Classic Albums: Steely Dan- Aja

I got this DVD for Christmas. It's part of a really good series where bands talk (sometimes in a seriously music-geeky, techy kind of way) about one of their albums. The Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon one is great too.

I grew up listening to Steely Dan. I probably knew the words to every song on Aja and Pretzel Logic by the time I was 8. I choreographed a modern dance piece to 'Home at Last' in the 11th grade. And I still remember being astonished when I first saw what Donald Fagen looked like. How did that voice come out of that skinny white guy?

Given my history with the music, I was slightly nervous about watching the DVD. I don't like to know too much about musicians and actors whom I admire because I have a hard time separating the personality from the work. Of course, the fact that a singer is a total asshole doesn't change the fact that his work was good. But I can't help it. It colors my view. That's why I can barely listen to Nirvana anymore.

I needn't have worried. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (looking more like math teachers than music stars) come off as thoughtful, interested, and keen to give us a peek at the process of recording hits like 'Josie,' 'Peg,' and 'Deacon Blues.' The unused bits of the songs still exist, so they show us what alternate (inevitably inferior) versions of the songs might have sounded like. There are entertaining anecdotes about where the lyrics came from, and we also hear from lots of the studio musicians and contributors like Michael McDonald and Bernard Purdie (who steals the show at one point). The legendary perfectionism becomes evident as McDonald evinces the difficulty of singing layers of subtly distinct backing vocals, and an engineer explains how Becker and Fagen always knew what a song should sound like despite any difficulty they may have had in communicating that to their musicians. At one point, someone says that they weren't after perfection at all--they just did what they could to make each song work so that people wanted to listen to it over and over again. For me, that's always been the most remarkable thing about Steely Dan: the songs don't get old. To hear that Becker and Fagen intended it that way makes the achievement even more impressive.

The only disappointment for me is that Donald Fagen doesn't sing. I had an urge to hear that voice in its current incarnation. Still, the openness, humor, and sheer expertise of Fagen, Becker, & Co. make this little piece of exposition very satisfying to watch.