aja : Music by Steely Dan, reviewed by Jill Hill


Oct 07, 2008

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aja

Music by Steely Dan
reviewed by Jill Hill

Now I will contradict my earlier example. I have all of Steely Dan's work, and I like them all. However, I do not like them all with equal zeal. Most people would go with Can't Buy a Thrill, which is a damn fine piece of music making, but I have to go with aja. Between the title track and "Black Cow," there is not a bad or even mediocre song on the whole, melancholy album. (Given that most of the tracks are too long or just too odd, "Peg" was the only song that received much air play.) Out of it all, the refrain of "Deacon Blues" captures the tone best:

They got a name for the winners of the world
I want a name when I lose
The call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues.

Jill Hill lives with some kids, some dogs, writes, and manages a restaurant where she tries out her new CD's. She listens to a variety of music, from Classical to Blues, but tries to stay away from most rap. In her words: "I am always on the look out for a new band or singer/songwriter that I will like. I like a CD that does not grow old and weary sounding, which mean I don't want buy a CD that can be found on the used CD sale table a month later. One of my favorite CD's is Neal Young's Everyone Knows this is Nowhere. My favorite writer is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and my favorite novel of his Of Love and Other Demons. X-Files is about the only TV I watch. I do not watch sitcoms and do not like music inspired by sitcoms. I'd rather listen to a sampled rap version of the Jetsons theme song."

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