First Time Hearing STEELY DAN“AJA” Reaction | Asia and BJ
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One of the greatest albums ever made of any genre. The great Steve Gadd on drums here.
@Rich Gomer That's right!
That outro solo, when he shifts into samba streetbeat overdrive - gets me every time
Supposedly Gadd did this track in one take... Amazing!!! The Stick Click gets me every time.
Tenor saxophone solo by the Great Wayne Shorter 🎷🎶
Witness to the Gaddliness of The Dan back in the day. They were smooth as a morning lake, irreverent for pete's sake...and always spared nothing for that purest take!!🎉❤
"Aja is the name of a woman. I had a friend in high school, and he had an older brother who went to Korea and married a Korean girl, and brought her back. And her name was Aja. We thought that was a good name, just a very romantic sort of image, the sort of tranquility that can come of a quiet relationship with a very beautiful woman." -Donald Fagan
Very interesting..Thank you for sharing !!
Walter and Donald are FAMOUS for misleading the media. Listen to this song as a love song to heroin. ‘When all my dime dancing is through” -dime bags were a common reference to cocaine in the period.
It is still an incredible song. But knowing that Walter was a poet and a William Burrows fan (the band took their name from a Burrows novel). This is a love song to heroin. I don’t do more than drink gin and the occasional edible but re-listen to that experience of your perfect high. Where no one gets you but you and you, for a moment, love where you are
On a practical note as a woman from the six love the jays lid.
Next do Gaucho and I will subscribe!!!!
@@cmartin4266 I googled dime dancing looking for an explanation. Google's not currently sharing your insight but I get it Makes sense
This is exactly what I came to say.
@@cmartin4266 Interesting, but what about the other verses of the song? I can't relate them to what you're saying
The musicianship on this track, and the entire album, is as good it gets. Listening to Steely Dan is like taking a master class in music. Great choice, guys!
They're every musician's favorite 'rock' band for a reason. Hard to believe now Steely Dan was all _over_ the radio in the 70s/80s/90s with huge hits. We've become so musically dumb in the last 20-30 years it's scary...nice video guys!
💯true !!!
Very true and sad..
This is a pretty deep dive into the Steely Dan universe but a gorgeous piece. The drumming by Steve Gadd is epic.
Total agree on Steve Gadd.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️such awesomeness!!
LOL, right, this is like diving in at the deep end of the pool first. Admittedly they were always pretty complex for a rock band, but usually very clever at hiding it, by AJA they couldn't hide their Jazz sophistication any longer.
The entire AJA album is excellent and you need to listen from start to finish.
THE serious Steely Dan. Incredible composition and performance. Masterpiece for sure.
The album is perfection. No matter how many times you listen to it you'll hear something new. If you haven't reacted to it yet may I suggest Kid Charlemagne by Steely Dan.
Steve Gadd did all of that phenomenal drumming in one take.
You are 1000% absolutely correct.
Jim Keltner was the session drummer the previous day; and had rehearsed Aja with the musicians. The same players came the next day, a bit surprised to see Steve Gadd sitting at the drum kit. Gadd laid his drum part out in one take; in about a half hour…and the way jazz great saxophonist Wayne Shorter and Gadd weave the arrangement together is impossibly beautiful.
It’ll be forever before we see another Steely Dan.
Not a lot of peeps know that too
my favorite drum stuff of all time....and I played for 35 years
My daughter Aja was named by me, almost 40yrs ago, and yes I named after her this album!
This is music! Written, performed, and engineered by geniuses.
they gave everyone a masterclass in songwriting on this album!
True unmatched timeless
Literally the entire album is fire. You can’t go wrong!!
A title track song. The song is pronounced "Asia," and was inspired by the continent. Steely Dan have several songs with a Far East influence, since Donald Fagen believes it is a symbol of sensuality. He told Rolling Stone magazine that the title came from a high school friend whose brother was in the army and came back with a Korean wife named Aja, although he wasn't sure how she spelled it
You just listened to some of the finest music you will ever hear in your lifetime. That's my favorite track from Steely Dan. They have a ton of great ones, but this one shines above the rest for me. The incomparable Wayne Shorter on sax, and Steve Gadd's stellar drumming. The musicality on this is insane.
This album is absolute perfection! Give it a chance. It may become one of your all time favorites. Immaculate performances sand production. Consider that it was released in 1977….
Asia & BJ, you'll love their "Deacon Blues", "Aja" and "Josie"!!!! Always smooth, great solos!!
Agreed, but would add “Black Cow,” “Peg,” and then, every other song on the album 😊
@@historyguy5942 'Aja' is one of my Top 5 albums of all time. They reacted to Black Cow Jun 28, 2022.
I haven't seen anybody do "Josie", such a fun song!
yes, they gotta react to "Josie"!
Such a great album from such a great era of music. So many genres of music..so many great albums!
I believe this is Steely Dan at the zenith of their career. Becker and Fagan assembled some of the best session musicians available, and gave birth to this incredible album called “Aja!”
I loved how big Asia smiled every time she heard Aja. The whole album is incredible. Thanks y’all !
With this album, you have Steely Dan at their very pinnacle--and as you know, that’s saying something.
This was a type of culmination of their sound and musical persona. Was their something off on this particular version? It sounds a little slow.
That means Masterpiece.
@@willasacco9898 True, good catch. This is a touch slow.
@@cameron_fairchild Thanks - I don’t know if I am imagining things sometimes. Stay well👍
In this song they reached the absolute epic heights of composition and musical performance. I think it's their best.
Steve Gadd is a monster on the drums here! 🥁👏🏼
Wife here..Been thinking of Steely Dan songs all day.., !! and here's my favorite reaction channel playing Aja.!!.The flow of this song is gorgeous.., Soooo Smooth and Melodic with the vocals..LOVELY...Interesting and intelligent perspective as always!!!
So much to choose from with Steely Dan. Production and musicianship at top tier. Check out "Babylon Sisters", "Everything Must Go", "Time Out of Mind", "Bodhissatva". "Kid Charlemagne", "King of the World", "Home at Last", "Glamour Profession", "Peg", "Bad Sneakers" just to name a few!!!!!
Great list! Also Green Earrings!
@@WilliamTheMovieFan absolutely!
@@Thomas-aka-TomD don’t forget Any Major Dude!
One of my all time favorite songs. Every musician plays to a perfect production and arrangement! Steve Gadd is explosive on drums!
This album is brilliant from start to finish. the drumming on this track is amazing
This album is a masterpiece. From start to finish it's one of the best ever created. I have heard that professional audio companies will use it to test out their systems. It's perfection.
You really have to understand how this classic all-time great song came together. Steely Dan flew in Steve Gadd to play the drums. Legend had it they he got his part entirely right in one take. Actually, it was two takes as reported by Fagan in an interview. He came in played the notes on the sheet, but the middle and end of the song is where Fagan and Becker told him to just beat the hell out of the drums. Gadd basically was just freestyling on those solos you hear. It was also reported that Gadd made a mistake at the 4:57 mark of the song as you hear his stick hit something accidentally, but Fagan and Becker liked it so much they decided to keep it in the song. But for Gadd to get that song correct in 2 takes is unbelievable especially because how anal Steely Dan was about having the perfect sound on each song.
The other part is the legendary Wayne Shorter playing saxophone on this track. Shorter had no clue who Steely Dan even was at the time. A Steely Dan associate reached out to Shorter to see if he would play on the track because they really liked his music. Shorter replied back to the associate and said yeah, I will play for them but are they any good? The associate said yeah, I think you will like their style of music. Shorter shows up to the studio a few days later and does about 8 passes and was in and out of the building in about 35 minutes. DONE! Steely Dan was so impressed with how he played they couldn't stop talking about Shorter. The kicker to this whole song was Shorter and Gadd never heard each other's part until after the song had been put together. Fagan and Becker mixed Shorter and Gadd's part after the two had played for them. Pure GENIUS!! You should check out Steely Dan "Caves Of Altamira" and Donald Fagan "On The Dunes".
Wayne Shorter on the sax and Steve Gadd on the drums are everything on this song to me
Steely Dan cannot be categorized. They combine jazz, rock & pop in tremendously sophisticated songs that still remain accessible because the tunes are always catchy. 2 great songwriters who surround themselves with the world's top studio musicians can't be beat.
I was substitute teaching for a junior high music class in San Anton in 2019, and as I called out the roll, one of the names was Aja James. I said the name a couple of times and she answered "here". She was surprised I said her name right, and I asked her, "Parents were big Steely Dan fans, right?" She retorted quickly, "You know it." (I did know it!) Love that name.
hahaha...that's a great story!
The whole "Aja" album is great...good grooves, great melodies, top notch musicians, crystal clear production.
The title track from one of the all time great LP's, IMO... & speaking of all time greats, the drummer Steve Gadd would probably qualify as well. You may want to check out 'Deacon Blues' from the same release. Cheers
The secret to the most emotionally affecting Steely Dan songs is the jazz chords. Donald Fagen refers to these as "mu-minor" chords. They are minor chords with one added discordant note, and the effect is that it somehow tugs your heartstrings. These chords are a mix of good and bad feeling. They feel like life feels -- the ups and downs, sometimes mixed together at the same time. The strongest emotions are the most complex.
Technically they're really just "sus2" or "add9" chords. However, you're right that SD makes liberal use of very jazzy chords like "m6b5#9" and crazy stuff like that.
The term you’ll see most often is Usually “mu major”. Meaning simply an add9 chord but they voice it like an add2 chord focusing on the dissonance between the root, major second of the chord and the major 3rd. So take a simple C major chord and add a D note so that it’s CDEG. It’s a four note chord as opposed to a sus2 which would omit the third. Of course there’s a lot of other interesting harmonic things that lead to a “steely Dan sound”. Slash chords like having a D/E, minor 7 flat five chords, changing the tonal center of the chord progression midway through a verse, you can go on and on. There’s a few videos on CZcams with Fagen breaking down the chord progressions of his most famous songs which are well worth a watch
Aja goddess of the forest. A very mystical spiritual name. LOVE Steely Dan. Highly recommend experiencing ALL of their music!
SD=legends. Their music will be played for centuries.
Great reaction! Fagen and Becker brought in two jazz greats on this one: Steve Gadd on drums and Wayne Shorter on saxophone. However, this version kinda sounded like a transistor radio to me, the lower end was missing. Maybe this happens when people try and use their song and put lyrics on it? Or maybe I am just used to hearing the original, I don't know. But still a great song!
I agree, this recording was not good, sounded very tinny and missing the bass and drums…I recommend playing the studio version or use Steely Ben’s videos when reaction to Steely Dan
This is the best track y’all have reacted to, and you will come back to this many times in life
Not just this track, there isn't a misstep on that entire album. It's just one of those rare perfect things from start to finish that gets down past your brain into the soul.
You guys just witnessed the most epic drum breakdown in history: the ending of Aja, with the phenomenal stick man Steve Gadd....
"Aja" many considered the best technical produced album of the Analog era. The best studio musicians of the time were used!
Asia’s a beautiful name.
Aja’s an incredible smooth and very listenable album, from first track to last.
This title track starts off mellow but definitely crescendos…
***"Aja" was One of Steely Dan's Top 10 Hits. Out of 9 LP's, Other Hits: “ Do It Again”, “ Reelin' In The Years, “ Brooklyn”, “ Rikki Don't Lose That Number”, “ Any Major Dude Will Tell You”, “ Bad Sneakers”, “ Doctor Wu”. Jazz/Rock: They were Respected as "Musicians' musicians," & were primarily a studio band, having only toured Once.
Do you like "Ms Marlene"?! If not familiar with it, check it out!
What about "Pretzel Logic"? Was that not a Top 10? Surely it was a Top 40, whereas it seems doubtful that Brooklyn or Major Dude ever were. Were they? I'd be surprised, but I'm open to being surprised.
The brilliance of Steely Dan made manifest.
Most of their older stuff is really good too. But this album is my favorite of theirs, so many great songs.
This entire album is incredible.
Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago! My Top 3 favorite groups. “Aja” was an excellent choice! Classic! Also Wayne Shorter on saxophone. Lovely! 🎷
I LOVE That ya’ll we’re Vib’n to This! I grew up listening to Steely Dan & They’re Still one of my Fav Bands✨
Always Played it around my Sons - Who are now in the music industry (one is a drummer, who as a kid would drum to
“Aja”:) Timeless music- Great reaction🤗
Steely Dan is probably one of the best musical rabbit holes to crawl down!
Wonderful song and reaction! One of the best albums ever produced in my opinion. The musicianship, arrangements, vocals are excellent and continue to remain enjoyable to listen to even after many decades since its release. Just realised that song is 40 years old!
Steely Dan made nothing but winning tracks.. They truly knew how to compose their own sound. All their works.. BEAUTIFUL..I especially love "Century's End." Excellent track, ya'll should check it out.
The outro is one of the great little things that American civilization has produced
America has given us many great things, Steeley Dan and the Eagles being just two of them.
A big regret of mine, never got to see Steely Dan live. Such a unique band, Jazz, rock, so dam cool! Check out ALL of their music, you won’t be disappointed!
True musicians nothing but talent. Not a bad song on any of their albums. We need more Steely Dan reactions.
Someone may have already mentioned but the late great jazz legend saxophonist Wayne Shorter played gorgeously on his solos. RIP Wayne Shorter Legend :(
From an Aja specific internet search: "Fagen revealed that the song was inspired by a relative of someone he knew, who married a Korean woman by the name of Aja (Asia). He explained that the song was about the “tranquillity that can come of a quiet relationship with a beautiful woman”."
This is one of the most underrated song ever, as is the band Steely Dan.
Aja was an oriental girl.
The instrumentals in this song gives you an “eargasm”!
This album is still a masterpiece!
I love your reaction! I am a longtime fan of the Dan and I'm always pleased to see folks discovering them and digging them. I just webdived and found this thing I wrote about this song a ridiculous amount of time ago. Here it is - take with a grain or handfuls of salt! 😀
"For me, the key to understanding the lyrics is the phrase "the dude ranch above the sea." That, along with the sorta-echoes-of-Bohdisattva orientalist lyrics, evokes for me certain West-Coast alternative-spirituality retreats such as the Esalen Institute, in the middle of the Big Sur region of the California coast. Now, I've never been inside Esalen, though I've driven past it once or twice; but I have heard a lot of legends about its reputation, and Esalen could quite accurately be described as a kind of organo-groovy "dude ranch above the sea." Apparently, in the 1960s and 70s it was really famous (or notorious) for overnight retreat-workshops on trendy cutting-edge personal-growth topics ... as well as all sorts of extra-curricular recreational activities with recreational substances. I doubt it's anywhere near as wild as it once was, but I Could Be Mistaken ... :-)
Anyhow, the lyrics for me turn into a kind of loose metaphorical meditation on the kind of let-go-of-the-mundane-dime-dancing-world, get-in-touch-with-yourself-and-be-groovy thang that might have happened at a place such as Esalen. The narrator of the song, of course, has the usual Dannishly ironic attitude towards such letting-go, but not so much that he isn't still willing to come a-running for the experience anyway. It's almost like he's grudgingly admitting "yeah, it's corny as all hell, but I really do get something out of those wild nights under the stars ... "
Whether the name "Aja" represents an actual woman he's running to, or is more a metaphor for the whole experience isn't so important to me as that general mood of semi-irony/semi-idealism that the song evokes.
It's also interesting to me to compare this retreat-to-the-sea with the darker, more decadent retreat-to-the-sea portrayed in "Babylon Sisters."
Enjoy!
So many great musicians in this band over the years. Michael McDonald being one of them. I loved this album so much that I had two copies of it. My oldest son now has them both, he's 48 years old and loves them.
Such a beautiful song! Thanks for the reaction! Love you guys. More Steely Dan, please! ♡♡♡
My husband and I were VERY lucky to see Steely Dan on tour when they performed this entire album. After they finished the album, they played "filler" songs the rest of the concert basically all their hits. They are very bit as good live as they are in studio. It was AMAZING!!
my daughter is named after this album, her father is is a big steely dan fan. So she has a story behind her name unfotunately
they always mispronounce her name because of the way it is spelled. Enjoy its a beautiful song.
The LEGENDARY Iconic Steely Dan
My favorite records by this band are Aja and Gaucho, but their other records are just as fabulous. Was fortunate enough to see them in 2017 just before Walter Becker passed (RIP). Could not get over how tight these musicians were live, just phenomenal! And Donald Fagen was a mesmerizing center peice in a night to remember. So, so fortunate to have gotten to see them live. Great reaction guys, TY.
Keep it going with Steely Dan! 🙏🏽 and Aja was extra pretty tonight 🥰
Sublime music. In a way it is almost like the vocals in this particular song are recorded to support the instruments, not the other way around (which is unheard of in pop/rock music). True masters of their craft.
The da Vinci of popular song over the last 50 years. Almost like duke ellington with the depth of composition, the ability to pluck and synthesize sounds from all over, and a maddening desire for musical precision and perfection. This is peak Dan, the whole album. Put together like the ceiling of the Sistine, IMO.
This is poetic, and true.
@@lindamartin247 thank you, I’m a writer. But I never wrote anything as good as what Donald Fagen does on Aja.
BJ hits the nail on the head with his observation of Steely Dan's emphasis on the music as much as the lyrics.
one of the best ending drum solos of all time 💯💯 Steve Gadd
Researching Steely Dan's music is a beautiful, magical enlightening, refreshing rabbit hole the likes of which doesn't exist anywhere else in the whole musical spectrum.
This kind of music to me is perfect Saturday morning music, having coffee, making pancakes and cleaning. Doing all of those to music like this makes it so enjoyable 😉!
Two-minute sax solo from Wayne Shorter, with Steve Gadd on drums... never gets old. Ever.
The whole "Aja" album is fire. "Deacon Blues" , "Peg" , and "Josie" are very well known joints from the album. It's a definite must for any music lover's collection.
Steely Dan play on words in Their lyrics like no other. Who know what a Steely Dan is😁??? RIP D Becker 🙏🏾🕊. steve Gadd is a drum Guru.
Smoooth. Steely Dan’s entire album Aja is a masterpiece. And Steely Dan the band is a masterpiece.
Nice to see my recommendation getting some love. One of their best. Just a total jam. Hope you both had a great 4th
Thanks! You too!
If you've been at a Steely Dan concert, it's full of other musicians, they are loved by all. I couldn't sit still at their concert and drove my 2 guitar playing brothers crazy. lol
I spent a lot of time in Europe as a soldier unwinding to this group along with a bottle of wine ! So relaxing. Might want to also discover how they selected the name Steely Dan for their group. I was quite surprised.
Thanks for doing this review. Watching your reaction made my day. I'm the lucky one here because I've been enjoying their music for 50 years. They're one band that never released a bad cut. So they were close to perfection.
So chill !! Did you that the line in Hotel California 'they stab it with their steely knives..' is a homage to Steely Dan?
Check out “Black Cow” from this album. It will surprise you in a cool way.
After putting some time researching where is this “dude ranch above the sea” or if it’s even a real place, I found out it’s probably Esalen Institute near Big Sur,CA ( a retreat/ educational center ), where Donald Fagen used to frequent. Gorgeous property right off the Pacific Coast Hwy.
You cannot go wrong with Steely Dan. They don’t have a bad song. I could and have sat and listened to them all day long. I enjoy your reactions tremendously.
Asia glows up every time that chorus comes around :)
He is running to his asian girl AJA!! Steve Gadd recieved the best drummer of the year on this track,, excellent musicians put this together nice.
A fav!!! This album is just banging. Top 3 GOAT album for me. But you know that already..lol!!
That's the talented Wayne Shorter at the end there blowing greatness...Btw.
Love y'all
Don Fagan has a friend who's daughter is named Aja. He liked the name thus the album title..Wayne Shorter on sax , Steve Gadd on drums 2 among the best .
"Home at Last" is an underrated song from this album, check it out!
True. It's based on Homer's "Odyssey."
Yeah, no idea why Home At Last gets barely any mentions in Steely Dan "best of" lists. In my opinion it's the best track on Aja. Definitely grooves the hardest.
This entire album is just stellar
My niece was born Feb 13,1983. My sister in law named her Aja. From that album. Aja was born on my daughter Ashlie's birthday, Feb 13, 1980. Her mother and I happen to share the same Birthday also.of March 25, 1964. Just thought that was interesting information. Lol
Steely Dan is by far an epic rabbit hole into quality musicianship production composing everything that you want music as always peace love and joy to you and yours
The name came from I think Donald Fagan's cousin joined the Army and went to Vietnam, when he came back he had a Vietnamese Wife named AJA ( Pronounced Asia), Fagan loved the name, so...
One of my fav songs by Steely Dan !! ❤️❤️❤️❤️Beautiful song. I love all that’s going on in this song! Incredible !! Check out more SD!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍😊😊. Musical geniuses right here !!
I love the song The Royal Scam !!!
That track is yours, and all the great musicians that played and created that magnificent sound.
Every track on Aja has hired guns/musicians. A fantastic analog demonstration of mastery and melody.
There's a good reason why Paul Simon has leaned on drummer Steve Gadd for so many years. Gadd's percussion in Aja is otherworldly.
Steve Gadd KILLS on this tune. He's the drummer who played on Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover."
One of the greatest albums ever made. Love to All
prabably the best musicians of the last century in tegards to pop, jazz, rock. these guys were on some other level. all of them wrote hundreds of songs for others, from toto to micheal jackson. they were the guys in the studio who were the real musicians vs stage musicians
I would highly recommend you listen to Steely Dan's body of work. Many people put this group down because it's hard to put their music in a category. Is it rock? Is it Jazz? Is it some strange kind of modern contemporary music? I like to listen to Steely Dan on road trips. From their early stuff like "Do it again" to "Hey 19" to "Aja". I like their music precisely because you can't pin it down.