"Angel" & "The Movie"

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Roll your eyes now, if you must, but that's the way things were in the 1980s. If you were a mainstream rock band, you had your hard-partying rock anthems and your monster ballads. It was the only way that the thoroughly heteronormative (now there's a word I never thought I'd get to use) audience for hard rock could really communicate with the ideas of love, loss, pain and beauty. They had to be big, melodramatic, widescreen statements. Doubt me if you must, but it was a proven formula. Steven Tyler's account of things in his book is that anytime some tough, burly biker dude comes up to him in public and wants to talk about his favourite Aerosmith song, he knows the one they're going to want to talk about is "Angel."

It always reminds me of that scene in The Wrestler when Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei have a(n admittedly problematic) discussion of the time before Kurt Cobain, Nirvana and grunge made it not okay to just have a good time. In those days, this is how that audience conveyed sensitivity, and as an example of that, it's pretty effective. It hits all the right notes: the grandiose musical arch, the somber, eloquentyet simple (and decidedly vague) lyrics, that unmistakable statement of need: "Baby, you're my angel." It's cheap and sappy, (and the music video is ungodly cheesy) and even this band would do better in future years, but it is what it is, a starting point.

Lest we forget, Aerosmith was the pioneer of this kind of song, it's just that only by 1987 were they becoming a key part of the formula for rock success. It behooved them to provide a good example.



The album ends on a high note with a really cool instrumental called "The Movie," which seals the album up on an oddly ambiguous, yet thoroughly Aerosmithy note. It's always been the place of this band to sort of skew the viewer's headspace at least a little bit, to push the boundaries of what a down and dirty rock band is usually meant to do, without getting too alienatingly experimental. The best tunes are often ones that are just understood by instinct, that don't need to explain themselves.

"Hangman Jury" & "St. John"

Based on an old song once recorded by Lead Belly, "Hangman Jury" adds that extra twist that this album needs: semi-authentic 3rd generation blues melded with 80s pop sheen in an arrangement that's oddly pleasing. It's not that far off from their takes on "Train Kept A-Rollin" or "Milkcow Blues," and is at least a lot more conventionally enjoyable than their stab at "Cry Me a River" on their 1982 album (which again, I enjoy way more than is defensible.) Likewise, "St. John," with its impressionistic lyrics and tough, ominous riff sounds only a few degrees removed from a 1976 Rocks album cut. With its sparse atmosphere, it's a weirdly effective moment of restraint on an album that's mostly noted for its use of synthesizers and horns.

I think in a lot of places on this album, Aerosmith does a great job measuring between staying "true" to themselves and getting with the times. On their next efforts, it wouldn't be so necessary to be cautious, because they were the times.

"Rag Doll"

One thing I like about a song like "Rag Doll" is that it's basically harmless. It's racy but not raunchy. It's seamy, but not sleazy. Sexually charged but not exploitative. It's a funny, weird little fantasy with those Steven Tyler-askew lyrics about "leaving by the backdoor - man." (Always referencing other stuff in his stuff, that guy.) It's also, I think, partly a metaphor for being rejuvenated as a band? And also somewhere he finds time for a Mae West impression, adding to the burlesque atmosphere. It couldn't be done nowadays, we're all too self-conscious and afraid to upset people - you'd either stop way short or go way further. But it's sly and funny, a fitting vehicle for Steven Tyler's particular charisma. Either you get it or you don't.

It's also a weirdly put-together song, not quite verse-chorus-verse, just looping back around over a few disjointed thoughts that are mostly suggestive and really sold by the vocal delivery and the sonic template: those omnipresent horns and pounding, grooving drums. And that guitar. Slide guitar! Pedal steel! Where was the steel guitar in the 1980s? Nobody was using it. Even today, you only hear it lightly dappled in the background of cheesy country songs, but Joe Perry absolutely crushes that thing, making it nice and dirty. And the whole rest of the song just relies on the band's innate groove. I think this song is the key to the whole process behind this album, to basically cub the band'/s worst impulses while also corralling their unique skills.

"Heart's Done Time," & "I'm Down"

Of the 12 tracks on Permanent Vacation, three were hit singles, a few were transcendently good album tracks, and a few were just there. In the latter category, it's up for debate which of these are really good and which you never need hear, but I would posit that this one gives the best representation of the "meat" of the album. It doesn't sound like inspired hits, they aren't inspired flights of fancy, they're just big shiny 80s rock workouts with aplomb. The opening track underscores the trend of Aerosmith albums to open with tracks that sound transparently like opening tracks, with builds, or long-running riffs. With its classicist blues lyrics set to a pop rock beat, it's fun, if forgettable.

Their Beatles cover here also befits their status as old pros, playing to their strengths. I also wanted to post a clip of "Girl Keeps Coming Apart" and maybe the title track, which suit the same purposes, but legal issues seems to have gotten them, and I think one or two will do the trick.

"Dude Looks Like a Lady"

Do bear in mind that this is apparently a song about meeting, being seduced by, and perhaps ultimately enjoying sex with a male transvestite.* Although Aerosmith was sometimes dark and sometimes thoughtful in the 70's (I swear!) they never really presented themselves as a serious band. They concerned themselves with finding all these odd corners to play in, and their 80s comeback era really accentuated that image of them. The success of that comeback hinged on creating a narrative about who and what Aerosmith was, then fitting the music to that and selling it to people. It may seem overly cute and cuddly, but it's still really outsider stuff, (Steven was a huge disciple of the Kinks, after all,) especially if we're to judge from the way Steven orgasmically screams the title phrase. Bon Jovi and Motley Crue were not doing this. (At least not admitting to it.)

So let's unpack the construction of this song, the tune that was designed and picked to cement the intended comeback. Permanent Vacation is everything Done With Mirrors wasn't. That was a sober, almost joyless affair, and this one is loud and splashy and powered by hooks. The opening to "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" is one of the most distinctive hooks for any rock single for that era, using a staccato sample in either speaker to call and respond, and do something that was kind of verboten in 1980s rock: to put groove ahead of technique or power. And that was the chief weapon in Aerosmith's armory, that sense of groove, of soul and beat honed in the 60's. That solo that Joe Perry unleashes at 2:20 is fleet-fingered and intuitive and twangy, and really far removed from anything in rock in the 1980's, aside from being turned up to 11.

Helping the song along are those horns, which producer Bruce Fairbairn infused into the three albums he produced for these guys, and while they overwhelm a lot of the album tracks, are usually pretty deftly deployed in the hits. And that's what this is: a designated hit. It has a title phrase that can jsut be screamed over and over again in a variety of ways, building and building. In the end it doesn't matter that it's, lyrically, a really fucking weird song to come out of the box with, it's fun.

*I know the song was inspired by the gender-bending bands of the era, with their makeup and huge hair, but being "inspired by" something and being "about" something are two different matters.

"Walk This Way" with Run-DMC

You can be crass and look at it as one of the best promotional moves by any band in history. Or you can be romantic and think of it as a watershed moment in the careers of two groups - and by extension their genres.

Personally I think it was just a moment of inspiration for producer Rick Rubin, a longtime rock fan who was helping build hip hop into a viable genre, who brought Run-DMC and Aerosmith together. Did Run-DMC need the approval of an aging 70's rock band? Did Aerosmith need to pursue Run-DMC's audience? Maybe not - but they both needed to get on TV.

Not only does this song sound good, but it marks the beginning of Aerosmith's visually arresting music video career. They'd done modest video clips as far back as Night in the Ruts, which felt claustrophobic and did nothing to highlight their energy. The one music video for Rock in a Hard Place, for "Lightning Strikes" saw the band in Grease thug costumes playfighting in darkness. The clip for "Let The Music Do The Talking" was okay, but still a bit tepid.

But Aerosmith is a visual band: Steven Tyler cultivated his insane rock gypsy post-hippie image, complete with head-tripping dance steps and scarf-laden mic stand, to stand out from jeans-clad bar rockers. Meanwhile Joe Perry stood by his side coolly working his guitar without a care. Their appearance while performing should speak for itself, and the music shouldn't be that hard to visualize either.

It was important that they finally got it right on MTV, but also notable that they had to go back to and shine up an old chestnut to do so. There was some essential quality in a song like "Walk This Way," beyond being easy to rap to. All the band needed was to prove they hadn't lost that quality, that it was in them. That didn't necessarily mean turning into a rap group, but it did mean moving forward in some direction.

Two years later, the rest was history...

"She's on Fire" "The Hop" & "Darkness"

Although Done with Mirrors sags a bit in the middle (I have love for "The Reason a Dog" but did not feel too bad I couldn't find videos for other songs) it ends with a trio of tracks that gets the album set right. They represent a lot of great things Aerosmith could do with an album cut. "She's on Fire" has an almost mystic slide groove. What's more it sounds utterly fresh for the first time in about 8 years for the band.



Likewise, (mind the live recording) "The Hop" isn't much more than a somewhat poppy, somewhat hooky rock song, maybe a bit cleaner than their 70's work but still energetic and with a hell of an upside.



"Darkness" is probably my favourite track on Done with Mirrors. It's a real burst of inspiration for this otherwise competent-but-by-numbers album. It rests of Steven Tyler's still capable vocals and a darkenesd jazz-blues atmosphere. The last three tracks on this album are not only high quality but quite distinct. They showed a promising focus and direction, but promise wasn't going to get this band back to the top.

Compared to future efforts, this one was a bit of a half-hearted attempt at a comeback. In a way, like its predecessors, that makes the music itself tough to talk about, and while there are successes, there are too many songs that fall flat. While Rock in a Hard Place is not necessarily as bad as it's supposed to be, this one never quite gets good enough to become a hidden gem.

They had skill. They had it together. They could do something. They just needed to give people a reason to care.

"Let The Music Do The Talking," "My Fist Your Face" & "Shame On You"

The first track, and lead single, from Aerosmith's first reunited album for Geffen was actually a cover of the title track to the first Joe Perry Project album. Steven Tyler reportedly liked it so much he felt inspired to go and write a whole new set of lyrics to make it their own (tellingly, the song is now performed at Joe Perry Project gigs with the original lyrics.) It's a pretty striking song, and gets the album off to a striking start. Longtime fans could be easily won over by an album full of songs of this calibur. From that very opening tease, through the riff, and finally the lyrics and especially the chorus, it's got a type of chemistry the band hadn't had since Draw the Line - and it equals almost everything on that album (not for nothing though, it incorporates the title track's riff.)



Likewise, "My Fist Your Face," while not much of an artistic triumph, shows the band is game. It has a kind of basic appeal, a good groove and a decent hook. It's still a fair bit removed from the glory years, but it exemplifies the backbone and rock-solidness of Mirrors, which even the worst, most forgettable tracks have. And in fact, this song has a dirty weird boogie that the next album lacked. This song itself represents one of the best obscure Aerosmith tracks: good, basic functional rock. The fundamentals in play.



Y'know, I said I'd talk about every Aerosmith song, and I've kept to that, but this is one I just have so little to say about. It's not bad... a pretty funky riff, a sort of good clean cut that the band lacked on Ruts and Hard Place... yet it lacks. It doesn't do anything, it's just there as filler, albeit filler with a decent riff.

"Rock in a Hard Place (Cheshire Cat)" "Jig is Up" & "Push Comes to Shove"

There's not a lot to say about the closing stretch of this album that I haven't already said about the early bits. None of the songs set the world on fire, some are tolerable, and they skirt the line of being embarrassingly dazed and confused. There's nothing wrong withb the title track, which I would hold as one of the three or four best tracks on the album (along with the first two and, if I'm feeling generous, "Joanie's Butterfly") and which are perfectly listenable. This one just lacks a certain "get up and go."



Filler. Probably the worst thing about this album and Ruts is that they really wheeze their way to the finish. This isn't an awful song but it sounds like a demo of already-heard songs like "Bolivian Ragamuffin" or "Bitch's Brew" which weren't remarkable the first time. But okay. You can't crank out ten distinct listenable tunes, so you repeat yourself and it's not awful, just redundant. There's at least some keyboard livening this one up. It's got funk, akin to some of the weaker tracks on Draw the Line. Filler all the same, though.



This one, the album closer, isn't much better, but it has character all its own at least. It's going for a blues bar closing time feel harkening back to Toys in the Attic but as I've already said, they just don't have the spirit to carry through with it and it seems like another half-baked misfire. If I was going to say something in favor of it, it's a cute novelty that pretty much sums up Steven Tyler's state of affair... well-intentioned and creative but just not in control of his faculties. Push was shoving him around. Hurr hurr.

"Cry Me a River," "Prelude to Joanie" & "Joanie's Butterfly"

At some points, Rock in a Hard Place is almost a dadaist experiment in what a rock band does as it collapses. Or a real life Spinal Tap. There's a few cringe-inducing moments on it, but it is often more puzzling than bad. Just like it was odd to try covering "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" on the previous album, here they incorporate a tune originally done by Ella Fitzgerald, a jazz bar standard, "Cry Me a River."

It's one of the few tracks I had never heard prior to starting this blog (which included about half this album and half of the previous.) When I first heard it, going from whimpering to wailing in a few minutes, I thought "Ah, here we go." Here's where it gets cartoonishly bad, indulgent, sloppy, dumb, weird... but wouldn't you know, the more I heard it, the more it grew on me. You have to admit, Steven Tyler really goes for it in this one, and it's more inspired than any of the ballads or covers on the previous album.



I think that even if you don't love the material on Rock in a Hard Place, you have to respect it a little. It's a plucky little album with some ideas of its own. Muddled, drug-tinged, half-cocked ideas in some cases, but ideas that don't necessarily just emulate what worked before. Night in the Ruts almost sounded like a good previous album (as did this album's successor) and Rock in a Hard Place almost sounded like a good future album. If they'd had their shit together a bit, they could've made something really, really interesting, but as I've said, it's both on them and the times, which were not exactly ideal for something like... this.

"Prelude to Joanie," I don't know. The vocals, fed through a device called a vocoder (famously used on the Neil Young album Trans) are mostly indecipherable, and a read of the lyric sheet doesn't do much for them, except to allude to the subject matter of the proper song, "Joanie's Butterfly" (not about Happy Days' Erin Moran getting a tramp stamp.) EWhat is interesting about it, though, is that it marks the beginning of a trend toward experimentalism in Aerosmith, of incorporating unusual sonic ideas in their music witrhout ever straying too hard from mainstream rock. This was a tendancy that would distinguish their work through the late 80's into the new millennium, in fact, with the song snippets on Pump (e.g. "Water Song" and "Dulcimer Stomp") functioning much like this clip here.

And then "Joanie" itself. Amidst the sludgy, over-the-top rock and roll on this album is this very odd moment of folk psychedelia, reminiscent of late-60's Rolling Stones, a sound that wasn't exactly playing to the kids in the early 80's. Removed from time and context, though, it's a pretty interesting piece that shows the band could still... grow, in a way. Good? Is it? Maybe. Not bad. Interesting, that's for sure. Almost definitely the first and only time the phrase "Kick Ass Rocking Horse" has been uttered on tape... and if not, it's certainly the most impressive delivery.

In a way, the album is frustrating because it shows potential. All the worst moments could be salvaged and don't generally just retread past successes. A lot of forward-thinking moments only fall flat because the band just couldn't sell them the way they used to, because of their sorry state and the times. It's no wonder it wasn't well-recieved in the 80's, and surprisingly enough it hasn't agd that badly.

So I'm an apologist. Whose blog are you reading?

"Bitch's Brew" & "Bolivian Ragamuffin"

Although generally dreary, these two album tracks are not completely unlistenable. Despite "Bitch's Brew" containing a weird middle part where Steven does a bad Bob Dylan impression, and "Bolivian Ragamuffin" incorporating a Burger King jingle, both have their charms. "Brew" is the kind of tough rocker that could really give this album backbone, and "Ragamuffin" has a kind of psycho funk to it that is just not often seen. You probably can't build a whole album out of tracks like this, but at the top of their game, they could've been incorporated, with a bit of polish.

If this is as bad as it gets, then it really isn't that bad. They don't not sound like Aerosmith, which would be the worst possibility. Reviews of this album are almost reluctantly negative, with Rolling Stone saying at the time that it "almost seems to work." The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. It's not like the album was full of bad commercial decisions, it just wasn't a good point in their lives to be doing music.

"Jailbait" & "Lightning Strikes"

Even if this isn't one of the classic Aerosmtih songs, it's written in a very Aerosmith way. Ostensibly it's an ode to sex with an underage partner, that much you can tell from the repeated cries of "J-j-j-j-j-j-j-Jailbait!" But it's not exactly Winger's "Seventeen" or Warrant's "Cherry Pie" in a straightforward (morally contemptible) narrative. All through the Aerosmith discography, Steven Tyler writes his stream-of-consciousness impressionistic lyrics so that many songs are hardly even about what they're about, whether it's "Sweet Emotion" or "Lord of the Thighs" or any number of 70's classics. Thing is, when you're on top of your game, it's a work of art. When you're at the bottom, and your worse urges get the better of you - as they do all through this album - it becomes a confusing mess. We say a bit of this on Draw the Line ("Sight For Sore Eyes" is a bit of a headfuck, among others.) Night in the Ruts never quite got that crazy, but they really cut loose here, and the lyrics sheet of this album frequently seems like the incoherent ramblings of a diseased mind.

But it's that level of wholehearted insanity that helps salvage this album. When Steven Tyler goes nuts, he goes nuts with his whole body and soul. Right from those howling shrieks that open the album, you know you're getting something insane, but if the album could sustain that from 10 tracks it might've been a more rewarding listen than even Draw the Line. But the thing about that level of insanity is that it can't possibly be maintained - by its very nature it burns hot and fast, and by the end of the album we'll see the whole enterprise up in smoke. But for a few tracks - and more than you'd expect - there's something cooking on this album.



It's not that I think these two cuts are rock and roll classics, or even among Aerosmith's top 50 songs ever. I praise them, though. By reputation, they are supposed to be some of the worst songs ever, and they're not. "Lightning Strikes," written by "Chip Away At The Stone" scribe Richie Supa, is the rare moment of focus on this album, where things really come together and you think the album can't be all bad. With a little bit of professionalism and a little bit of room to go crazy, the band sounds like a revitalized version of its old self. There's nothing quite this dynamic on the earlier albums, and we get a taste of what a Tyler/Crespo/Dufay Aerosmith could have sounded like at its best. It must be said that, all through the album, Crespo and Dufay are not bad guitarists. It's not much of an insult to observe that they're not Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, because anyway they weren't in a position where they were going to get the best material anyway, what with turmoil and all.

This wasn't going to be the type of song that set the chart on fire in 1982, and yet it doesn't sound awful in 2012 (to this admittedly biased source) so they must have done something right.

"Three Mile Smile," "Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy)" & "Mia"

Here's one of the bright spots of this album. It's not as flashy as "No Surprize," but it as an understated, dirty funk to it that works for me. It wasn't going to go down as one of Aerosmith's greatest tracks (lyrically it appears to be a disjointed rant about the late-70's energy crisis) and I doubt it would even be considered one of their top 100 fan-favourite songs, but I like it's spiky, getalong riff. It's one of the points on this album where the guitars really work like they should. No, it's not "Last Child" or anything, but on this disc, it'll do.



Along those lines is also "Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy)" which showcases that pared-down street level rock Aerosmith could fall back on in those days. Like "Three Mile Smile," I actually enjoy this one because it has some energy and charm, and like "Chiquita" or "Cheese Cake" it's at least halfway to a really good tune. It's just that all through the 9 tracks, the band failed to seal the deal with anything inspired.



In a few reviews I've read for this album, this ballad is unfairly referred to as a knock-off or re-do of "Dream On." I don't think that's fair, given nearly every Aerosmith album has a ballad on it, and they all sound at least a few degrees apart, including this one. That's not to say it's any good. It lacks the grandeur of, the build of "Dream On," settling for a rather chilling minor key fade out, letting this album limp into the darkness rather than leave a real impression like "Home Tonight" or "Seasons of Wither."

Ultimately, it's hard to defend this album. The best I can say is, "It doesn't totally suck," but I only get to say that with the benefit of hindsight and knowing how things turn out. It would've been hard to justify recommending this album at the time, though. Knowing the story doesn't end here makes me kind of forgiving. There's nothing essential to the story of Aerosmith, nothing to counteract the temptation just to say "From 1978 to 1986 they recorded a string of poor albums" even though that is not exactly the case. Simplicity overwhelms the somewhat more complicated truth. With a little TLC all these songs could have been better, but this band simply did not have that extra care to give.

"Remember (Walking in the Sand)" "Reefer Head Woman" & "Think About It"

There's no way to look at Ruts' three covers and think anything but "filler." They were struggling enough with their originals, so they dug up three tunes to fill out the record. None of them are bad, but they don't enhance the proceedings much, and their existence is a testament to the album's mediocrity.

"Remember (Walking in the Sand)" is originally from the Shangri-La's, a girl group from the 60's, whose angle was that they were tough New York chicks in contrast with the Shirelles and Crystals. They did the biker ode "Leader of the Pack." This is probably the most inexplicable choice, aside from being a choice opportunity for melodrama from Mr. Tyler. The band doesn't have much get-up-and-go on it, though.



"Reefer Head Woman" is a blues tune in the mold of "Big Ten Inch Record" and "Train Kept A Rollin'" and isn't lyrically as good as either. It doesn't have their fire or fun, doesn't really sustain itself. On a better album it might have been a neat isolated moment, but here it feels like a drag.



If they had to pick only one of the covers to stay, it'd be this one. It sounds the most "Aerosmithy," probably because it's originally by the Yardbirds, and the riff is the sort that they'd been basing their career off. They bring the tune out of the 60's and imbue it with that drugged-out Steven Tyler yowl and a pretty wild solo. I just don't love the song itself.

What these covers say to me is that Aerosmith was not a band that was going to make a greatrecord in 1979... but they were still technically proficient, uniquely esoteric in their tastes, generally enthusiastic in their delivery... they could still get something done when they focused. They just weren't that focused at all on this record.

"No Surprize," "Chiquita," & "Cheese Cake"

A lot of the critical dialogue around Night in the Ruts concerns how close it was to actually being good or great. Personally, I don't buy into that: I assume every album reaches its maximum potential, given the nature of its creation. Ruts is a troubled album that came out of a troubled time, but what gave people hope was this tune, a soaring rocker with a bit of a kick. Here, Steven Tyler checks back in with self-mythologizing rockstar lyrics, a la the early "Make It" or even the more recent "Legendary Child," telling the story of getting signed after a gig at Max's Kansas City (an inaccurately named venue in New York) but still being "on trial." There's something you could say about retreating to memories of past triumphs while undergoing a dark period.

Was it going to be one of the band's all-time great songs? Maybe not, but it's a bit of a shame it's relegated to the "forgotten" period. If nothing else, it's worth excavating for "Vaccinate yo' ass with a phonograph needle."

There was a video for this one, which appears to have been shot in someone's basement, with Jimmy Crespo playing guitar (I think Joe Perry's the one on the record but we have no way of knowing who played what where.) The band looks completely out of it, and I didn't use it because the sound quality's not great.



When I say Night in the Ruts is half a good album, I'm not exactly saying half the tracks are good and half are not. The truth is trickier than that. It's that tracks with potential, like this, are halfway to being really great. Steven lets out a drug-fuelled scream that propels the song along with Joey Kramer's thundering drums, some sharp guitars, and a swinging horn riff. I think this is the first time an Aerosmith song is led by horns. In the past a part like that might've been perfectly suited to Joe Perry's guitar. I remember hearing that the "Walk This Way" riff was meant to imitate funk horns from a James Brown song.



There's nothing wrong with individual tracks like "Chiquita" or "Cheese Cake," but you weren't going to get another Rocks with them. "Cheese Cake" is a mediocre tune that at least comes by its sleaze honestly. For whatever reason "Got my fingers in her pie" doesn't have the same charm as "You ain't seen nothin' 'til you're down on a muffin." Basically, the less inspired the band feels, the more Steven reverts to writing obvious tunes about slutty chicks.

With better lyrics, or a good riff, or something this could've been a better song. It doesn't suck, but like much of the album, it's not "there."

Live! Bootleg (1978) "Chip Away At The Stone" & "Come Together"

Although the main purpose of this album is to chart Aerosmith's existence as a studio recording and songwriting band... it can't be denied that a great deal of their existence was spent as one of the top live acts. They've released a lot of Live albums, and I've always liked them as a way of highlighting their real essence. It's great to see what songs are picked, what gets done with them, and what gets done with them. Note the slow, oozy "Lord of the Thighs," the talkbox on "Walk This Way," the incorporation of "Strangers in the Night" into "Train Kept A Rollin." It's also a testament to the validity of those album tracks like "Sick as a Dog" or "Sight For Sore Eyes" that crop up here and there as vital parts of the show.

Most of the album hails from their late-70's days when they were just sliding off the top of the world. The drugs and tensions seem to make the performances just unpredictable enough to justify paying for them again - no polish here - but fortunately they're not in any way lifeless or otherwise wrong. Taken out of the studio, they don't miss a beat and jettison anything they don't need, while adding a lot of flourishes here and there.

The album also contains some really cool, unique moments. Near the end are two olde-tyme covers from the early days of their act, "I Ain't Got You" (Yardbirds) and "Mother Popcorn," (James Brown) which feature Steven using his weird "first album voice." It also has Aero fans' first glimpse on record of "Chip Away At The Stone" which was released in as a single and would later be on compilations.

Buy Live! Bootleg Now: iTunes Canada // iTunes USA // Amazon.ca // Amazon.com




Chip Away is a pretty cool song, and I think you could be forgiven for thinking it was either an obscure cover, a la "Big Ten Inch Record," but it was written for them by outside collaborator Richie Supa. Compared to the albums released on either side of it, it feels out of place, more in the mode of their Toys in the Attic days, with its crisp, ringing riff and consistent lyrical theme. It's a level of songwriting the band wasn't getting to anymore, which then allowed them to open up and rock out.



Their cover of "Come Together" is one of those great moments when a rock classic is covered, given new life, but not fundamentally altered. I think it's because Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were pretty much born wrapped inside the late-era Beatles mode, and were thus one of the few bands capable of reaching this mode of funky grit. Steven in particular is one of the few vocalists, like John Lennon, capable of delivering words like "He rollercoaster / He got early warnin / He got muddy water / He got mojo filter... totally naturally like they mean something, and the rest of the band just takes up residence right inside that riff, making it their own without changing the structure. The Beatles are almost never outdone by covers - and this one may not quite outdo the original - but it does what a great cover should, combining the two acts into a seamless blend. It was also pretty much the best thing about the misbegotten Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band movie. Years later, in his book, Steven would bemoan being killed by Peter Frampton.

"The Hand that Feeds," "Sight For Sore Eyes" & "Milkcow Blues"

As we head through the back half of Draw the Line, we're seeing consistency... not greatness, but at least a uniformity to the tracks. "The Hand that Feeds" is pretty much exactly the type of album track that bolsters this album's reputation is interesting, weird, and yet solid if not great. It's hard and got a bit of swagger (based on a Phantom of the Opera type scale riff) it's menacing and messy and weirdly abrasive.

No this album did not have the level of craft its predecessors did, but it doesn't lack for character. Once you start meeting it halfway you start to appreciate...



And the test for that is "Sight for Sore Eyes." When you can learn to love a dirty-ass funk jam like this, you really appreciate this album for the spectacle it is and what it has to offer. If you didn't know the history of the band - what tensions and tempers were tearing them apart - you'd think this wasn't a case of "running out of gas" as it was just a change of direction. They certainly pursue this sound very thoroughly on this album, and it suits them. It does! Imagine that. It's just that they weren't producing what was expected or desired by the critics. The fans were pretty happy with this whole affair, if I've read right.



And why wouldn't they be? Hell. This cover of an old blues standard (by way of the Kinks) really closes this album out on a strong note. It may not exactly be "Train Kept A Rollin" but they sure cut this one up. It's dirty without being gross (something the band was losing its feel for) and has a hell of a groove. It shows, like "Kings and Queens" in a different way, that when the band could get its shit together and focus, they still had something good.

And as bad as it gets in the next little while - that's something that never quite goes away.

"Bright Light Fright" & "Kings and Queens"

Although I think "Combination" is the better tune, it's hard to argue with the energy of this Joe Perry-led outing. Of course it's one of the best guitar tracks on the album. Of course it's brash and energetic. Of course its lyrics sum up, better than any other song on here (except the title track) the band's state of mind at the time: this time in relatively positive light: it's a pretty awesome ode to a hangover, and Joe was pretty pleased when he came up with that title phrase. He turns in an okay vocal, and it only sounds better when Steven joins in.



As we know by now, every album has at least one or two songs where Steven Tyler's weird fascination with other cultures, time periods, dimensions and ways of thinking comes out to play. It has informed some of the best songs, and is their best weapon when attempting some big elaborate setpiece - their ability to commit and make it work keeps a song like this from being a plodding, pretentious mess.

Between this and "Bright Light Fright," there could not be two more different songs. One is a fast-paced, nearly punky rock jam about the consequences of a night out, the other a highly crafted medieval melodrama. I don't dislike this song, but it's such an oddball on this album, so much more bombastic and elaborate. It's meticulous, where the other songs seem to be "chuck it all in." It sits like a rock in the middle of the album (opening side 2 on vinyl) chucking out the streetrat imagery of the album for proto heavy metal fantasy.

Tom Hamilton is the unsung hero of this album. His name is in the credits more here than any other album, probably because songs were more and more originating from jams between him, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford - as a result, his bass is often more prominent than the lead guitar, tugging the song along, and on this track being a key instrument in its success.

"I Wanna Know Why," "Critical Mass" & "Get It Up"

The bulk of the Draw the Line album is made up of messy, jammy numbers that walk the line between funk and punk. They have the soul and verve of the former while retaining the easygoing looseness of the latter. You'd never call this a punk band (Steven Tyler would be the first to tell you that) but all throughout this piece you get pieces of The New York Dolls (including a track co-written by David Johansen later on) who were the common denominator between Aerosmith and the Ramones. I actually really like a lot of these songs - they're not my favourites but they tend to slip between the cracks of big hits, and when I rediscover them I'm like "Oh yeah, this one!" They have a particular energy to them that is not present on even their best albums.



The word on this album at the time was that they had used up all their best riffs, and you could easily use this track as proof of that, because it's built on a crisp bassline and drumbeat, a sludgy backwards-sounding guitar, Steven Tyler's distant drowned-out vocal, and a melty harmonica. But hey, this song is called "Critical Mass" and it certain feels like it's reached disaster territory, like we are really seeing those "tensions" and "issues" and "chemicals" in the music moreso than we even did before. "Critical Mass" indeed.



There's a simple test for whether an Aerosmith song works, and that's if you find yourself cringing at the lyrics. There's no telling why "Stand in front just shakin' your ass / Take you backstage you can drink from my glass" works and "Grab your ankles everyone / Ain't my way of having fun" doesn't, but it must be the spirit of the song. There are a few moments like that as the discography goes on, where their usual anything-goes spirit seems embarrassing rather than awesomely weird. This isn't to say it's a bad song, but maybe the least appealing example of the album's character.

"Draw the Line"

So let's kick it off. The first cut of Draw the Line, the title track, establishes the album's MO right away. It's dirty, fast, loud, and doesn't make much sense. And what a riff - Joe Perry once said "It's the simple ones that turn out best." That staccato ramp up, followed by a two-note fall.

The song's a good song, but it's also an indication that the band isn't doing all the same things they did the last time. If Rocks was an album on the brink, Draw the Line is an album in the course of plummeting. But it's exciting, in its way because it never lacks for adrenaline. It did not make for the best music the band ever produced, but it still made for a few damn good songs. Aside from the riff, the song also has some pretty impressive screeching from Steven, and was clearly engineered to sound good live, which was increasingly becoming the band's priority, since they had found their record store audience.