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Steely Dan: Aja (ABC AB 1006)

Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, December 1977

AJA IS easily the best album released thus far this year. I hesitate to qualify that statement with words like "pop" or "rock," because these seven new songs have the melodic economy and sleek feel of pop music and yet are reminiscent of Miles Davis' mid-'50s experiments with cool. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have slipped past the explicit drama of the mainstream and into a more ethereal ensemble style, which here reaches a new level of power.

Total word count of piece: 416

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