Aja was the album that made Steely Dan a commercial force on the order of contemporaries like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Chicago.
A double-platinum, Grammy-winning bestseller, it lingered on the Billboard charts for more than a year and spawned three hit singles.
Odd, then, that its creators saw it as an ambitious, extended work, the apotheosis of their anti-rock, anti-band, anti-glamour aesthetic.
Populated by thirty-fi ve mostly jazz session players, Aja served up prewar song forms, mixed meters and extended solos to a generation whose idea of pop daring was Paul letting Linda sing lead once in a while.
And, impossibly, it sold.
Including an in-depth interview with Donald Fagen, this book paints a detailed picture of the making of a masterpiece.
Continuum Steely dan's aja, paperback/don breithaupt
