Aja (Steely Dan)

Aja
Steely Dan (1977)

Top Tracks: “Peg”, “Aja”, “Black Cow”

Picking “Top Tracks” for Aja is ridiculous. What, “Josie” isn’t good enough? This was the album more than any other that taught me what could be done with music. I mean, sure, I had Mozart and Beethoven, I was kinda starting to experience jazz, but in 1977, Aja was on the stereo while my parents through swanky parties for their fashion industry friends, and could there be a better soundtrack for that era while growing up in Southern California? I can still listen to it front-to-back today and be as in awe of it as I was when I was eight years old (May 2020).

Can’t Buy a Thrill (Steely Dan)

Can’t Buy a Thrill
Steely Dan (1972)

Top Tracks: “Reelin’ In the Years”, “Do It Again”, “Dirty Work”

Personal note: when I was three or four years old and “Reelin’ In the Years” would come on, I’d go completely psycho. Something about that speedy shuffle did things to my developing brain, and I’d be doing a pretty good impression of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon, tumbling about the room for the whole four minutes of the tune. Steely Dan grew quite a bit and in different ways after this debut album, but it still set the path for them to combine elements of rock and jazz and R&B, and rule the Yacht Rock era for the next decade (June 2020).