AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Analogue Productions - AUHQR 0014-45
Handmade UHQR Clarity 200 Gram Virgin Vinyl
Numbered Limited Edition - AAA 100% Analogue - Mastered By Bernie Grundman
Hand Pressed Pressed at QRP Quality Record Pressings
The Absolute Sound Super Disc List
All of the mind numbing work that went into this recording both becomes more obvious in that you can better hear the components and better melds together to produce a most pleasing complete whole. When All Your Dime Dancing Is Through You'll Order UHQR "Aja"
Sound 11/10 Michael Fremer
Aja — Steely Dan's landmark sixth studio album now on UHQR!
Definitive reissue Ultra High Quality Record, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl!
Mastered by Bernie Grundman from an analog, non EQ'd tape copy
Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using 200-gram Clarity Vinyl®
Purest possible pressing and most visually stunning presentation and packaging!
Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing
If you were an audiophile in the late 1970s, you owned Aja. Rolling Stone, which ranks 1977's Aja at No. 63 on its latest 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, says "this was Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's no-holds barred stab at becoming a huge mainstream jazz-pop success.
"And sure enough, thanks to sweet, slippery tracks like 'Deacon Blues,' and 'Peg,' this collegiate band with a name plucked from a William Burroughs novel and a songbook full of smart, cynical lyrics became bona fide superstars, shooting to the Top Five and selling platinum. And yes, Aja even won a Grammy for Best Engineeed Album."
Fagan and Becker would assemble a revolving cast of almost 40 session musicians to play on the album, consisting of some of the all-time greats, including Joe Sample, Larry Carlton, Wayne Shorter, Steve Gadd, Lee Ritenour, Timothy B. Schmidt — it's a long list. It's a Who's Who of session superstars.
The album name and its title track were inspired by a South Korean woman whom a high school friend's brother had married after serving in the army in her country. The chord progressions and melodies are so unique and so typically Steely Dan. The drum solo at the end of the title track by Steve Gadd is also astounding.
Founded by core members Walter Becker (bass) and Donald Fagen (vocals, keyboards), Steely Dan's popularity rose throughout the late 1970s on, and their seven albums throughout that period of time blended elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Steely Dan created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures, and a devotion to the recording studio. Becker and Fagen, with producer Gary Katz, gradually changed Steely Dan from a performing band to a studio project, hiring session musicians to record their compositions. The duo didn't perform live between 1974 and 1993. But their popularity nevertheless grew throughout the '70s as their albums became critical favorites and their singles became staples of Adult Oriented Radio and pop radio stations.
After a brief battle with esophageal cancer, Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 67. Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.
1. Black Cow
2. Aja
3. Deacon Blues
4. Peg
5. Home At Last
6. I Got The News
7. Josie
