“A $600 reward”: The case of the missing Steely Dan master tapes for ‘Aja’
Steely Dan never did anything without the utmost care and effort. In fact, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s meticulousness could be perceived as obsessive, but only in a way that ensured their music was delivered with a perfectionist approach. This relentless pursuit of excellence undeniably resulted in them carving out their own spot among the pantheon of music legends.
Following five exceptional by-their-standards records, Steely Dan wanted Aja to be their best work yet. In order to achieve such a monumental feat, they enlisted some of the best players in the world and shunned compromise in favour of a tougher approach, settling for nothing less than sheer flawlessness. As intended, Aja would become one of the greatest jazz-rock albums of the 1970s.
The beauty of Aja is that, by this time, Fagen and Becker knew their own formula exceptionally well. Leaning into what worked the best—complexities, endearing solos, and narrative brilliance—the group’s music utilised their exceptional gear and recording equipment to create a tour de force that would occupy a loving spot under the needle for many decades to come.
However, during the 1970s, it was not uncommon for equipment and objects like master tapes to be moved around between studios, resulting in a lot of lost property or theft committed by opportunists. While it’s unclear the precise fate of some of Aja‘s master tapes, Fagen and Becker remain stumped but willing to regain their possessions, even putting out a $600 reward for anyone who finds the tapes.
The missing tapes first came to light in 1999 when the pair were scheduled to appear on BBC’s Classic Albums to discuss the album. However, when recovering the master tapes, they discovered that the tracks ‘Black Cow’ and ‘Aja’ were missing from the pile. Aside from the utter confusion this generated, it put a significant spanner in the works due to the fact that the pair were keen on using the recordings.
“When we recently sent for the multitrack masters of Aja so as to make new surround-sound mixes of same, we discovered that the two-inch multitracks of the songs ‘Aja’ and ‘Black Cow’ were nowhere to be found,” the pair wrote in the liner notes for the 1999 reissue of the album. Although they suspected it likely had something to do with recklessness with storage boxes, the hunt for the tapes is far from over.
“They had somehow become separated from the other boxes, which the producer had abandoned here and there (studios, storage lockers, etc.) almost twenty years before,” Fagen and Becker wrote. “Anyone having information about the whereabouts of these missing two inch tapes should contact HK Management at (415) 485-1444. There will be a $600.00 reward for anyone who successfully leads us to the tapes. This is not a joke. Happy hunting.”