MFSL STEELY DAN AJA JAPAN PRESS AUDIOPHILE LP MINT RECORD 145th Best Album Ever
$
52
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Description
145th Best Album Ever according to Rolling Stone's list of 500 best albums ever!
MFSL Mobil Fidelity Sound Lab Japan recording. Record is in mint, maybe unplayed condition. Sleeve is in very good condition. You MUST have this one!
Long argued as one of the (if not THE) best rock recording ever and a permanent fixture on many a demo system in the late 70’s and 80’s, Aja was the culmination of everything Donald Fagen and Walter Becker aspired to accomplish in their storied careers. It was the first album certified platinum (eventually selling more than 5 million copies in the U.S.) by the then-new RIAA sales tracking system. It made Steely Dan super stars. It contained three ubiquitous U.S. top 40 singles, “Peg”, “Josie” and “Deacon Blues,”--though each of the seven tracks are wonderful. The tight arrangements, inspired playing by the West Coast’s best session players, and countless lyrical and musical hooks (“Drink Scotch whiskey all night long, and die behind the wheel”, “Done up in blue print blue, it sure looks good on you”) were immediately accessible yet completely cut off any personal connection to the listener.
Aja, Steely Dan’s sixth studio opus, is yet another testament to Walter Becker and Donald Fagen’s quest for sonic perfection. Such was the quality of the record that it was often used to demonstrate the audio fidelity for stereo systems, and winning the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording. Produced by Gary Katz, the album peaked at No 3 in the States (where it went double platinum) and No 5 in the UK, producing the hit singles ‘Peg’, ‘Deacon Blues’ and ‘Josie’ in the process. In a review that gave the album full marks, Q magazine described the record as “Sleek, smart, deliciously cynical, (this) was the Steely Dan album that effectively ring-fenced jazz-funk forevermore… what rich entertainment still."
The album AJA is considered quite ambitious and sophisticated, and features several leading session musicians. The eight-minute-long title track features complex jazz-based changes and a solo by renowned saxophonist Wayne Shorter, as well as dextrous drumming by Steve Gadd - most notably at the end of the tune.
And then there's the sound. Deservedly winning the 1978 Grammy Award for non-classical engineering, Roger "The Immortal" Nichols was helped by a who's-who of the top audio guys in the industry: Bill Schnee, Al Schmitt and Elliot Scheiner. The meticulous recording is almost fetishistic in its attention to detail. Every note of even the densest tracks can be clearly heard, with every instrument perfectly placed.
Track Listing
Black Cow (5:10)
Aja (8:01)
Deacon Blues (7:37)
Peg (4:00)
Home At Last (5:36)
I Got The News (5:07)
Josie (4:31)
Band-members, Musicians and Performers
Cisco Music CLP-1006 Courtesy Geffen Records
Limited edition 2007, recorded in 1977
– Michael Fremer
"If you were an audiophile in the 70s, you owned Aja." – Rolling Stone, 2001, placing it No. 145 of the 500 Greatest Albums Ever Recorded
"(Aja) is the most perfect thing I have ever heard in my life. It is a religion." – Gareth Jones, renowned record producer/engineer
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