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).

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Vince Guaraldi)

A Charlie Brown Christmas
Vince Guaraldi (1965)

Top Tracks: “Linus and Lucy”, “Christmas Time is Here”, “O Tannenbaum”

So, here’s the weird thing: I don’t have any soundtrack albums on this list (or any live albums or compilations, but whatever), and this would seem to be a soundtrack. But is it? It stands alone as a Vince Guaraldi record, and it’s as important to me as anything from a musical perspective. I’ve often felt that two super early influences — Vince’s work on the animated Peanuts specials, and Johnny Costa’s work on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood — were probably the two things that really set me in motion to want to play music. This is still on my “must listen” list each holiday season, and I often have it playing while making various Christmas food treats (June 2020).

Chicago Transit Authority (Chicago)

Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago (1969)

Top Tracks: “Beginnings”, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”, “Questions 67 and 68”

It was probably pretty short sighted to name your band and first album Chicago Transit Authority… because there’s an actual Chicago Transit Authority that authorizes transit in Chicago (which, to this day, they still do). So that wasn’t going to work out longterm for the band name, so they shortened it to Chicago and all was well after that. This debut album is fucking outstanding, though. Progressive and jazzy but still friendly and pop-oriented, it introduced the signature sound of this band to the world and it still holds up today (June 2020).