Aja (album)

Aja (pronounced the same as "Asia") is an album by the rock band Steely Dan. The album was named after the Korean wife of Fagen's friend's brother. Originally released in 1977, it became the group's best-selling album. Topping at #3 on the U.S. charts and #5 in the United Kingdom, it was the band's first platinum album. In July 1978, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording. It has sold over 6,000,000 copies worldwide. In 2003, the album was ranked number 145 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album is considered to be quite ambitious and sophisticated. The eight minute-long title track features complex jazz-based changes and a solo by renowned saxophonist Wayne Shorter, as well as dextrous drum work by drummer Steve Gadd -- especially at the end of the tune.

Aja is also the subject of one of the Classic Albums series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. The documentary includes interviews with Becker & Fagen (among others) plus live in the studio versions of songs from the album and the opportunity to hear some of the rejected (but not credited to protect the egos of the guilty) guitar solos for "Peg" before Jay Graydon produced the satisfactory take.

1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 Production
4 Charts
5 Awards
6 Miscellanea
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Becker and Fagen.

"Black Cow" – 5:10
"Aja" – 7:57
"Deacon Blues" – 7:37
"Peg" – 3:57
"Home at Last" – 5:34
"I Got the News" – 5:06
"Josie" – 4:33

[edit] Personnel

Walter Becker - bass, guitar, electric guitar, vocals
Chuck Rainey - bass
Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals
Donald Fagen - synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, whistle
Paul Griffin - keyboards, electric piano, vocals, background vocals
Don Grolnick - keyboards, clavinet
Michael Omartian - piano, keyboards
Joe Sample - keyboards, electric piano, clavinet
Larry Carlton - guitar, electric guitar
Denny Dias - guitar
Jay Graydon - guitar, electric guitar
Steve Khan - guitar
Dean Parks - guitar
Lee Ritenour - guitar
Pete Christlieb - flute, tenor saxophone
Chuck Findley - horn, brass
Jim Horn - flute, saxophone
Richard Hyde - trombone
Slyde Hyde - brass
Plas Johnson - flute, saxophone
Jackie Kelso - flute, horn, saxophone
Lou McCreary - brass
Bill Perkins - flute, horn, saxophone
Tom Scott - conductor, flute, tenor saxophone, lyricon
Wayne Shorter - flute, tenor saxophone
Bernard Purdie - drums
Steve Gadd - drums (on Aja)
Ed Greene - drums (on "I got the News")
Paul Humphrey - drums
Jim Keltner - percussion, drums
Rick Marotta - drums
Gary Coleman - percussion
Victor Feldman - percussion, piano, keyboards, electric piano, vibraphone
Venetta Fields - vocals, background vocals
Clydie King - vocals, background vocals
Rebecca Louis - vocals, background vocals
Shirley Matthews - vocals, background vocals
Michael McDonald - vocals, background vocals

[edit] Production

Producer: Gary Katz
Engineers: Roger Nichols, Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmitt, Bill Schnee
Assistant engineers: Joe Bellamy, Lenise Bent, Ken Klinger, Ron Pangaliman, Ed Rack, Linda Tyler
Mastering: Bernie Grundman
Production coordination: Barbara Miller
Sound consultant: Dinky Dawson
Consultant: Daniel Levitin
Horn arrangements: Tom Scott
Art direction: Vartan Reissue
Design: Geoff Westen
Photography: Walter Becker
Liner notes: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Reissue coordination: Beth Stempel

[edit] Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1977	Pop Albums	3

Pop Singles

Year	Single	Label & number	Position
1978	"Peg" (B-side: "I Got the News")	ABC 12320	11
1978	"Deacon Blues" (B-side: "Home at Last")	ABC 12355	19
1978	"Josie" (B-side: "Black Cow")	ABC 12404	26

[edit] Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1977	Aja	Best Engineered Recording, Non Classical

[edit] Miscellanea

The song "Deacon Blues" is often played as a fight song by the marching band at University of Alabama football games (disputed). The song contains the lines:

They've got a name for the winners in the world

I want a name when I lose

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide

Call me Deacon Blues^[1]

However, those lines were written more in contempt than in praise. In a 2006 interview Fagen said,

Walter and I had been working on that song at a house in Malibu. I played him that line, and he said, "You mean it's like, 'They call these cracker assholes this grandiose name like the Crimson Tide, and I'm this loser, so they call me this other grandiose name, Deacon Blues?' " And I said, "Yeah!" He said, "Cool! Let's finish it!"^[2]

Bass line hook from "Black Cow" was sampled in the NY hip-hop anthem "Deja Vu" by Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz. The hip-hop duo had requested Steely Dan to perform live with them on MTV's TRL but the band refused.

Contrary to popular belief the album's cover art was not designed by actor Phil Hartman, who worked part time as a graphic artist.

[edit] External links

Complete lyrics

v • d • e Steely Dan
Walter Becker • Donald Fagen Jeff "Skunk" Baxter • Denny Dias • Jim Hodder • Michael McDonald • David Palmer
Discography
Studio albums: Can't Buy a Thrill • Countdown to Ecstasy • Pretzel Logic • Katy Lied • The Royal Scam • Aja • Gaucho • Two Against Nature • Everything Must Go Live albums: Alive in America • Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party Compilations: Greatest Hits • Steely Dan • Gold • Gold (Expanded) • A Decade of Steely Dan • Reelin' In The Years • Do It Again • Citizen Steely Dan • Then and Now • Showbiz Kids • Definitive Collection Also featured on: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz