Steely Dan – Peg
In 1977, Steely Dan released their masterpiece, ‘Aja’. Easily one of the best sounding albums, due to the impeccable attention to detail by Donald Fagen, Walter Becker and producers and engineers. There are many audiophiles who will use this vinyl to test new high-end audio set-ups for that reason, myself included.
Every track is amazing and it sounds like 1977-78. A mix of jazz, R&B, blues, pop, rock – it’s an amalgamation of the many crossover genres of the era.
The first single, “Peg”, starts out with a phased synth sound that was opening the flood doors for more synthesizers in pop music. A fusion of rock and jazz create the mood of the song. Not written with anyone in mind, Fagen said that he needed an eighth note punch and Peg was short enough to use it. The the song comes from a jilted boyfriend’s point of view at a seedy photo shoot of his girlfriend.
“Peg” peaked at #11 on the Hot 100 and the strange thing about the recording is that Fagen ONLY sings lead vocals without playing any piano or synth and Walter Becker isn’t providing any guitar or anything else. He’s not even on this recording! Yet, it’s still considered by Dan Fans to be one of the best songs to introduce non-fans to….
Hear it again tomorrow, Saturday 2/6/2021, on AT40 – The 70s!
