Aja- Steely Dan (1977)

Rating-- 8/10

I wasn't really sure going into this, if the album Aja or the song "Aja" was the one to be called "historically/aesthetically significant", but I listened to both anyways, so it all worked out. (It turned out to be the album.)

I am very familiar with Steely Dan. Steely Dan was the soundtrack to my 13th birthday trip to New York City in 2014. My dad and I listened to it all the way back to Maine, and I had fun trying to decipher the jazz-infused soft-rock-infused very-70s-sounding songs. Steely Dan has been the backbone for some of my friendships-- when you can find teenagers who can appreciate certain music genres, it's great, etc. Steely Dan has an attachment to my Drama Club memories-- when I was a freshman, one of the coolest seniors was a girl named Aja. She was named after the Steely Dan song. Weirdly enough, I wasn't so familiar with this particular album.

I did enjoy it quite a bit-- the funny thing is, it felt like I was just listening to my own music, not some science experiment of an album, or like I had to listen intently and madly research the meaning. Mostly I just listened passively to this album-- and I think that is how it ought to be, with 70s music.

That's probably the issue I had reviewing "Abraxas" a while back, since I wasn't enjoying it the way it was supposed to be heard, or something. Sometimes you can really read too much into something artistic. That's the problem with judging "chill" music or dance music, for being too boring or too dumb. They are more meant to be felt than to be listened to.

Today's "Music Was So Much Better Back Then" comment:

And somehow you all think Autotune is somewhat "better" than this???  These are real musicians playing real music. Nuff said.

Speaking of throwbacks to earlier posts, I very much enjoyed listening to "Peg", my favorite of the album, and immediately recognizing "Eye Know", my favorite song from 3 Feet High And Rising, which sampled it.