Today we have Steely Dan's sixth studio album Aja. Released in 1977, the album shows a strong influence from jazz and is often considered their most sophisticated studio work. It also became the band's most commercially successful work and was critically acclaimed at the time of its release.
Often considered a fan of long songs--these days I'm too wise to agree--I think many of the songs drag on too long. I admire the eight minute title track "Aja," whose lyrics of longing for spiritual enlightenment hearken back to my favorite Dan song "Bodhisattva," but it already starts feeling dragged out by the four minute mark. On other long songs, I feel like I'm being cheated out of more good songs, rather than treated to one really great one. Plus, I find it harder and harder to ignore a sense that Steely Dan’s songs are losing something in the pursuit of perfect records, which I first noted feeling on The Royal Scam, as a song continues past the four minute mark--you never even consider such things when listening the similarly "studio perfect" but concise Pretzel Logic. Despite all of this, the lyrics on this album are one of their best collections and, long or not, "Black Cow," "Home At Last," and "Josie" are undeniably top-notch songs. B+ [This review was revisited and rewritten on Steely Dan’s discography page.]
