Don Breithaupt's book on Aja includes a detailed song-by-song analysis, an extended interview with co-writer, co-founder, singer, and pianist Donald Fagen, and discusses a wide range of Aja-related issues.
Don Breithaupt is a studio musician and songwriter based in Toronto. He is the co-author of Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early '70s and Night Moves: Pop Music in the Late '70s. A Berklee College of Music alumnus and three-time Juno Award nominee, he has written extensively on music and film for the National Post.
Musician and songwriter Breithaupt's book pores over every last
note of Josie, Deacon Blues, Peg and the like with the enthusiasm
of a teenybopper and the insight of an academic.
*Record Collector*
Aja was the album that made Steely Dan a commercial force on the
order of contemporaries like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and
Chicago. A double-platinum, Grammy-winning bestseller, it lingered
on the Billboard charts for more than a year after its 1977 release
and spawned three hit singles. Odd, then, that its creators saw it
as an `ambitious, extended` work, the apotheosis of their
anti-rock, anti-band, anti-glamour aesthetic. Including an in-depth
interview with Dan co-founder Donald Fagen, this book - part of
Continuum`s ongoing 33 1/3 series - by Canadian musician and music
journalist Don Breithaupt paints a detailed picture of the making
of a masterpiece.
*Upper North Side*
Don Breithaupt has crafted an informative book about Steely Dan's
platinum sixth album, Aja—part of Continuum Press' 33 1/3 series on
acclaimed albums in rock history. The author analyzes Walter Becker
and Donald Fagen's cryptic word play and arty rock and West Coast
studio contributions to the 1977 release and tried to build a case
in support of his fervid-fan claim that Aja is ‘the best record in
the solar system.
*Downbeat Magazine*
Aja is the first one [in the series] I've read, but I'll be
checking out the others. Highly recommended.
*Stereophile*
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