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In Reply to: RE: One Man's Steely Obsession with "Aja." posted by Terrapin Station on June 02, 2015 at 07:39:09
I never could warm up to SD. Just a little too boring for my tastes. They had a huge following, though, so I guess a lot of folks liked them. Just my opinion...
Follow Ups:
Let's say that you were a person who loved the Beatles and then followed the development of the singer-songwriter genre--Dylan, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot. Joni Mitchell, of those, certainly was at the height of her powers when "Aja" came out.
It's possible that the shall we say meandering and pensive structure of the title track of "Aja"--minimalist lyrics that are almost from Ezra Pound, coupled with many successive instrumental interludes--will make little sense to you.
Then let's imagine that you are a fan of Wayne Shorter's work with Miles Davis. For entirely different reasons, "Aja" the album might do very little for you.
Those things said, for very many listeners, "Aja" combined the optimum dose of this with the optimum dose of that, and became addictive in a way I don't think any other SD record is.
In a way, it's a booked to Van Morrison's "Moondance." Not really rock, not really folk, not really jazz, but which borrows from all.
John
AJA was the first SD album I could listen to on a repeat basis. I liked the previous albums for their lyrics and some good tunes, but there were a lot of key changes and the drumming was altogether too busy and it just wasn't possible to go back to that style.
AJA kicked off the modern period of more minimal functional drumming and more sparse chord changes, and you can hear this evolution clearly on the later album Gaucho. Rick Marotta and Pretty Purdie appeared on AJA as they did on the previous Royal Scam, and these tracks are more busy and look backwards. But they were joined by Steve Gadd on Aja who was already taking drum styles forward, and Paul Humphrey on Black Cow, and these tracks are much more like the later Gaucho. And to my ears all the better for it. The later albums from Gaucho on are the ones I play repeatedly.
People remonstrated about Jim Hall's appearing with a "Rock-n-Roll" drummer, but that is one of the key features that makes "Concierto" so treasurable--there is just a steady pulse, and no DRUM SOLOS!
Gee! What other album fits that description?
KIND OF BLUE!
John
...and Delcos had 5 buttons so Day Tripper could always, it was hoped, be replaced by Satisfaction. Jesse Colin Young, though, that was a different matter.
I never even heard of Steely Dan until the re-issues began to appear this millenia.
Same for Van Morrison who couldn't possibly have grown up in a Blues-drenched household and still 'create' an adenoidal abomination like Moondance.
Livin' and lovin' in Hicksville, USA?
We were jazz hicks.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
IME, 'Aja' is a Jazz record.
It's certainly jazz-ish.
I like it. I need to dig it out again and feast on its glories.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
What we need is more well-rounded hicks - renaissance hicks, if you will.
Well-rounded is overrated.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
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