Don Breithaupt

"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 and spawned three hit singles. Odd, then, that its creators saw it as an "ambitious, extended" work, the antithesis of their anti-rock, anti-band, anti-glamour aesthetic. Populated by thirty-five mostly jazz session players, "Aja" served up pre-war song forms, mixed meters and extended solos to a generation whose idea of pop daring was Paul letting Linda sing lead once in a while. And, impossibly, it sold. Including an in-depth interview with Donald Fagen, this book paints a detailed picture of the making of a masterpiece.

Here is a lively and nostalgic look back at the forgotten era that gave us "Hooked on a Feeling," "Dancing in the Moonlight," "I Am Woman," "Seasons in the Sun," and more. The early '70s brought a "Convoy" of popular music--everything from the cheesy to the classic. The authors, true-blue '70s fanatics, have put together this irresistably readable book to transport readers back to a time when people wore smiley-face buttons, went to singles bars, and heartily sang along with Mac Davis. Illustrations throughout.