Steely Dan! Best Nongroup Around

Rip It Up, Issue 6, 1 November 1977, Page 10

Steely Dan! Best Nongroup Around

Peter Thomson

Steely Dan Aja ABC

From the outset, with Can't Buy a Thrill, Steely Dan have attracted audiences of distinctly differing tastes. Rockers would boost the volume on Change of the Guard" while more languid souls praised the smoochy cha-chas. So it went on, reelin' in the albums, as Becker and Fagan's writing embraced styles from pop to be-bop. (A friend dislikes precisely the tracks which are my favourites, and viceversa.) Gradually however, a more unified approach began to take shape; that blending of rock rhythms with jazz harmonic sophistication which has produced such delights as "Kid Charlemagne". Now, Aja signifies further development. It is a considerably more relaxed album than Royal Scam , as if witness to a greater ease and confidence in the emergent style. Although the pieces generally run to longer times than previously the title track is eight minutes there is never any slackness, despite extensive instrumental soloing.

The musicianship shows a restraint that belies its skill. The horn charts, for exam-

pie, are more discreet than those on Scam yet more effective for their subtlety. Becker and Fagen have stated that Steely Dan is 'more a concept than a rock band.' Although they still write the material and Fagen sings lead, instrumentally they have become merely two of two dozen session men. But what session men. As usual, nearly all are names' in their own right and play here with consummate taste.

The lyrics are’typically elliptical, not to say obscure. While Scam turned on a theme of urban decadence, I'm not sure whether Aja has any such unifying motif . . . but I'm working on it. William Burroughs did write that Steely Dan lII' came from Yokohama; Fagen does sing that Chinese music always sets me free'; Aja' is pronounced Asia', and there's the cover photo ... Oriental inscrutability perhaps, or just my pretzel logic? Seriously though folks, this is one of my favourite albums this year. If you expected Steely Dan to develop as hard rockers you may be disappointed, so stick with Katy Lied. If, however, you enjoy their mellow side Aja will convince you that Steely Dan are still the best nongroup around.