Everything I’ve long admired about Steely Dan can be found in abundance on Aja (pronounced like Asia). Its tightly coordinated, brilliantly punctuated jazz-tinged rockers—all but two of which run more than five minutes each—continue to place the group in the forefront of its field. The lyrics, meanwhile, are as deft, engaging, and enigmatic as ever. And Donald Fagen, who once spent half an hour berating his vocal abilities to me, again belies his opinion with some of the best singing in rock.