By this late stage, Steely Dan was less a band than an all-star aggregation of studio musicians assembled to perform the works of
Donald Fagen and
Walter Becker. On AJA, the two leaders assembled one of their finest units and made them sound like a road-tested, hard-bop quintet (and in fact, the band included legendary jazz saxophonist
Wayne Shorter). Though the lyrics on "Aja" and "Black Cow" were typically oblique, the Steely Dan sound touched a pop nerve, as proved by the staying power of the latter song's billowy bass line, sampled in the late '90s for hits by
Tatyana Ali and Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz. And when Fagen and Becker turned wistful on "Deacon Blues" -- particularly the verse, "They call Alabama the Crimson Tide/Call me Deacon Blues" -- they created an enduring hit. "Peg," "I Got the News," and "Josie" also found their way onto certain radio formats, but, sadly, this recording marked the end of a glorious era for Steely Dan: The duo released one more album before moving on to solo projects and, ultimately, the obligatory reunion efforts.
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