Steely Dan has announced that they will be releasing a remastered vinyl of their sixth studio album, Aja, originally released on September 23, 1977. The record has been remastered by Bernie Grundman using analog tapes.
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The acclaimed 1977 album will be pressed on Ultra High-Quality Vinyl (UHQR) at 45 RPM. In addition to being available on vinyl, the remastered album will also be available to purchase as a Super Audio CD (SACD).
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The remastered version is part of Geffen/UMe’s Steely Dan reissue series, which kicked off in November 2022. Aja has not been released in 40 years. The album was nominated for two Grammys in 1978, with one being for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and the other for Album of the Year. Aja is full of classics, including the title track, “Josie,” and “Peg.”
Visual artist Joan LeMay and writer Alex Pappademas released a book back in May called Quantum Criminals, which explores Steely Dan’s “extended universe.” In an interview with NPR, LeMay, and Pappademas discussed their experiences growing up with the phenomenon that is Steely Dan.
“Listening to Steely Dan is, honest to God, my first musical memory. Growing up, my parents had a very limited record collection — a stack about five inches wide or so,” LeMay told NPR. “In it was the entire Steely Dan discography (later to include [Donald Fagen’s solo debut] The Nightfly; no other Fagen solo records nor any Becker records made the cut), plus lots of Linda Ronstadt, a couple of James Taylor records, The Best of the Doobie Brothers Vol. II, Carole King’s Tapestry and Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick.
“At 2 years old, I was what one would call a tall baby. I would reach for things. And I’d get ’em, too. I clearly remember the day I was able to reach the turntable, my tiny arms at full stretch above my head, and heft an LP upon it until the peg snapped into the hole,” LeMay continued. “That LP was Can’t Buy A Thrill. I liked it the most out of all of my parents’ records because of the colors on the cover. I plopped down on our diarrhea-brown shag carpet and was pleased. It seems unlikely that I would remember this so clearly, but I was reading the newspaper at that age — I peaked early.”
The remastered album is currently available for pre-order.
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