Late again. For various reasons, I’m always late getting to the Analogue Productions UHQR Steely Dan release parties!

This time, no good reason. Aural incompetence. I adore Aja. We all know it’s an almost “perfect” album, with huge audiophile street cred, blessed with sanctified originals and famous recuts like the highly-regarded Kevin Gray Cisco. The Cisco is going for silly money on Discogs. I checked and smiled because I thought I owned it. Wrong!

My version dropped in 2008, and I purchased it at that time. It’s the Back to Black pressing of the original Bernie Grundman mastering and recut from a digital file (I presume) by Greg Moore.

After the realization came about the digital copy (actually, it’s a very good-sounding pressing), FOMO reared its ugly head. Of course, I had to get the best version of my favourite album from my favourite band—and the raves were out all over. A couple of internet dudes called this UHQR the greatest-sounding record ever made. Silly, but I kinda like their enthusiasm.

The Acoustic Sounds website (Acoustic Sounds is the parent company to Analogue Productions which produces the UHQR pressings) can be dangerous for Canadians (a USD 150 UHQR becomes almost CAD 300 after shipping, customs and FedEx bills you for brokerage). Ugh! Maybe the “Canadian vinyl tax” is a good thing or I’d live on that damn website!

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker during the *Aja* 1977 recording sessions.

The 2023 UHQR version is cut by Bernie Grundman and is all analogue from a copy tape made by Grundman when he mastered the original recording in 1977—no digital step.

This is my fourth Steely Dan UHQR. I reviewed Can’t Buy a Thrill then Countdown To Ecstasy until intrigue forced me to buy the roundly dismissed Pretzel Logic. My take was completely different.

The original Aja recording by Roger Nichols (and team) is exceptionally good, so good that you’d have to be a plonker remastering engineer to recut a dud (Fagen hints at the Hi-Fi recording sensibilities of one of the original engineers, Bill Schnee, in his “liner notes”, as usual, a paragraph or two—don’t get excited). As such, if you have a clean original, the Greg Moore digital Back to Black or reputedly very fine Kevin Gray Cisco, and you’re not a completist or an Aja fanboy, you’re probably all set. But this UHQR portended to be exceptional.

As usual with the social media vinyl community, they were in a tizzy about this new release—as such, there has already been some “drama” with this particular UHQR. It was let slip the copy tape used by Grundman was, in fact, an “EQ’d” copy tape (unsubstantiated) rather than the stated, “non-EQ’d”. Well, knock me down with a feather. I’m not sure what the outcome was, but really, who cares when the recording is such a knockout? Some of the VCs were calling it “tapegate”. Silliness. Back to reality.

It didn’t take long after Pretzel Logic’s 1974 release for Fagen and Becker to realize the treasure trove of virtuoso studio musicians they had to hand especially as they knew how to write for them and engineer Roger Nichols knew how to record them. From Logic on, musically and aurally, Steely Dan never looked back.

Katy Lied (1975) and The Royal Scam (1976) both benefited from the brilliant LA session musicians. Still, Aja was the benchmark with songs of startling originality performed by a who’s who of boss musicians—not just session guys, but major jazz stars and other stellar pop musicians including Wayne Shorter, Steve Gadd, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Victor Feldman, Tom Scott, Bernard Purdie, Michael McDonald, Chuck Rainey and many others. And a different drummer for almost every track.

All tracks were written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

"Black Cow"

"Aja"

"Deacon Blues"

"Peg"

“Home at Last"

“I Got the News"

"Josie"

Released September 23, 1977; Recorded Late 1976–July 1977 at Studio Village Recorders (West Los Angeles). Gary Katz – producer, Roger Nichols – executive engineer, Elliot Scheiner, Bill Schnee, Al Schmitt – engineers.

Sound

I had an original or two but can’t remember what they sounded like. By all accounts, very impressive. I thought I had the 2007 Cisco. It also has a great reputation, which is why I wanted it in the first place. But on first listen, the new UHQR is very impressive.

After hundreds of listens over the years, I’m musically entwined with Aja. I believe I know every nook and cranny. And then some. I’ve never studied it harmonically, but love their use of advanced suspension and their invention, the “Mu Major Chord” (Heard to perfection on the “Run to you” cadence in the song “Aja”—it’s a major chord with an added second). In fact, “Deacon Blues” is my (and my son’s) favourite song. A masterpiece of creativity and performance. You can attribute the same descriptors to every song on the album. As I said, startling originality.

So why plonk down $150?

Typical of Grundman’s recutting in this series, he allows true layering of instruments so imaging and soundstage sound very beautiful— a real feat considering the “studio” heritage and Nichol’s style of engineering (Kingsway Hall and a Decca tree, it ain’t!). And besides clean bass and extended treble, the voice(s) are clear in the midrange—even Fagen’s whine can't obscure the (brilliant) lyrics. Michael McDonald’s unique voice and vibrato as backup sounds wonderful on “Peg”.

And then there’s the instrumental timbres. You’ll hear the differences between two of the greatest fusion sax solos ever recorded, Wayne Shorter in “Aja’ and the NBC Orchestra’s Pete Christlieb on “Deacon Blues”. Both jazzers first, session guys second, their sounds (modern with a little edge—the antithesis of Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins) are completely different when heard under Grundman’s scrutiny (listen to the very end of “Deacon Blues” to hear even more of Christlieb’s amazing playing; the outros are long and are faded perfectly). Many times, you’ll hear both the tones almost indistinguishable, system-dependent. And Steve Gadd’s magisterial drum breaks in “Aja” sound the equal of Shorter in importance and invention (you’ll also notice the dreamy “Theramin” sound trying to elbow its way into Gadd’s famous solo—a first for me).

From the opening of “Black Cow”, the bass is super clean and punchy. It allows the listener to hear all the subtlety and invention of Chuck Rainey’s bass line. And each drummer is situated superbly in the mix. Just the right level. Rick Marotta’s cool “Peg” vibe is heard perfectly. All the rhythm instruments give a new propulsion to the songs. It’s subtle as the originals are so good, but after a side or three, you’ll be feeling it (45 RPM over four sides—the Clarity vinyl was flat and silent).

Interestingly, the tiny bit of distortion on Victor Feldman’s Fender Rhodes upper register flourish in the “Deacon Blues” intro has never been eradicated, no matter the pressing. Later, the same Fender Rhodes voicings are distortion-free. Tom Scott’s horn arrangements are usually a cool but “congealed” sound in “Home at Last”, but here sound with separation so the harmonic sophistication is clear.

Richard Stilgoe says that if a song is to be successful, the music and lyrics must be of equal quality, 50/50. And must match in style and inspiration, too (think “Well, she was just seventeen. You know what I mean.” or at the other end of the aesthetic, Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Choral Symphony—both examples are perfect representations of this duality). Well, the music here is so inventive and unique, that it takes wordsmiths like Fagen and Becker to match the lyrics. Take “Home at Last”, with Homer’s epic poem “Odyssey” distilled brilliantly into 16 lines! The original is divided into 24 books!

As usual on the internet, with lots of armchair critics inspired by FOMO and video “scoops", etc, the “greatest recording ever made” moniker is nonsense. But, it is a very fine technical achievement by Bernie Grundman and his team.

I feel a little jealous of people discovering Aja for the first time. The album will give a lifetime of pleasure and continuing discovery. This pressing/remaster is probably the best they’ll ever be, at least in my lifetime. As such, a definite buy.

[Really good deep dive into the recording space and equipment used on Aja here].