I applaud the effort. It is easy to quibble with someone else's ratings, in general I would just say that imo your Katy Lied is too high and your Pretzel is too low. No way for me do Everyones gone to the movies and gold teeth II rank above Charlie Freak and The Royal Scam. Agree with most of the others.
Wow! Surprised with your ratings i would equate A+ =100 as my 10/10. In that case for example I gave CBAT songs five A+ and you two. Albums altogether songwise so far.. I've given sixteen A+ and you five A+ that's CBAT to RS.
For those wanting to brush up on the upcoming LP (Aja)...here's the link for the Classic Albums program. Bern
I love Walter's final line after the credits. "You know my favorite thing is when they come up and they say 'Hey aren't you the guy from Steely Dan?' And I say 'yea' and they say 'no ya not. Ya not him.' That's what I like."
Great thread! I've always wondered about Fagen's singing accent. If he were speaking it would almost smack of a Baaahston or Down East accent where a lot of the Rs are softened/dropped. A strange way to sound hip, but it works...I think... E.g., "You were a roll-ah skay-tuh..." Thoughts?
Hmm...horrible HATWW opener...unrecognizable instrumentality and 3x too fast. But, it gets better with the Nightfly repros.
Wow - actually had never seen this before - fantastic! The absolute model of how this stuff should be done with 100% focus on the music. Really gives you an appreciation just how brilliant Messrs. Fagen and Becker really are (and sadly, were...)
With Josie! Gimme about an hour, boys, and we'll get started on Aja. Pure testimony to the overall quality of Steely Dan's material...barely a bum song in the lot Cheers for posting that, saved me the trouble of having to do so
To hell with it...let's get the Aja party started before I actually have to, you know, get some actual work done here! Aja (/ˈeɪʒə/, pronounced Asia) is the sixth album by the jazz rock band Steely Dan. Originally released in 1977 on ABC Records, it became the group's best-selling album. The credits for Aja list nearly 40 musicians, as band leaders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker pushed Steely Dan further into experimenting with different combinations of session players. Peaking at No. 3 on the U.S. charts and No. 5 in the United Kingdom, Aja was the band's first platinum album, eventually selling over 5 million copies. The record spawned a number of hit singles, including "Peg", "Deacon Blues", and "Josie". In July 1978, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording. In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and ranked number 145 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. The album is often cited as one of the best test recordings for audiophiles, due to its high production standards. Background Donald Fagen has said the album was named for a Korean woman who married the brother of one of his high-school friends. The cover photo by Hideki Fujii features Japanese model and actress Sayoko Yamaguchi and was designed by Phil Hartman The album features several leading session musicians. The eight-minute-long title track features jazz-based changes and a solo by saxophonist Wayne Shorter. When DTS attempted to make a 5.1 version, it was discovered that the multitrack masters for both "Black Cow" and the title track were missing. For this same reason, a multichannel SACD version was cancelled by Universal Music. Donald Fagen has offered a $600 reward for the missing masters or any information that leads to their recovery. Critical reception Summarising the style of the band at the time Aja was released, music critic Andy Gill said in retrospect: "Jazz-rock was a fundamental part of the 70s musical landscape.. [Steely Dan] wasn't rock or pop music with ideas above its station, and it wasn't jazzers slumming... it was a very well-forged alloy of the two – you couldn't separate the pop music from the jazz in their music." In a contemporary review of the album, Rolling Stone critic Michael Duffy felt that "the conceptual framework of their music has shifted from the pretext of rock & roll toward a smoother, awesomely clean and calculated mutation of various rock, pop and jazz idioms", while their lyrics "remain as pleasantly obtuse and cynical as ever". Duffy added that while the duo's "extreme intellectual self-consciousness" was beginning to show its limitations, the latter "may be precisely the quality that makes Walter Becker and Donald Fagen the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."[18] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice initially "hated" the record before he "realized that, unlike The Royal Scam, it was stretching me some", while noting that he was "grateful to find Fagen and Becker's collegiate cynicism in decline". Describing the album in 1999, British musician Ian Dury said: "Well, Aja's got a sound that lifts your heart up.. and it's the most consistent up-full, heart-warming.. even though, it is a classic LA kinda sound. You wouldn't think it was recorded anywhere else in the world. It's got California through its blood, even though they are boys from New York... It's a record that sends my spirits up, and really when I listen to music, really that's what I want." Analyzing the band's songwriting style, Dury said: "They've got a skill that can make images that aren't puerile and don't make you think you've heard it before... very 'Hollywood filmic' in a way, the imagery is very imaginable, in a visual sense." Dury said of their musical style: "Parker, Mingus, Blakey, I can hear in there... Jazz MessengersI can hear in there, Bobby Timmons... the subject matter doesn't matter, it's the sound they're making." Legacy In 2010 the Library of Congress selected Aja for inclusion in the United States National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance.The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Aja is the subject of one of the Classic Albums, a series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. The documentary includes a song-by-song study of the album (the only omission being "I Got the News", which is played during the closing credits), interviews with Steely Dan co-founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (among others) plus new, live-in-studio versions of songs from the album. Becker and Fagen also play back several of the rejected guitar solos for "Peg", which were recorded before Jay Graydon produced the satisfactory take. Track listing All songs written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Side one No. Title Length 1. "Black Cow" 5:10 2. "Aja" 7:57 3. "Deacon Blues" 7:33 Side two No. Title Length 4. "Peg" 3:58 5. "Home at Last" 5:34 6. "I Got the News" 5:06 7. "Josie" 4:33 Personnel Steely Dan 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 Victor Feldman – electric piano (1, 3, 7), vibraphone (5, 6), piano (5, 6), percussion (2, 4) Joe Sample – electric piano (2), Hohner Clavinet (1) Paul Griffin – electric piano (4), backing vocals (4) Michael Omartian – piano (2) Don Grolnick – Hohner Clavinet (4) Larry Carlton – guitar (1, 2, 3, 5, 7), guitar solo (6) Lee Ritenour - guitar (3) Denny Dias (2), Dean Parks (3, 6, 7), Steve Khan (4) – guitar Jay Graydon – solo guitar (4) Chuck Rainey – bass (all but track 3) Paul Humphrey (1), Steve Gadd (2), Bernard Purdie (3, 5), Rick Marotta (4), Ed Greene (6) – drums Jim Keltner – drums (7), percussion (7) Gary Coleman – percussion (4) Tom Scott – tenor saxophone (1), Lyricon (4), horn arrangements Wayne Shorter (2), Pete Christlieb (3) – tenor saxophone Jim Horn, Bill Perkins, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso – saxes/flutes Chuck Findley, Lou McCreary, Slyde Hyde – brass Michael McDonald (4, 6), Timothy B. Schmit (2, 5, 7), Clydie King (1, 3, 6), Sherlie Matthews (1, 3, 6), Venetta Fields (1, 3, 6), Rebecca Louis (1, 6) – backing vocals Production Executive producer: Stephen Diener [ABC Records] Producer: Gary Katz Engineers: Roger Nichols, Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmitt, Bill Schnee Assistant engineers: Joe Bellamy, Lenise Bent, Ken Klinger, Ron Pangaliman, Ed Rack, Linda Tyler Mastering: Bernie Grundman Production coordination: Barbara Miller Sound consultant: Dinky Dawson Consultant: Daniel Levitin Horn arrangements: Tom Scott Art direction: Vartan Reissue Design: Geoff Westen Photography: Hideki Fujii (cover photo), Walter Becker Liner notes: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen Reissue coordination: Beth Stempel Outtakes The sessions for Aja produced several outtakes, including "The Bear". The song was never officially released, but would later be played live on their 2011 Shuffle Diplomacy tour. Awards Grammy Awards Year Winner Category 1977 Aja Best Engineered Recording, Non Classical
I’ve told the story before: 2007, sitting in the Black Dog with my friend Matt, drinking beer and tequila, talking about music as usual. Matt makes some reference to Steely Dan in the conversation (I can’t remember what). I said, “You know, I’ve never really heard much of their stuff…” (other than the big radio hits like “Do It Again” which I thought was Santana). Matt goes, “Really? You’ve never heard Aja, even?” “Nope.” “Oh, man, you’ve gotta hear Aja, it’s f—kin’ awesome!” Now, Matt and I have known one another for 32 years now, played in bands together, etc- we generally know one another like the back of our hands at this point (not unlike Becker and Fagen, I suppose) including individual musical tastes. So when one of us suggests a band or album to the other we know it’s a good recommendation. A couple of weeks later, I showed up at my girlfriend’s apartment to pick her up to go out for dinner. Again, Natasha and I had known one another for years (we did fall out of touch for about a decade before hooking up again- eventually she sort of went off the deep end before moving to Australia and getting married etc) and we knew one another’s musical tastes well. Anyway, she wasn’t quite ready to go out yet (as women sometimes are), so I was perusing her and her mum’s (they shared the apartment) CD collection and stumbled across Aja. I held up the CD: “You know, Matt and I were just talking about this one…I’ve never heard it before.” Again: “You’ve never heard Aja?!” She produces her stash box from the bookshelf and proceeds to roll one up. “We’ll smoke this, then I’ll put on Aja before we go, you’ve got to hear it!” This we did. The rest, as they say, is history…before the album was done I decided I needed to hear every record these guys ever made. “Black Cow” – another super funky outing, clavinet and Chuck Rainey’s bass to the forefront. Fagen’s singing reminds me of Richard Manuel from The Band. The song has a smoooooth sound, between Tom Scott’s horns and the 70’s studio sounding drums (Paul Humphrey, who I was familiar with from his work with Zappa). Victor Feldman’s Rhodes solo is another classic Steely Dan keyboard solo. The lyrics once again seem to revolve around yet another couple with substance abuse problems- or at least the female, and the guy has had enough of it. “Drink your big black cow and get out of here”- a root beer float, and another Steely Dan lyric that seems to get some stick ‘round these parts when it comes to “bad lyrics”, don’t ask me why. Given the rest of the material on the album “Black Cow” seems like one of the lesser tunes, but it’s a great opener. “Aja” – Wow. IMO, from a musical standpoint “Aja” represents the peak of everything Becker and Fagen had wanted to accomplish up to that point (I daresay it’s their “jump the shark moment”.) It’s an eight minute multi part musical journey, a total trip. A welcome return for Michael Omartian and that thirteen grand Bosendorfer piano (Omartian was dismayed at the stains and ciggie burns that had accumulated on the piano since he’d last seen it). Chuck Rainey once again holds down the fort on bass; Becker, Larry Carlton and Denny Dias (in his last appearance on a Steely Dan album) contribute tasty guitar work, but the stars of the show are Steve Gadd on drums –providing not one but two jawdropping drum solos- and, on saxophone, a musician Becker and Fagen had long wanted to work with, Wayne Shorter, from Miles Davis’ band. Shorter was leery at first about sitting in with these longhair rockers but once convinced of their jazz credentials finally agreed. Given the scope of the composition (again based on an old Becker/Fagen tune called “Stand By The Seawall”) and the sheer musicianship on display here, if pressed I’d be brazen to say “Aja” is Steely Dan’s masterpiece. “Deacon Blues” – Another epic, this is my favourite song on the album. It’s a song about another loner/loser who lives within the fringes of society (as I said in the Katy Lied section, possibly the same character from “Bad Sneakers”…and loosely based on Walter Becker himself perhaps?) whose f—k it all attitude towards life seems to sustain him. Musically, it’s pretty minimalistic: anchored by Rhodes piano (Feldman), bass (Becker), Bernard Purdie’s straight ahead drumming and rhythm guitars by Larry Carlton (electric) and Lee Ritenour (acoustic), cushioned by a pad of mellow Tom Scott horns (a sound I am of course familiar with from his work on some of George Harrison’s mid-70’s albums). Fagen adds some “celeste” patch synth in the bridge. Again, a sax solo is focus of attention, this time provided by The Tonight Show’s Pete Christlieb.Is it wrong that the intro to such a depressing song makes me smile every time I hear it? “Peg” – “PAAAYYYYYGGGGG!!!!” I must admit, I am not a fan of this song. Between Michael McDonald’s harmony vocals and Tom Scott’s lyricon riff it sort of grates on my nerves a bit. Beyond that, though, Rick Marotta lays down a nice syncopated groove against Chuck Rainey’s funky slap bass (he performed said slap bass on the sly after Becker and Fagen stated they did not want him to slap on the song) and Jay Graydon puts down an infamous guitar solo –the seventh guitarist to make the attempt. As for the lyrics, I’m not sure if it’s about a guy who’s trying to entice his woman into taking some dirty pictures or a guy who’s attracted to a blue movie actress. Can’t really say that I care too much, to be honest, as this is a song I tend to skip. “Home At Last” – Bernard Purdie lays down his patented “Purdie Shuffle” (he reckoned he deserved a co-writer credit, but no dice) on this piano led tune that seems to be vaguely inspired by Homer (of Illiad fame, not Simpson). Again, chock full of more Tom Scott horns and a cool Rainey bass line, this song is also home to my favourite Walter Becker guitar solo- we know Walter tended to agonize over his solos in those days, to the point of recording them bar by bar in some cases, but this one sounds like he just picked up his Fender Mustang with the rusty strings and rattled off the thing, full of Becker’s trademark bends and jazz-influenced licks. I will figure out how to play it some day, dammit! After “Deacon Blues”, this is my second favourite song on the album, simply on the basis of Becker’s solo. “I Got The News” – an uptempo, jazz piano type song. Becker again provides a couple of great solos and Fagen plays string synthesizer (for the longest time I thought it was real strings on this song). The lyric concerns some sort of sleazy, insatiable nymphomaniac (the narrator claims he’ll never walk again after a night with her) and contains my all time number one Becker/Fagen “put down” lyric: “Broadway duchess, darling if you only knew half as much as everybody thinks you do…” (oh, I can think of a lot of people I’ve known in my 41 years I could apply that line too, both male and female!). “News” is probably considered the most inconsequential song on the album, at least based on its near non-inclusion in the Aja “Classic Albums” documentary. “Josie” – I remember when I was perusing the credits on Tash’s Aja CD I spotted one name that immediately got my attention: my favourite drummer, Jim Keltner, who graces “Josie” with his presence (he tried and failed to nail “Peg”.) Funky sounding jazz chords abound (Becker described the song as a “thirteen bar blues” and his favourite song to play live- he also provides his third solo in a row on the album here, and it’s another good ‘un) alongside yet another cool Chuck Rainey bass line. This is probably the most “West Coast” sounding tune on the album. The hero of the piece, Josie is fresh out of jail and her old neighbourhood is eagerly awaiting her return (again, the lyric is based on an early Becker/Fagen song whose name I can’t remember at the moment, right down to the “hats and hooters” line).
Robert Christgau only gave one A+ ( 10/10) to one Steely Dan, that being Pretzel Logic. The Royal Scam got a "B" Suppose that makes a 7/10. AJA he gave B+ 8/10.
Side one. 1. "Black Cow" 10/10 = A+ 2. "Aja" 10/10 3. "Deacon Blues" 10/10 Side two. 4. Peg 10/10 5. "Home at Last" 10/10 6. "I Got the News" 10/10 7. "Josie" 10/10 Can't fault this album. I'd give it A+ rating,(10/10).
Aja - an album I found very easy to love and the one that seems to be loved by jazz enthusiasts more than the others. It also had a great funky danceable song, Peg (and I can understand your irritation at it, though I don't have the issue with MM - I mean, if he's good enough for D&W...), a trick that would manifest itself more so on later Dan and solo albums especially (think of Blues Beach, Time Out of Mind, most of Kamakiriad, H Gang...), Terrific, sexy, mysterious cover too. I've never been a great fan of Josie live when they stick in an interminable drum solo, however.
If Katy is their 'piano' album, and Scam is their 'guitar' album, Aja is their bass and drums album. Every song is a masterclass in both instruments.
Without ado - the Aja liner notes. Remember how The Royal Scam notes ended with a question? Well - here's the answer.... Cheers, Paul ...the expanding man, silly!* And praise be that we at long last have this golden opportunity to reply to the puerile drivellings of the arch-traitor Michael Phalen (see original notes for the Aja album, reproduced herein). You may well believe that, were it not for the fact that by astonishing coincidence both of your humble narrators have freshly arisen from lengthy sessions at their respective dental surgeons and are now somewhat the worse for wear - old docs Lorcet and Vicodin notwithstanding - were this not the case, we would even now be giving this worthless phony the severe verbal cuffing he so richly deserves. Under the circumstances, we have decided to see if we can get the ridiculous Phalen (now an exec at VH-1) and his record biz "mentor" and co-conspirator/ enabler Steve D__ (whom we have just located in Oswego, New York, via the "clownfinder.com" website) on the blower and have it out with them, once and for all. What follows is more or less a transcript of our hastily arranged conference call. Operator: Your parties are all present now. You may go ahead. Becker: I'll drink to that. Phalen: Hello? Steve: uh.... Fagen: Bastard! Becker: Liar! Fagen: You ****heel! Phalen: Is that you, Donald? Becker: Guess again, dicknose. Phalen: Walter? Fagen: Dream on, coward! Steve: uh, excuse me, fellows, but I... Becker: Shut the hell up, Steve. All right Phalen, where is she? Phalen: Is this still about Stephanie and Diane? Because if it is, all I can tell you guys is what I told you last week and the week before and so on... Fagen: You must take us for fools. Is that it, Michael? A couple of chumps? Suckers? Phalen: Listen, you assholes - I've told you this a thousand times - I took them out to Roy's, we had the fried chicken, then I drove them to their car, which was parked in the lot at Ben Frank's, and that was it! I never saw them again, Never! Okay? Steve: Listen, gentlemen, if you are interested in a location for a restaurant, I'm afraid... Becker: Shut up, Steve. Tell me Mike, how's your car these days? Phalen: You bastard, you stay the **** away from my car! Those tires cost 400 bucks apiece to replace, and when I find out where you are... Becker: Uh-huh - you and what army? Phalen: You guys are out of your minds. These girls are old spinsters by now, and when your new album comes out, there is NO WAY IN HELL that it is gonna be played on VH-1! You understand that? No way in hell. I'm not kidding. Fagen: Pay attention, Michael - we're only gonna say this once. Bring the girls to the lobby of the Lowell Hotel on Madison and 68th tomorrow at midnight, or else. Phalen: MTV won't play it either. Steve: Gentlemen, Becker: (hangs up) Damn if that didn't feel good! You can now appreciate fully the kind of obstacles that were being flung into our paths on a daily basis back in the late seventies, when we were so desperatly intent on "doing our thing" for the ages. Incidentally, we subsequently learned that the Steve D__ who sat in our conference call was a hapless realtor from upstate New York and not the debonair Steve D__ who was for one brief shining moment a '70s record mogul. That Steve D__ is, we suppose, still living in Europe, and for all we know is basking poolside with the lovely Stephanie and/or Diane, as the case may be. Or maybe not. As for Michael Phalen, when we called back the next day we were told that he had "moved on" from VH-1 and could no longer be reached there. Additionally, we have reason to believe that the deductible on his auto insurance may have gone up again due to excessive claims for vandalism, and that his AAA membership may have been cancelled as well. No matter. Of course we wish him all the best, and it's good to know that there is no better time to buy residential property in Oswego than right now, should Michael decide to go that way. Incidentally, for those lucky fans who may have purchased a reissue of the Pretzel Logic album on which the intro to Rikki was missing (shades of Citizen Steely Dan!), or else a reissue Katy Lied with the incorrect sequence of tunes, you may rest assured that you have come into possession of a valuable collector's item. These particular rarities are even now fetching a handsome price on eBay, although we suspect they will be worth more and more as time goes by. The circumstances surrounding the accidental release of these flawed reissues make for an interesting story which we have been prevailed upon to save for another time and another venue. As for the Aja album proper, so much has already been written about this '70s blockbuster as to put it in imminent danger of becoming somewhat overrated. Not wishing to add greatly to the bulk of verbiage expended so far, we would like to make the following announcement: When we recently sent for the multitrack masters of Aja so as to make new surround-sound mixes of same, we discovered that the two-inch multitracks of the songs Aja and Black Cow were nowhere to be found. They had somehow become separated from the other boxes, which the producer had abandoned here and there (studios, storage lockers, etc.) almost twenty years before. Anyone having information about the whereabouts of these missing two inch tapes should contact HK Management at (415) 485-1444. There will be a $600.00 reward for anyone who successfully leads us to the tapes. This is not a joke. Happy hunting. (to be continued) -Donald Fagen & Walter Becker, 1999 *If the opening sentence seems the least bit cryptic, you probably have not yet purchased "The Royal Scam" reissue. We strongly urge that you return to the record store immediately and purchase vols. 1-5 of the Steely Dan reissue CDs before reading further.
Also Aja is - I think - the first album to originally have these kind of liner notes penned by Becker & Fagen. In this case, they were pretending to be a rock journalist named Michael Phalen. It's worth reprinting the original liner notes here - we'll come back to Michael in the Showbiz Kids compilation. Also - "classic zebra in the annals of Punkadelia"? Priceless. Cheers, Paul It was about two A.M. on an unseasonably chilly evening in June when the phone rang. Having just put the finishing touches on a rather lukewarm review of the Leo Sayer concert out in Queens, I was anything but ready for the rapid-fire monologue delivered long distance from L.A. by a man who introduced himself as Steve Diener. After a half hour or so, I came to understand that this garrulous gentleman worked for ABC Records and was inviting me out to Hollywood to observe a Steely Dan recording session, the object being to compose an eyewitness account of the proceedings for a posh European publication. Of course, I was delighted at the prospect and perhaps even a wee bit flattered when I was told that the group had specifically requested my presence. I later found out that this was not entirely true. In retrospect, I should have realized the assignment would not be all sweetness and light; in no way has Steely Dan made its reputation by catering to the rock press. In fact, their contempt for pop music critics was well known to myself and my colleagues. As it turned out, a little caution on my part would not have been out of order. By the end of the first session at Producer's Workshop in Hollywood, it had become abundantly clear to me that nobody in the "group" knew or cared who I was or what I was doing there. Several sessions later, after Donald and Walter had been apprised of my identity, there was trouble. To make a long story short, I managed to attend perhaps a dozen sessions at three different studios and, on two occasions, attempted to interview the composers. Unfortunately, both cassettes were seized under grievous circumstances by a fellow whom I believe to be in the employ of the reluctant interviewees. The loss was inconsequential considering that fact that, at that point, my relationship with the belligerent song writing duo had become so strained as to produce a dialog that consisted mainly of threats, insults, and rude remarks. This, then was the raw material I had to work with. I had squeezed out about three thousand words when I heard from a friend in London that the aforementioned European magazine had folded. It was not until a year later that I received a second phone call from Mr. Diener, now president of ABC Records, who informed me that the "guys" had specifically requested yours truly to write the liner notes for the new album and that a cassette copy of same would be forthcoming. Putting aside personal rancor, I gave "Aja" a listen. I have listened many times since. When they made their recording debut in 1972, Steely Dan was more or less a conventional rock group comprised of six active members. Almost immediately, the roster began to shrink until, by the time "Pretzel Logic" was released, the two composers appeared to be dependent on the performances of a baffling array of crack session regulars. Thanks to their deliberately vague manner of listing album credits, it became virtually impossible to determine who was playing what on any given track (a practice that has persisted until now). This latest album, following on the hot heels of that depraved and cynical masterpiece, "The Royal Scam", represents a departure from the puerile brooding that has distinguished Donald and Walter's work up to now. In this writers opinion, "Aja" signals the onset of a new maturity and a kind of solid professionalism that is the hallmark of an artist who has "arrived". Side One opens with "Black Cow", a catchy disco-funk number that defies categorization. Bitterly sarcastic lyrics are underpinned by cloying jazz-crossover harmonies, the whole thing propelled by an infectious, trendy beat. Featured here is Victor Feldman's thoughtful electric piano solo followed shortly by Tom Scott's earthy tenor sax. The title cut, "Aja", is a rather ambitious work in which a latin-tinged pop song is inexplicably expanded into some sort of sonata or suite. The result is a rambling eight-minute epic highlighted by Wayne Shorter's stately, rhapsodic solo which descends gracefully into a recapitulation of the vocal theme. The sensitive, sometimes explosive performance by drummer Steve Gadd may be his finest recorded work to date. The side closes with "Deacon Blues", an Edge City ballad enlivened only by Pete Christlieb's haunting tenor work and a tasty chart by Scott. Side Two finds vocalist Donald Fagen admonishing yet another lover in a danceable ditty entitled "Peg". Jay Graydon's electric guitar threatens after the initial refrain. The composer's describe this piece as a "pantonal 13 bar blues with chorus". That's the kind of double-talk they were giving me towards the end. We are now confronted by a stunning feet of pop legerdemain. "Home At Last", on first listening an unpretentious roadhouse shuffle, turns out upon close inspection to be a minor marvel of poetic grace and structural economy. At this late date, it would hardly seem possible for an artist to take Homer's immortal tale, so thoroughly exploited by Joyce in 1922, and educe from it new insights - especially within the narrow scope provided by the medium of popular song. Beneath the attractive, effortless flow of words and music, one discovers a lyric presence and fineness of perception that is a rare thing on disc nowadays. I can't say enough about this lovely rhythm-and-blues poem. "I Got The News", a Manhattan-jukebox thump-along, serves as a vehicle for the coy pianistics of Victor Feldman, whose labors are capriciously undermined by Walter Becker's odd, Djangoesque guitar and pointlessly obscene lyric. The final cut, "Josie", exemplifies Steely Dan's remarkable versatility. Rich with images of random violence, copulation, drug abuse, loitering with intent and other misdemeanors, this sociopathic jump tune is sure to become a classic zebra in the annals of Punkadelia. -Michael Phalen
