Slideshow: 22 Demo Albums that Actually Rock
Steely Dan, Aja

22 Demo Albums that Actually Rock

Put the sleepy jazz and classical music away -- it's time to test your audio system on all kinds of rock for you to hear in a new way.
Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz
Def Leppard, Hysteria
AC/DC, Back in Black
Living Colour, Vivid
Live, Throwing Copper
Tool, 10,000 Days
Jeff Beck, Blow by Blow
Alex Skolnick Trio, Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation
The Who, Who's Next
Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
Queen, A Night at the Opera
Led Zeppelin, IV (Zoso or Symbols)
Steely Dan, Aja
Jimi Hendrix, Axis: Bold as Love
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Slide 14 of 22
Steely Dan, Aja

No group better fused rock and jazz as the perfectionist Steely Dan, and Aja is perhaps their crowning achievement. It’s only seven tracks, but if you’ve ever watched the Classic Album Series behind-the-scenes video on the making of Aja, you know that every song was impeccably engineered and performed.

There are layers upon layers of instruments to follow and key on, maybe none more so than Steve Gadd’s drumming on tracks like “Josie” and the title track. While you’re head can spin trying to pick apart the individual instrumentation, take a break and listen to the peppy “Peg” for vocal layers, including Michael McDonald’s appearance.

Signature Test Track: “Black Cow” The opening bass line’s been sampled in rap, and yet here it is as plainly comfortable kicking off an album released in the heart of the disco era. No, there aren’t screeching guitars or vocals on “Black Cow,” but it paints a true Steely Dan storyline with its lyrics, and the jazzy beat and Donald Fagen vocals to go with the bass line will have your system’s mid and high frequencies in check.

Read more: 22 Demo Albums that Actually Rock