Two old bearded blokes making jazz music containing complex guitar chord changes isn't very rock 'n' roll but naming yourself after a large steam-powered dildo from a William Burrough's novel certainly is. 'Aja' was originally released in 1977 just as punk music was making an impact but the reality is that this music is as far removed from punk music as it can possibly get; band members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were a rather unlikely looking bunch who turned jazz-rock into something palatable and addictive and knew their way around a good hook influencing a variety of other 'unfashionable' bands such as Prefab Sprout, China Crisis (in fact Becker produced their 'Flaunt The Imperfection' album) and of course Deacon Blue who took their name from the similarly-titled song on Aja. There are just seven songs on 'Aja' of which the first four are superb whilst the remaining three are merely pretty good. Both 'Deacon Blues' and 'Aja' clock in at over 7 minutes but still manage to maintain a great warmth and sense of melody throughout even though they sound too laid-back and unassuming on first listen and the comparatively economical near-four minutes of Peg had such an irresistible hook that it was reprised by De La Soul on their ground-breaking 'Three Feet High And Rising' hip-hop opus. This is quality American music which is likely to be appreciated more by adults than youngsters.