Week 3, revealed on Sunday 25 October
Steely Dan
Aja, 1977
Nobody voted this week. The record still earned its place on the shelf.
About the record
Seven songs, forty minutes, and not one note left to chance.
By 1977 Steely Dan weren't really a band any more. They were two writers, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, hiring the best session players in America and asking them to play each part again until it was right. For the guitar solo on "Peg" they went through a string of top guitarists before keeping Jay Graydon's take.
The result sits somewhere between pop and jazz. It reached number three in the United States and won a Grammy for how it was recorded.
You say it "Asia". Listen for the title track: eight minutes, a saxophone solo by Wayne Shorter and Steve Gadd's drums at the end. Then listen to "Deacon Blues" and pay attention to the words.