs Deacon Blues Peg Josie

It swwwwwings

Good album

I love thia akbum. Peg is too good.

Really great Jazz-Rock album, however, I understand Steely Dan is not for everyone. The engineering and production on this album is stellar which is the primary reason it is so highly regarded. It has grown on me over time and listens. It gets a 5 ⭐️ from me.

Not a stranger. Great album.

Smooth sound and top notch mixing, but the music itself is not doing it for me at all. I listened to the whole album, couldn't tell one song from the next, and had a distinct feeling that if I don't hear it ever again I won't be missing out on anything. I'm awarding it 1 additional start for craftsmanship, I might cue this album up as a reference track when I'm making my own music. But for an entertainment product, this isn't going above 2 stars.

I always assumed Steely Dan was country music. Turns out it's some really smooth 70's funk-soft rock fusion kind of thing. The bass is working overtime on its interesting and groovy basslines and each song has a soulful choir of background singers. It's incredibly 70's but I did find myself enjoying the toe tapping funky melodies.

Classic but what a snoozer!

Great album and Aja is probably the style I think of when I consider Steely Dan with the heavy jazz integration. Super smooth, the accomplished production is a big plus but the songs themselves are just so easy to listen to. "Easy-listening" is a bit of a backhanded compliment but I mean that everything just sounds good. Despite some of the tracks being long it's all a pleasure, with Peg a highlight, but consistent throughout.

Welcome change of pace from yesterday's listen. What can one even say any more about Steely Dan and Aja? Absolute top-notch production, incredible, with every instrument well-thought-out and placed in the mix. Not a single bad song. Maybe "I got the news" is weaker from the rest, but still carries that Steely Dan as well as the rest. No doubt a masterful record, 5.0/5.0 without a doubt. P.S. I can see why some people just seem not to get it. Yes - it is a complete antithesis to Punk ethos. So what, ultimately, good music is the ones which resonates to you personally. And you can enjoy both and not overthink it

Aja was the only complete Steely Dan album I’d listened to before starting this project. I’ve already reviewed their other three albums on this list, and I’ve been waiting for almost 600 days to review this one. My dad loved Steely Dan when I was a kid, but I always thought they were boring. I can’t remember who told me to check out Aja, but I did several years ago, and I loved it. I don’t think I’ve gone through it all again since that first listen, but I’ve really been looking forward to the day that this would pop up for me. I really enjoyed Pretzel Logic and Countdown to Ecstasy (both five stars), and Can’t Buy a Thrill was good too (four stars). My knee-jerk reaction is that this will easily be another five star album. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy Aja as much as I was hoping I would. I remember really loving the production on it the first time I listened to it, but now that I’m trying to think back, I can’t remember what else I loved about listening to it. I still think Aja is a really good album with precise and outstanding production work, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Aja doesn’t have much soul or spark to it, and it feels like Steely Dan approached this album with the mindset of an architect, putting everything in its precise place. But instead of the process being about the end result, it was about checking every box on a list. Sure, the finished building is a marvel, but no one has moved into it. Musically, the bass, horns, brass, and piano give this album a fun and jazzy feeling, but not every song has an enjoyable jazz groove to it. “Peg” is easily the best song on the album, and I love the bass, clavinet, and Rhodes piano. Even though this is a softer song, the groove is incredibly fun. Those backing vocals from Michael McDonald are great too. “Deacon Blues” is really good too, with some great synthesizers and Rhodes piano. Aja is a great sounding album, but its lack of soul is really noticeable.

I mean it's great. Not really my taste in music tbh. A lot of the album kind of just blended into one and as a result nothing was super memorable Subject to change if I come back to it 6.8/10

Better than my last Steely Dan but still Didn’t need 2 albums by him in & days 3.5 stars

Så himla väl producerat, väl arrangerat och välspelat! Stark fyra

Soooo I loved this album. It was great for a late night drive and was just so fun!

Great but it gets a bit tedious and repetitive after a while

Cool sound!

Great album. Killing solos, burning grooves. Josie is a smash.

Top notch musicians setting down iconic grooves. Fagen and Becker were rumored to be perfectionists. They lived up to the hype.

A masterclass. Fantastic album.

First listen through the album. Didn't know much about Steely Dan. Sounds like an interesting way of creating an album!

Aja and I go way back. After a fresh listening I still know this album is worthy of being on this list. Even if you don't love it, it's still worth hearing once. IMO this is Steely Dan's pinnacle.

Only my #3 favorite Steely Dan album but indeed the white funk prog rock masterpiece it’s known to be by those who feel it.

Soft smooth soul/rock (easy listening?), with jazz elements. In places sax solos get quite jazzy indeed. Aja end with long improv section? Some latin elements again. Harmonies/chord progressions are notable, not typical sounding. Not sure I like though. Reminds me of KG's Changes or Sketches, but without so many hooks. Some instrumental bits are good but vocals are meh. Josie is good funk riff, then ruined by those ambiguous/jazz chords. Decent length album too. Best track - Home At Last, Aja, Josie 3 stars

Incrível descobrir essa maravilha de disco!

Black Cow is simply the best song about Pilk you're gonna hear, and that's a fact. Another fact, this album has been played so much by me before now it's impossible to rate with fresh ears. Steely Summer every summer.

It was pretty good, but honestly I don't really see the big deal about Steely Dan. This is another that I'd probably give three and a half stars, but this time I'm rounding down.

I'll give this one 3 stars. It's ok.

Jazzy interludes that occasionally break out into song. Fairly lukewarm stuff 2*

After not getting on that well with Pretzel Logic, this is more like the Steely Dan I know. A great album, some real fantastic loungey grooves and some wonderful thigh-slapping licks. Just classic dad music.

Too hip for the room Appreciation came late Now I groove to it

Hearing this album again brought me back to my childhood listening to it on vinyl through my brother's speakers. It might be nostalgia speaking but, holy crap, the playing is so tight and the songs are fantastic. Pretty much perfection to my 70's loving ears.

Four stars for the rhythm section alone, this thing kicks. I dont love the song structure and choruses that Steely Dan so often go for, but the instrumentals alone make this album worthwhile

To steal a line from another Steely Dan album, "perfection and grace". If you don't get this, try again.

Pretty fun album. No notes.

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)

YAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCHHHHHHTTTTTTT ROCK!

Great musicianship. Not really my thing.

Know that the band name is inspired by William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch changes my perspective a lot. Putting that aside, very pleasant to listen to in the background. ★★★

Nice listen. But given its cult status, I expected more.

Smooth, forgettable stuff.

i actually really liked this. would listen to it again.

Play that funky music white boys I guess. Enjoyable listen.

This doesn't do anything for me. It's very well made but lacks any emotion.

These guys are really good. They play very clean and tightly together, but I just can't find myself in their target audience. I assume this is for hippies turned yuppies? Very boomer. It is weirdly good, just not that enjoyable for me.

I had already listened to this album hundreds of times, but upon coming up on this list enthusiastically put on my headphones again. Not only is it their most "grown-up" album thematically, they had to enlist over 40 studio hammers because Fagen and Becker, literally, could not play everything they were writing. An astonishing record that laments a generation progressing into adulthood, and not exactly kicking and screaming...but rather with an acceptance of their fate.

Groovy

Great debut, 84/100 Best: papercut, crawling, in the end*, a place for my head Worst: with you, by myself, cure for the itch*

Imagine the late 1970s. You’re driving a giant American car that rivals the size of small boats. It’s dusk on a summer evening. You pop this 8-track in and start bopping your head to the jazz rock fusion. You pay attention to the varying rhythms and surprising chord progressions. You appreciate the excellent production quality of the recording. It seems like the road will last forever. You keep driving. It’s sublime.

Dad's yacht rock done right!

Classic

I really enjoyed parts of this and others not so much. Think it might grow on me though.

I feel like I only ever hear people saying they fucking love this album or it's complete ass where in actuality it's pretty good 3.5*

Not bad

Ok I’m not going to lie, I did come in with some preconceived ideas about how I was gonna hate this album and I didn’t hate it! Peg and black cow do feel like the only reasons I’d come back to it but overall not too bad!

Lots of people really rate Steely Dan. I don't.

Blimey, there’s a lot of Steely Dan in this list. This album was more jazz inspired than the others, and I recognised Peg from De La Soul’s sample. Besides that not too much to note. Made a nice enough soundtrack while I made huevos con chorizo for lunch.

Another album I own and have listened to dozens of times. Steely Dan has aged like fine wine. Amazing piece of art!

A masterpiece that is always an absolute pleasure to experience.

Aah in my mum’s top 10 albums of all time, and I don’t think I’ve ever really listened! Not at all what I expected but loved it! Want to listen to more but have to march on with the project…

Classic

if i ever get my hands on the uhqr vinyl i might have to bump this up to a ten

No way!!! Never

I could drink a litre of boxed wine and smoke a pack of cigarettes every day and it wouldn’t come close to ageing me like 40 minutes spent listening to Steely Dan

What an album. I've listened to it so many times but I welcome another excuse to give it a listen.

Dentist rock

5/5 album prolly their best also first album i listened to by them n first vinyl by them

Good, but not nearly as good as Can't Buy a Thrill. Peg probably the best track.

Solid

I don't understand why this album is so revered, I mean it's pleasant enough but that's it. It is unexciting, safe and perfectly nice. there's absolutely nothing wrong with this album, other than it felt like they were playing a 40 minute long song, the songs are so similar.

I was sort of enjoying this album but also thinking it was a bit mediocre and then, 💥out of nowhere came Peg and I was like I know this and it changed the whole album for me. I still don’t think it’s the best album I have ever heard but I did start enjoying it more.

An all time classic. Instrumentation, production, melodies are all out of this world. Lyrics are abstract but with a lot of hidden depths. Banger.

Jazz inspired, classic Steely Dan. Fine, but not really my cup of tea.

A bit funkier and jazzier than the other Steely Dan albums I've heard on this list. Just like the others it's great but a bit safe and boring. Peg and Black Cow were probably the best two tracks.

Some cool tracks, but I couldn't find it much compelling.

Disco charlie

Not my favorite Steely Dan album but arguably one of the greatest studio produced albums in the history of music.

This sound is deeply attached to my years in middle school, when the album came out. Not happy times for me, but the music is deep in my soul. I can't judge it fairly, but I have to give it a positive review. 4/5

Enjoyed this, good musicians, and would listen again. great? maybe great-ish

Nice jazz an easy going experience 6

Really good disco stuff

Oh, this is so bland and smooth.

50/1001 Steely Dan - Aja Heard before? ❎ Revisit? 🫳 Without a doubt an ultra polished sounding album that mixes jazz and rock. The playing and arrangements in this are great. However, it does kind of fade into the background a bit, once you've settled in to it. I imagine I'd probably only revisit it if I needed something on in the background whilst working...

Fun, funky, but - in a first listen - feels relatively light. Accessible, but would be a lot more interesting if there was some room for experimentation. It's listenable, but maybe so listenable that it doesn't really leave any impression at all.

i like. highlights: “aja” - holy shit, “Peg” - EYE KNOW SPOTTED.

Kinda too mellow. 1 or 2.

Wooo! Black Cow so good

Strong start with the funky bass lines. Grabbed me the start. Solid album that is produced well, has good instrumentals, and great harmonies. I’m biased because I love steely dan, but this album is a solid 3.5-4 for me. It’s not the most exceptional music but it is universally digestible.

Very awesome instrumentation that’s what kept me listening. The vocals are okay but the music makes up for it I’m very suprised I liked this album as much as I did every Song has its own unique taste very good highlights: black crow, aja, Decon blues

I tried to keep an open mind with this one, but... it's not for me. I know it was only 39 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. To me, the whole thing seemed bland, lifeless and very sanitized.

Sonically impressive and captivating, but not my jam.

Trevligt! Framförallt Peg

Sådär. Inte så spännande.

I don't care at all wow.

I’ve listened to this album already during my Steely Dan dive. It’s one of my favourites!

Amazing album. Honestly listened to this album at least 3 times today. No skips needed.

Forgettable.

chill snooze fest

Pretty enjoyable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bored to tears

Confirmed my belief that the only reason to listen to the Dan is to test your new expensive sound system for 5 minutes before putting on literally anything else. The worst middle of the road nonsense I've heard in a long time.

In the morning, one of the first things i do is check what album is next up on the 1001 list... and this morning, i was PLEASED to see one of my all time favorite records... AJA is a masterpiece... from the songs... to the performances... to the QUALITY of production... Donald Fagan is a genius musician... and Walter Becker, RIP, is another... and i've been lucky enough to see them live... and man, can they do it... but, in the studio, they are even more MONSTROUS... using fantastic studio musicians and ROCK STARS to play even minor parts... or to TRY a part... and see if it stuck on the record... lol... "Black Cow" opens... and what an opener... "drink your big black cow, and get out of here"... lol... for you youngsters a "Black Cow" was a root beer drink back in the day... with ice cream... and Fagan was a regular at soda shops back in the day... Becker does not appear on the song... Chuck Rainey (bass), Larry Carlton (gtr), Joe Sample (keys), Tom Scott (sax) and Paul Humphrey (drms) are the band... whoa... some acts get studio musicians to cover them up, and some acts use LEGENDS... like Steely Dan... then comes the title track "AJA" where Steve Gadd is the drummer and Timothy B. Schmit, and Denny Dias join in... and who is the sax man???? Wayne freakin' Shorter... damn... how much money was involved in this production???? and it was well spent... "Deacon Blues" has the LEGENDARY Bernard Purdy on drums... Lee Ritenour on guitar... "Peg" is the other track that Becker is not on... Fagan is joined by Michael McDonlad on bv's... Rick Marotta on drums, Steve Kahn on guitar, and more... "Home at Last", and "I Got The News" are the two least known tracks on the record... and they are great... with all those players... and the album closes with "Josie"... "she's a live wire... she plays like a Roman with her eyes on fire..." heck... "She's the pride of the neighborhood" lol... Fagan as Dylan... having fun with words... but in a rock, yet still jazzy, setting... FIVE STARS... forever..."

What strikes me about this album is that in opposition to what comes of most pop-rock with elements of soul and funk, Aja seems to not really feel derivative of anything in those particular genres. Like its follow up Gaucho it is its own thing. Perhaps that is a sign of like, the staleness people tag Steely Dan with at times, but I don't find it bothersome. It is groovy and beautifully produced. Wasn't too keen on the mixing at times but it wasn't so bad.

I know they balk at the term yacht rock, but listening to it makes me sea sick.

Great album.

This was a pleasant enough and nostalgic listen. Good for warming the air on a rainy night. 3.5/5 - > 4/5

3.5

While I appreciate the pleasant technical jazz rock fusion arrangements and the excellent instrumental performances, the album itself seems rather soulless. The one thing elevating this album is the genius of Steve Gadd on drums, but even with his heroic efforts the music comes off sounding like a very expensive night at a dinner theatre in the 1970s. I love me some Yacht Rock, it just isn't Steely Dan. Other than Gadd's drumming, the shining moments for me were the fine saxophone playing of Wayne Shorter, and the patch choice of the synth played on the outro of the song "Aja". The only song that really stands out all the way through is the single "Peg". I am always a bit ambivalent about Steely Dan's efforts. There seems to be every reason for me to love the band and yet for some unknown reason I don't. I want to love the album for the excellent production, engineering, and recording, but ultimately, no matter how well recorded, I have to dig the ideas that are being laid down and I'm not sure I do. In terms of the evolution of popular music, this, along with Stevie Wonder, did certainly influence many other artists to bring more exotic and complicated jazz chords to popular music formats. So for that reason I can see why they merit inclusion, I just don't think they merit so many albums on the list. All cerebellum, no aorta. It manage to take me back to the years when my family eagerly sat down to watch episodes of CHiPs.

I get it, it's bland, mellow to the point of catatonia, arguably even dull. Steely Dan is for the technicians. For people who play instruments like an engineer. And you know, good for them, I guess. Personally, I like music based in emotion expressed a little more spontaneously. I'm impressed with the technical wizards and all, but I gotta have a little feeling in there to get properly invested. That said! Some of these songs are great - true mellow classics to kinda vibe out too. The rest are the definition of inoffensive.

Ich fand sie lange etwas zu poliert, zu abgehoben - aber eigentlich ist das phantastisch.

M'eh

Slickly produced to within an inch of its life, even compared to earlier Steely Dan records, and it fits the laid back nature of the songs. The songs are mostly long and expansive, leaving room for those impeccable guitar parts, drum fills, and horns. Aja has the same hooks as earlier Dan albums, but now they're spread out over luxurious songs. "Deacon Blues" is the highlight, pairing dark lyrics with a laid-back, almost lounge atmosphere. The funk of "Black Cow" and the horns of "Peg" - the one song that sounds like a pop song and not an extended groove - are also great. The last two songs don't quite live up to the rest, but they're still pretty good. Not my favorite from the band, but I can understand why a fan would say this is their definitive album, as it makes their sound about as sleek and detailed as possible.

Short album, but the songs are all long and pretty much every one overstays its welcome

This is not what I expected Steely Dan to sound like. Didn’t mind it though. Actually think that’s exactly what I said for their last album. So maybe they aren’t the most memorable. Simpsons: Yes

This was both really enjoyable and fairly forgettable. I liked it but there’s no stand out track even if it’s really well done music. You get a 4 for being so funky.