"Make It" & "Mama Kin"

The thing about going through the entire Aerosmith catalogue chronologically is that although many of their best and best-known songs came later, there are moments of greatness from the beginning. "Make It" may not necessarily fit this description, but as the opening track to the first album, and early concerts, it works very well, highlighting Joe Perry and Brad Whitford's interlocked riffage, and the natural rhythm of the Joey Kramer-Tom Hamilton team. It's also one of the most unfortunate incidents of Steven Tyler's "first album voice."

The lyrics concern a topic that dominates the first Aerosmith album: the elusive nature of success. By this point the band had been gigging around together for almost 3 years, finally climbing the ladder to rock superstardom. They had a record contract and studio time. This might be their only shot. It was a bit meta of a note to start off with, but as a curtain-raiser for a young rock band, it feels honest. "Make it, don't break it."



"Mama Kin," which opens the second side, is probably the most viscerally effective tracks on the album. It opens with an extended solo, even incorporating a sax, with a blast of guitar that brings Chuck Berry to mind. Again, you have Tyler writing about the raggedy life of an aspiring rock n' roll star, writing home to mom, "sleeping late and smokin' tea."

In fact, the opening lines, "It ain't easy, living like a gypsy, tell ya honey how I feel / I've been dreamin' floating down a stream 'n losing touch with all that's real" say it all. At their best, Aerosmith straddles a line between down-in-the-gutter realism and head-in-the-clouds ambition, and this lyric, delivered at rapid-clip, sums it up perfectly. What's at work in this song - and on this album in general - is both rock and roll fantasy, and struggling band reality.