Apropos of nothing, I’ve been listening, and then listening again, to Steely Dan’s seminal album Aja. I think it’s the greatest record of all time. You might, dear reader, expected me to have nominated Pet Sounds for this great honour given my love of the Beach Boys, but no. I think this album is even better, better than anything I have ever heard.
It’s not just the songs, which are undoubtedly Walter Becker and Donald Fagen’s very finest, but it’s everything from the arrangements to the production to the actual players. By now, Steely Dan was down to Becker and Fagen, augmented by the best sidemen money could hire. From Bernard Purdie,, Steve Gadd, Wayne Shorter, Larry Carlton and many more, the Dan could not fail and they didn’t.
And what staggers me about it is this: the album was recorded and released 40 years ago. 40 years ago for goodness sake. The track listing is simply perfect, from the song about a loser, Deacon Blues, through to Peg, which was heavily sampled for the 1989 De La Soul song, “Eye Know”. But the pièce de résistance is the shimmering, complex and sophisticated title track. Donald Fagen came up with the song after a man he knew married a Korean woman called Aja. I reprint, without permission, the lyrics of Aja, but only on condition that you now listen to it:
Up on the hill
People never stare
They just don’t care
Chinese music under banyan trees
Here at the dude ranch above the sea
Aja
When all my dime dancin’ is through
I run to you
Up on the hill
They’ve got time to burn
There’s no return
Double helix in the sky tonight
Throw out the hardware
Let’s do it right
Aja
When all my dime dancin’ is through
I run to you
Up on the hill
They think I’m okay
Or so they say
Chinese music always sets me free
Angular banjoes
Sound good to me
Aja
When all my dime dancin’ is through
I run to you
If I could take an album to my desert island, this would be it.
