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Pick ONE, and ONLY one, Steely Dan LP


Travis In Austin

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If you could only have one Steely Dan album which one would it be?  If you have a favorite version of the album, which one is it.

 

I'm struggling between Gaucho and Aja at the moment.

 

Edit:  No compilation, "Best of" or box sets allowed.

Edited by dwilawyer
Subsequent poster reminded me thats cheating
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If you could only have one Steely Dan album which one would it be?  If you have a favorite version of the album, which one is it.







 







I'm struggling between Gaucho and Aja at the moment.


I like GAUCHO, but I lived AJA so I have to go with AJA. Greatest Hits don't qualify.

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Aja without question.

 

Two songs on that album that I use for reference tracks when comparing components and pairs of speakers..the song Aja, and the song I Got The News.

 

The list of musicians that played on this album is incredible.

 

Steely Dan[edit]

  • Donald Fagen – lead vocals (all tracks), synthesizer (all tracks but 4), police whistle (2), backing vocals (2, 5, 7)
  • Walter Becker – bass (3), guitar (2), guitar solos (5, 6, 7)

Additional musicians[edit]

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1 minute ago, Jeff Matthews said:

Aja is very good.  I can't argue against anyone who advocates for it.  For some reason, though, I can't just pull the trigger.  I think about "Can't Buy a Thrill," "Katy Lied," and "The Royal Scam."  All 3 of those were really great albums.

There are a lot of folks in that camp. 

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/walter-becker-steely-dan-elusive-genius-by-rob-sheffield-w501082

 

Can you pick just one?

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Aja without question.







 







Two songs on that album that I use for reference tracks when comparing components and pairs of speakers..the song Aja, and the song I Got The News.







 







The list of musicians that played on this album is incredible.







 







Steely Dan[edit]







  • Donald Fagen – lead vocals (all tracks), synthesizer (all tracks but 4), police whistle (2), backing vocals (2, 5, 7)





  • Walter Becker – bass (3), guitar (2), guitar solos (5, 6, 7)





Additional musicians[edit]





Wow! I've got AJA in both LP and CD but necer realized the amount of contributing artists. Gonna have to play it once I hook up my "new to me" Cornwall originals!

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17 minutes ago, JJkizak said:

My understanding of Steely Dan was if a musician missed a couple of notes he was unemployed very quickly.

JJK

I think that's right with the possible exception of Jim Gordon.  

 

The number of takes they would also demand was pretty legendary as well.

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Of the specifically mentioned Steely Dan CDs, I would have to say Aja.

 

I know it was not a part of the scope of the question, but I always liked the CDs that Donald Fagen released, separate from being with SD. Of those, I really like Nightfly and Morph The Cat and Kamakiriad the best.

 

RIP Walter - Passed away yesterday at 67 years old. 

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20 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

There is a great documentary on the making of Aja.  I watched it a few years ago.  

 

Great musicians and a big loss.  Aja is easy to pick, but let's face it, all of their albums are ones that you plunk down and listen the whole way through. 

any idea where we could find this?  

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11 hours ago, jimjimbo said:

I know....."The Google".....smart guy.

No fat thumbs, me hit "send" too soon

 

11 hours ago, jimjimbo said:

I know....."The Google".....smart guy.

It is also referenced in this article I previously linked to:

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/walter-becker-steely-dan-elusive-genius-by-rob-sheffield-w501082

 

Farewell, Walter Becker: Remembering the Elusive Genius of Steely Dan

He always knew how to make loserdom sound mythic

gettyimages-469277028-08f0854c-7fcb-474a Walter Becker of Steely Dan performing April 10th, 2015 at Coachella. Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
4 hours ago  

 

Most fans heard him talk for the first time in the 1999 VH1 Classic Albums doc about the making of Aja – a TV moment every bit as classic as Aja. It changed the public perception of Steely Dan as drastically as Beyond The Lighted Stage changed the perception of Rush, introducing Becker as the mischievously wry professor that live audiences would come to cherish over the years. For longtime fans who grew up seeing Fagen and Becker as silent recluses, it was a shock to hear them trade banter worthy of Statler and Waldorf. In the studio, they play back the "Peg" guitar solos just to heckle them. ("Hawaiian." "Yeah, that's kind of, uh, Polynesian.") They isolate Michael McDonald's backup vocals just to snicker at him: "Sorry, Mike." (McDonald was so declassé in 1999 that his voice was the punch line at the end of the South Park movie.) Fagen mocks his own "Deacon Blues" vocal: "Those days when I was singing like Jerry Lewis. Remember that?" Becker nods. "Yeah, that was a very fertile period for you." 

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