Rocking Retro: Steely Dan
My longtime friend Ryan introduced Steely Dan to me when I was in 6th grade. At the time, it was his favorite band, Aja was his favorite album, and “Josie” was his favorite song. I doubt any of that is true today, but for me, the damage had been done. I borrowed his copy of Aja and found my dad’s copy of A Decade of… and subsequently became immersed in jazz-fused rock that would never be duplicated again, and certainly wouldn’t be popular today.
This was around the time the duo made a Grammy-winning comeback with the badass Two Against Nature and the equally impressive Everything Must Go in 1999 and 2001, respectively. But it’s those 70’s classics, particularly the flawless Aja, that still get me every time. Years later, I still discover something new, something underneath, layers and layers of melody, harmony, and cadence that make Steely Dan a timeless force of feel-good rock.
A sampling of masterpieces after the jump.
