Ya gotta admit.....Steely Dan are some of the Baddest MFers EVER

My close friend of 60 years, Jim Keltner, is the drummer on Josie!

Home At last , I want this playing at my funeral. If I was forced to pick one Steely Dan song at gunpoint, it would be this.

Bernhard Purdie and Chuck Rainy playing half time shuffle is absolutely priceless.

Josie brings the FUNK.

Walter Becker playing a great guitar solo.

And I love the line " Broadway Duchess, darlin' if you only knew half as much as everybody thinks you do"

"Home at Last" is my top Dan track. It is a perfect song for my palette. Great insights and feels.

Aja is fantastic, but to me, Gaucho is the undisputed number 1 album. My favorite album of any artist

I Got The News always had an impossible task following those first 5 stunners, but little by little it grows on you and gets under the skin. Before soon you realize you're singin' that Broadway Duchess line for days haha Josie is one of their most well known songs and just so deliciously dirty

The level of quality of their songs in general is stellar. It's as if they scrutinized each and every bar, adding, deleting, augmenting until perfect. The Dan, the 8th wonder of the world.

The Odyssey references in "Home at Last" always get me.

Home at Last is a personal fav of mine and I'm a huge Steely Dan fan. It is an "underrated" gem that doesn't seem to get enough credit.

Home at Last is a killer track. Bernard Purdie on drums and Chuck Rainey on bass are locked in a serious groove. Also have to shout out the great drumming by Ed Greene on I Got The News.

Donald’s voice sounds like no one else’s. Instantly recognizable, unique and perfect for this music

i love this. steely dan had mastered the art of deception & tease.

I've watched your wrap up on Aja several times now before commenting. Everyone has been saying, "wait til you get to Aja"', now you know why us SD fans are so fond of this album, it's a bonfire. By the way, I would be proud to have my name in the credits for "I got the news", certainly not the best, but it belongs right were they placed it in the sequence, love the tempo and syncopation, and the guitar solo is simply perfect. And to concur with Frankinscensed, the 8th wonder of the world. Home at Last is the hidden gem in this album, but I must say that Aja is my favorite song. Wayne Shorter's sax solo is the bom-diggity, only to be magnified by Steve Gadd's drumming. Great job that you did on this album, Mike. I really enjoyed the trip.

Damn, midnight here and I was just about to head for bed when I landed here. For Steely Dan, bed can wait. The sleep will be richer when it does come. Home At Last and Josie can replay endlessly in my world and I'm content.

This is just a great album all around. You used to have to buy entire albums and you got your money's worth with this one.

I kept thinking just wait till Michael McDonald comes in on those harmonies on I Got The News, how fast you were gonna do a 180! LOL. You were suffering from “Premature Denounciation” 😁. Glad you loved the album. I hope it lived up to the hype.

“Home at Last” is my favorite on that album too. Not the most famous on that famous record by a long shot, but still, as you say, a perfect song. Just delicious.

Cant Buy A Thrill and Aja are from completely different eras. You dont have to pick! They rock in their own time and place.

The Dan are in a totally separate realm of music. They are the ultimate musician’s musicians. Sheer Perfection 😎🙏♥️

The drums on Home at Last, by Bernard Purdie, playing his famous Purdie Shuffle with triplets over tuplets at different speeds - an absolute legend, just like Steve Gadd on the title track, Aja, and Donald Fagen's killer lead synth solo - just an amazing album.

I have loved this album since it was released (I was in junior high) and it's like a "best of" for me. So glad I've been able to listen to it for almost 44 years and so glad you've discovered it. Nothing like Steely Dan (RIP Walter Becker).

It's the Purdie Shuffle that sets this timeless groove.

Oh my DramaSydE, I am truly enjoying this journey of Steely Dan. Thank you so much. Love the channel.

The weakest song on the album is a magnum opus for 90% of ANY OTHER bands.

You are the master of yo shit! Awesome reaction. I knew you would have an epiphany in I Got The News when the bridge came in.

Hot damn brother, you finally got the news, and the deacon blues! My day isn't complete until you entertain me, especially with SD. Watching you explore the Dan like a road map on a trip I've taken countless times is so worth the admission. Thanks for the ride Mike, and pls let me hitchhike again real soon! 👍👍

'Aja' is in my top three albums of all time, and I really think it's Steely Dan's best, but yes, Steely Dan in general are incredible, and one of my very favorite groups of all time.

This album is a smooth sonic joy from front to back. Home at Last - complete with "Purdy Shuffle" backbeat - is especially sweet.

Should be conidered as one of the GOAT albums? ...

Today we are used to listening to singles, where back then we'd place the LP on the turntable and listen to the entire side.

Amazing Steely Dan one of the all time best albums next one is their masterpiece Gaucho 👍

I remember this album so well. These songs defined my elementary school years. Love this album.

the good thing about Steely Dan is you can all....their songs , then just start over!

YES YES YES!!! Steely Dan is the pinnacle of great music for me. Sophisticated Jazz/Funk. SO many great songs; my personal favorite is "JACK OF SPEED"

I enjoy steely dan very much... but I think a major part of that is your unfiltered enjoyment of all the pieces!

Couldn't agree more. I'm a full time musician over thirty years. This is a the cream. And all those intricate parts have been subjected to the finest treatment with regards to the best engineering in music history. I not only hear the nylon tips on the drum stick hitting the hi-hat, I think I could tell you the brand. Their production standard is an unreachable bar. You're spot on about "I Got The News" I'm a huge fan of the Dan, but they have a few that don't exactly kill me. This is one. It seems to me like some of their afterthoughts thrown in a blender. But still, that makes it like a lower end Ferrari compared to the Chevys and Fords on the musical highway.

Wait til you hear the opening track on Gaucho, it's a killer!

I've been a Dan fan for centuries but I'm just now hearing Stevie's influence on them.

Deacon Blues is my favorite on this album , followed by Josie. I wanna meet Josie! My favorite album? The box set!

I was 13 to 23 years old in the 1970s (oldest of the GenX)... I was blessed with music like this, made me a very picky music lover.

What is not to love. The best players in the world , playing over the greatest grooves in the world, with deep heavy lyrics that always tell a great story.

Black people appreciating white music, me, white man who loves black music. We are brothers together. Love to America 🇺🇸 from England 🇬🇧

An engineer threatened to quit while working on "Home At Last". She couldn't take it anymore. Donald had spent six hours mixing the words "Well the ...". Six hours mixing 2 syllables.

Don’t forget the reggae! This song is as if all forms of funk - jazz, blues, reggae, rock, and r&b came together on a song that screams about finally going home to where you belong. This song is a masterpiece!

The album that all other albums will be measured against. The defining achievement of modern music.

This Aja Album is just Musical perfection start to finish!

Home at Last has always been one of my favorites. The groove is sooo satisfying.

Check out Donald Fagen's solo albums - The Nightfly, especially - if you liked Aja. and particularly if you want to go the distance and get the full Steely Dan experience.

This is the song I test my stereo setup with any time I move, or rearrange my speakers, or get a new amp or receiver. "It is the perfect song," for sure.

Michael MacDonald, who did the backing vocals on the choruses of both 'I Got the News' and 'Peg' was the lead vocalist and keyboard player and co-writer of many of the songs of The Doobie Brothers, also absolutely excellent (What a Fool Believes, Minute By Minute, so many great songs), at the same time that this album was released, and he had a tremendous solo career in the eighties.

It has been argued many times that Aja is the most perfectly produced album of all-time. There's even a documentary about how meticulously crafted it was over the span of almost a year in the studio.

I am having a great Saturday afternoon. The guitar playing on Josie is amazing. My favourite band Ever ❤❤❤

When I got this album it took me a couple of listens before I got into "I Got The News" and "Josie". The whole album is a masterpiece!

Dare we say it ... the duo of Fagen & Becker ... genius ....

Somewhere out there is a musically talented young kid notating every sound and fury of Steely Dan. This kid will become the next outgrowth of the excellence of this music. It will triumph!

I =LOVED= that moment when you started the Michael MacDonald segment and got that stunned look on your face and CHANGED YO MIND! Haha. Nice. Glad you enjoyed it. It's a great song, and that's the best part. Thanks for the reaction video.

It IS the perfect song...as are so many other Steely Dan tracks! How can you choose a favorite when they're all so fan-freaking-tastic!! love them so much.🤩

Bro, you can’t do “favorite song” on an album like this. It’s just a favorite album when all the cuts are this good.

Donald Fagen LOVES all instruments it's clear, but perhaps the bass the most ! WOW. thank you DramaSydETV

And the gold medal goes to...AJA

The Bernard Purdue shuffle on “Home at Last” is key to this outstanding funkiness of this piece.

Your reaction to I Got The News is priceless. Keep in mind that the music is not smooth...it is jarring. But there is a reason for this. The song is describing oral sex. It's supposed to make you just a bit uncomfortable in order to accept a subject that was unspeakable in 1977. These guys are genius.

My fav is surely Home at Last! I knew you'd love it. Just a feelin'

When I got into Steely Dan it was the greatest hits album. Then I just started downloading from LimeWire everything I could find. I had no idea which song was on what album. I love them all and listen to them in different orders put them on mixtapes and listened until I ruined them. To this day I couldn't name for you all the songs on each album but looking back as a collective work, this one and pretzel logic rule the day.

The Purdie shuffle on which Donald's voice surfs. mmm I LOVE Home at Last

I am so happy to have happened upon this. Home at Last, I would agree, is THE perfect song. And Sir, the fact that you took the time to point out the extreme precision of the vocals was the icing on your "plate" of musical goodness. I read somewhere that It was the recording of the song Home at Last that brought at least one production person to almost quit. The crew worked for several hours on getting that "well the..." part done to Fagan's satisfaction. Just hours and hours of those 2 words, over and over. To me, it was time well spent, because that tiny bit has always inexplicably been just over-the-top perfection to me. This comes a couple of years late, but thank you for a thoughtful and beautifully expressed reaction.

i agree with you 100% if i were only allowed 1 SD track it would be this one,the FUNK and flow is just stunning,all sections are a joy and the solos 🤯👍.

I've said the exact same thing, that this song is just perfect. Absolutely nothing is out of place. Love enjoying good music with good people!

Josie is my favorite Steely Dan song

I have I just discovered this 1 1/2 years after you posted it?! Awesome reaction/analysis of some of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums!

good analogy: unpredictable weather....anything can happen with these guys.

As in any Steely Dan song or album. The one you are listening to is presently your favorite. On to playing with the Gauchos!

Thank you for answering my request.....I promise you will not be disappointed and the song will explain why many of us considered Steely Dan are among the gods of Rock n' Roll. This is one of my favorite songs from them. Thanks again!!! Enjoy

Haha! When I saw your reaction to 'Peg' was like, "But you haven't heard 'Home At Last' yet."

Enjoy your reactions and commentary, DramasydE. Fire! Josie is the best song in the history of the world. And that's a fact. But every song on Aja is superb, although I Got the News took me a while to appreciate. I just love how SD often counterpoint seedy lyrics against the smoothest of grooves. Greetings from New Zealand!

The thing I live about Steely Dan is you could listen to this song 100 times, which I easily have lol, and still jam so hard to it, while it puts you in such a great mood. Yet simultaneously this song is supposedly about Peg, being talked into a being a up and coming pornstar… like wtf, would you ever guess that?! That’s how 99 percent of their songs are- you can just never quite get how dark the message is, even when you think you’ve got it.

Can't get any better than The DAN! Josie is legit!

Love watching young people appreciate what us old have known for a while. More where that came from.

So good! Love Steely Dan! Thanks for your insights, always a great reaction from you. 😃

What Up DS, HOME AT LAST has always been my favorite on the album, I GOT THE NEWS, Love the drums, I believe it's Purdie, you never know with this Band, they might do a hundred takes with four different drummers, and then JOSIE, the rockinist song on the album.

Just in case you missed it...... That's Michael McDonald singing on part of " I Got The News". He was on several of Dan's songs but many times his voice was blended with backup singers. On this tune ihis voice is unmistakable.

I've never heard of Steely Dan song that I didn't like. Their talent is unquestionable.

Home at Last is one of my all time favorites... You are so right that it's fully complete, missing nothing.

Always give them a chance. They will rock your world!

Hog out! Food not necessary. You be the man and keep coming....cant get enough

When this album first came out I had to tell Columbia house record and tape club to send an extra 2 LP's and two more cassettes because I knew I was going to play the crap out of it, my older brother hated the modern bands of the day, he was a hardcore country and some classic jazz fan- (Herbie Mann and Jimmy Smith mostly) one day I was listening to Home At Last, he came barging into my room and asked me what the hell I was listening to, I told him it was Steely Dan, he pulled up a chair beside my record player and never said a word through the whole album. afterward he went out and bought the whole SD catalogue up to that point. He's still a fan to this day. Awesome band.

Fire is the correct word, my good man.

HAL is my favorite SD song. Makes me think of another great 70’s group- the Crusaders. I’m sure there was some guest musician crossover with them and SD. IGTN with Michael McDonald on the chorus is FIERCE. Mike also killed on Peg.

Yeah they’re all great!

Oh, and by the way, "FM" was recorded during the "Aja" sessions. Can you imagine this album with "FM?" The piano work on "I Got the News", along with the guitar work and Michael McDonald's perfect harmonies makes "News" the sneakiest song on this album.

I thought you might have recognized Michael MacDonald singing harmony late in I got the news but hey, I'm glad the song won you over. A fav of mine.

Almost a PERFECT Album, front to back. I say almost 'cause it's too dang SHORT !!

GREAT sound sipping moonshine...foot tapping 4 sure

And not to forget Michael McDonald's harmony on I Got the News is superlative!!!!

Pure GENIUS!!

Just a Great old Jazzy Rocking Roll Rhythm and Blues album they threw together!