Never been too crazy about TITA but I'd say "Rocks" is my favorite Aerosmith album. My second fave is "Done With Morrors." I'd rank "Toys....." behind "Get Your Wings","Rocks," and "Done With Mirrors." So there .
Never been too crazy about TITA but I'd say "Rocks" is my favorite Aerosmith album. My second fave is "Done With Morrors." I'd rank "Toys....." behind "Get Your Wings","Rocks," and "Done With Mirrors." So there .
Yeah, DWM was a surprise. I bought it brand new for a couple bucks and I really loved it. I also have "Honkin' On Bobo" which I think is kinda lame. But I'll take ".....Bobo" over any of that 80s shit (after DwM).
In my opinion they played it too safe on “Bobo”. Aerosmith was certainly capable of producing a great down and dirty blues album, but on “Bobo” they went for obvious middle of the road material that in most cases just ended up being tired retreads. I was really looking forward to this one when it came out, but walked away disappointed.
If there had been the same raw energy on Bobo that they had channeled even into "Milk Cow Blues" from DtL (when the band was clearly staggering from the weight of chemical demons) it would have been a keeper. But it wasn't there. Too clean, too safe, too little headlong rocking.
Speaking of DtL, I would argue that "Kings and Queens" is the last great Aerosmith track of that decade.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
That's a bit surprising... I actually always overlooked DWM, because I assumed it was somewhere between Hard Place (which is not all that bad either >> at least from what I remember of it some 30 years ago) and Pump... which of course was not really enticing
I think the only thing I heard from DWM was that Joe Perry Project track redone by Aeros
Hopefully, it doesn't sound too 80's-ish.... but then again PV and Pump didn't carry too much those huge 80's flaws...
I'll give it an ear someday... library should carry iot..
Yeah, only two worthy tracks from that album.... Sight For Sore Eyes is good as well
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It's about time I revisit the debut as well... I'll probably bepleasantly surprised
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
It doesn't sound 80s -ish at all. That is what was so suprising about Done With Mirrors. It sounded like it was recorded in 1975, not 1985. I guess at the time the "industry" thought it was dated and irrelevent. Fine, I think it's a good comeback album.Hopefully, it doesn't sound too 80's-ish....
Of course, the following year they'd have a full blown career resurrection with the help of Run DMC. By the way, I thought that thing with Run DMC was clever. Bash it all you want, it revived their career. Do I like the post DWM, 80s stuff? I really haven't heard much of it besides all the radio hits.
In other words, when a legendary band says "we're doing a blues album, and going back to our roots" what they're really saying is "we've run out of ideas." It's been a while since I played it but I seem to remember the best track being the only original track (all the others were cover versions). BTW, did Aerosmith just release a new album recently? If so what are the opinions of it?In my opinion they played it too safe on “Bobo”. Aerosmith was certainly capable of producing a great down and dirty blues album, but on “Bobo” they went for obvious middle of the road material that in most cases just ended up being tired retreads. I was really looking forward to this one when it came out, but walked away disappointed.
They released one in 2012 called Music From Another Dimension. I know many don't like it, but I do. Before it's release, Aerosmith had hyped it's release, saying that it was a return to their '70s sound. It was even produced by Jack Douglas. There are a few ballads and a song resurrected from the Pump sessions, which is what people don't like about it. C'mon, people. Nothing wrong with Aerosmith ballads?
^ Thanks for the warning. I'll pass. I'd never expect Aerosmith to ever do anything that approached Rocks or Toys in 2012. Ballads? C'mon, I wanna rock, not listen to cornball ballads.
I saw an interview with one of the Run DMC guys, who said that covering Walk This Way and bringing in Joe and Steven to perform on the track and in the video was mostly Rick Rubin's idea. Run DMC had been using rock type things on all their albums (check out Rock Box off their first album), but the impression I got from the impression was more their producer than them. I think he said that when the Walk This Way deal came up they literally told Rubin, "You're taking this rock/rap thing too far". (shrug)
I always thought it was pretty cool, and it was innovative too. Well, at the time I didn't think it was cool, but there were lots of stupid things I didn't get when I was a teenager. And like it or not, there were a lot of bands in the late 90's who basically owed their careers to Rick's whole "rock/rap thing" (that and the Public Enemy/Anthrax collaboration, which sort of bridged the gap between the Run DMC stuff and the rap metal thing).
The problem with the ballads is that they're not very good ballads. All those stupid videos they had with Alicia Silverstone and that other chick (yeah, yeah, I know, she's Steven's daughter, big frelling deal), I mean honestly, Barry Manilow could have been doing that...stuff.
If they were doing ballads like You See Me Crying and Home Tonight, that would have been one thing. But that Desmond Child/Jim Vallance/Holly Knight/Diane Warren dren was another altogether. Oy!
Love ballads. Don't love 'I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing'.
No I haven't. You want to loan me the money so I can buy a copy? Maybe you can afford to invest in every album by every band that made some great music a long long time ago but, I can't. Something like that I'd have to hear before I spend money. When you put out a long string of crummy of records, it shouldn't be too surprised when some of the people who used to like you call out "NEXT!" when your new record is released.
I love early Aerosmith (though Draw the Line, though that album starts to show some cracks in the edifice that soon would become gaping holes). Hard to decide between Toys and Rocks, which is my favorite. Both are pretty righteous. The debut is surprisingly good too. I revisited that not too long ago and was surprised how good it was. I always sort of overlooked it back in the day.
The only post DTL album I own is Pump, which I like for what it is. But it's the early albums that I return to most.
Bill
Last edited by Sputnik; 02-18-2014 at 08:31 PM.
It has been a while for me, but if I remember right my two favorite songs on the album were the two that Joe Perry sang, “Back Back Train” and “Jesus Is On The Main Line”. The only original track on the album was “The Grind” which was ok, but sounded a bit calculated for airplay to me.
I don't know, define "ballad." I don't think of Dream On or Seasons Of Whither as "ballads" in the sense of what I normally think of as a ballad, which is a sappy love song. I really don't care for Home Tonight or You See Me Crying. I can enjoy some good, sad "ballads" but they are few and far between. Metallica fans made such a big deal about Metallica writing/recording some "ballads" on the black album. BTW, I keep putting quotes around ballad because I'm not sure what a ballad actually is when it comes to hard/rock and heavy metal. Please don't tell me that Stairway To Heaven is a "ballad" (in the context of this conversation) because it ain't a ballad. But whatever, a good song is a good song. I just don't want to hear power ballads when I listen to Aerosmith.Were Dream On, Seasons Of Wither, You See Me Crying, Home Tonight, and Kings And Queens crappy ballads?
"Get Your Wings" will always be my favorite Aerosmith record. Brings me back to the warm Vermont summer of '76 fresh out of 9th grade, rehearsing with my first band, and cruising around with 17 year old groupie/cradle robber Sally in her white VW bug listening to GYW on glorious 8 track while drinking Molson Golden ale and smoking spliffs.
Mesmerized by "Spaced" and the segue way into "Seasons of Wither". Ah the memories...
no faux horn section hereOriginally Posted by Trane
While the drums sound organic and guitars are appropriately grungy, there was a preponderance of reverb, giving the album a bit of a sludgy, low-fi sound. The performance was at least in keeping with '70s Aerosmith albums and nowhere near the glam metal glitz of Permanent Vacation and beyond.
Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that
Like Whorg, I saw them open for Mott The Hoople. Santa Monica, 1973. They slaughtered their seniors, and I've followed them ever since.
There are only four albums I don't much care for, and Toys in the Attic is one of them (sometimes way too funky, other times way too sissy, for my tastes). The others are, Done With Mirrors, Honkin' On Bobo, and Rock in a Hard Place. Most everything else is top notch, to my ears, with special kudos to Get Your Wings, Rocks, Permanent Vacation, Pump, Nine Lives and Just Push Play.
Even though they've become a corporate schlock group (the last time I saw them, the whole event was sponsored by, and seemed like a living commercial for, GUITAR HERO), they still tear up the stage, godblessum.
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