Word: jazzing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Steely Dan crosses the fine line it has been straddling for so long; the band has solidly ventured into jazz, both instrumentally and structurally, although their vocals remain the same. Yet, even the vocals are not totally sacred. Don Fagen's voice is different on Aja; it lacks the gisty rasp; it is cleaner, using harmony where it never did before. The guitar is not nearly as prominent a player as it is in the group's other dramas. The Dan are using horns, electric keyboards, symthesized sounds as well as a distict jazz rhythm for their music...
...limitless potential, this progression, Becker's scorching leads are sorely missed in the music. Steely Dan's ability to rock'n'roll attrated many of their current fans, and in Aja they have abandoned the juiced-up riffs of "Reelin' in the Years," and settled down to a contemporary jazz guitar, which is only intermittently prominent in the music. Sax, horns, vibes and keyboards carry the tunes to their destination, and in a very sophisticated...
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker composed smooth lyrics for Aja, proving you can combine meaningful lines with structural jazz. In "Deacon Blues" they make us privy to the business of their new album...
...Deacon Blues" is the blues of this album, at the same time it is the album's triumph. It is sad Steely Dan left its rock and rollpulpit for the endless plane of jazz; it is one of a handful of bands which can do justice to a rapidly whithering art. But Aja comes across as Steely Dan's "breaking on thru"; their growth is so limitless and their potential so boundless that it way only a matter of time before Aja had to arrive. Becker and Fagen are all that's left of the original Dan. Their everpressing musical...
...second side is not as strong as the first. It is continuation of the same sounds, assembled in shorter cuts, perhaps for the benefit of the air waves. "I Got The News" uses graceful vocal harmony and some fine guitar leads with the album's usual set of jazz instruments to weave a fluent, atriking cut. "Peg" is that cute tune to which all the top-fortyettes will bump. Peg," despite its true quality, approaches the barrier between easy-listening-jazz and disco. The "Disco Dan" concept puts a damper on the album, raising doubts as to whether...