I grew up in the era of vinyl records, black discs, twelve inches in diameter spinning under a diamond needle on a turntable.
You couldn't go to the Internet and listen to any song in the universe. Records cost money and took up space. The size of your collection was limited by your finances and by the capacity of your room, so you tended to stick with artists whose work you enjoyed.
Still, even within a limited collection, you had favorites, recordings that you tended to listen to over and over. My favorites included The Beatles Red Album (1962-1966), Santana Amigos, and Weather Report's Heavy Weather. I spent many wonderful hours listening to musical masterpieces that lept out of those grooves.
My favorite vinyl record of all was Steely Dan's Aja, which I not only listened to, but analyzed extensively. I was fascinated by Aja, Steely Dan's mournful but defiant tribute to lost love and broken dreams. "I cried when I wrote this song / sue me if I play too long." Sue me, indeed. Emotions this raw cannot be rushed.
I spend countless hours with Aja on my turntable. I studied the complex song structures and poured over the cryptic lyrics and the masterful, jazz-influenced chord changes until the vibe of the album grafted itself to my soul. I transcribed Chuck Rainey's propulsive bass lines and practiced them religiously. I knew all of the saxophone solos so well, I could sing along with every note. I marveled at Larry Carlton's guitar playing and Steve Gadd's incredible drumming on the title track.
Aja was, or me, the musical equivalent of a Hawaiian vacation, and I spent as much time in those islands as possible. I even transcribed the horn parts so my friends and I could play the songs on weekends.
But what was a young Steely Dan fan to do in an era where the band refused to tour. I was going to a fair number of concerts in those years, but a Steely Dan show seemed as improbable as a Beatles reunion tour.
I went through all of that to put this next bit in context.
Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I finally had the opportunity to see Steely Dan perform live at New York's Beacon Theater. But wait, it gets even better. On the night that I saw them, they played the entire Aja album end to end in the same track sequence as the recording.
Top-five 'bucket list' item: check.
After performing all of the tracks from Aja, "the Dan" cranked out a full evening of hits including Pretzel Logic, My Old School, Black Friday, Hey Nineteen, Bodhisattva, Midnight Cruiser, and one of my very favorite songs of all time, Kid Charlemagne.
It was an amazing evening, well worth the thirty-nine-year wait!
Copyright © 2016 Daniel R. South
