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All rights reserved.Aerosmith - Aerosmith (CD 1993)
Sing with me, sing for the year...which is 1973. (Aerosmith w/o)Review created: 03/29/03
by: deadmilkboy -- a member of Epinions
Pros:
Steven Tyler and the boys offer some early classics with their debut.
Steven Tyler and the boys offer some early classics with their debut.
Cons:
Some flawed production and a couple of so-so tracks.
Some flawed production and a couple of so-so tracks.
INTRODUCTION
Hello, everybody. This is John Bishop typing, the DeadMilkboy of Epinions.com. Before I launch into the following review, I d like to mention that this is part of a series of reviews I m writing based on one of the greatest American rock n roll bands in history, AEROSMITH! I d like to thank Aerocat (another Arizona native, bless her soul) for giving me the chance to do something other than write reviews of classic B-movies and current CD/DVD releases, and besides AEROSMITH F*CKING ROCKS! Posted here is the URL to Aerocat s official Epinions.com Aerosmith Write-Off page, and a list of names of other hopeful Aero Force fellas and freaks joining me in the write-off. For reference purposes, I got the lyrics and and quotations/information from www.rockthisway.de and aerosmithlyrics.homestead.com.
URL: http://aerowriteoff.bravepages
MEMBERS: Aerocat, hipyx, matta75, thevoid99, deaser26, netnut746, pt-paratroopa, pmills1210, pearl-drum-man, jeff_wilder78, kcfoxy, fartzarellah, sparkospunky, joubert, mattbjorke, shilmafone, donignacio, ned1, fuche_bu, and frostiepekkle.
AEROSMITH
Before I get to talking about the debut album of a band that would later become rock legends, I want to tell you a little story about this band from Massachusetts.
Vocalist Steven Tyler was just 18 years old when his first band, Chain Reaction, cut a couple of single releases. The year is 1966, and another band is on the rise: Pipe Dream, which featured Joe Perry on guitar and Tom Hamilton on bass (they would become The Jam Band over time). Paths would cross at The Barn, in Sunapee, NH, and unity would form between Tyler, Perry and Hamilton. Soon, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Ray Tabano would add to the mix. Thus, the line-up was formed for a band, which had a permanent name thanks to Joey Kramer: AEROSMITH.
The band s early 1970 gigs, which included a debut at Nipmuc Regional High School, were pretty much confined to a Student Union building at Boston University. By the time 1971 came, Ray Tabano left the band, and was replaced by one Brad Whitford. They were still a label-free local group that was scratching and scrounging to stay on their feet, and they were given practice space at the Fenway Theatre. Manager Johnny O Toole was awestruck by the band, and invited a local promoter named Frank Connelly to see the band. He was impressed, and helped Aerosmith secure demos and managers.
But in the summer of 1972, the band played at a New York club called Max s Kansas City. Clive Davis was there too, and signed the band to CBS/Columbia Records for $125,000. With producer Adrian Barber, Aerosmith went into Boston s Intermedia Studios to record and mix a debut album in two weeks. There were eight songs and 35 minutes of music on Aerosmith s debut LP, AEROSMITH. January 1973 saw the release of said album, and little did America know it, but a group of five boys had their toys and they were going to play to sell-out crowds in the future.
AEROSMITH opens with Make It, a song which is the early incarnation of a hard rock sound which would become stronger over time. But as an opening track, it sets the mood off right, and it s like I said: everybody in the hard rock lexicon would soon be into Aerosmith s sound, whether the liked it or not. The song packs a driving rhythm which would echo in many later hard rock bands (Heart?), but it has a nice rugged blues feel to it, and Steven Tyler s voice was stellar, even if it wasn t the magnificent scat-spitting demon of later albums. And here s a little sample lyric:
Good evening people welcome to the show/Got something here I want you all to know
When life and people bring on primal screams
You've got to think of what it's gonna take to make your dreams
Make it/Don't break it/I said make it/Don't break it... if ya do
Then ya feel like the world's coming down on you.
These convey some optimism for both the listener and the band. The band would keep on welcoming audiences to their show for three decades, and the band themselves would Make It into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in time.
The album s B-side release, Somebody, features a really great guitar/bass riff and stomping beat that sounds sweet even when listening it 30 years later. Steven Tyler starts to do some neat vocal ad libs, against some lead guitar notes from beyond the tenth fret. The lyrics here seem very simple and solid, a yearning for a lover of Steven s addressing:
I need a lady not somebody shady/I need someone to be close to
Somebody cozy not somebody nosy/Help me see my whole day through
Someone to share the load/Somebody to walk the road I live on
Good Lord send me good Lord mend me/And send me down someone for me
Said I won't be choosy you could send me a floozy/Send me anybody you please
Somebody say you will/Somebody further still
Somebody... send somebody for me
Now won't you send me somebody.
The A-side of that single was a song called Dream On. Now, upon first release, it made it into the Top 100 Singles Chart, albeit at #59. It would be a while before it finally broke the Top 10 (how long does two years seem?). But the song was the first in a style which would be all too familiar to rock music in the future, the style called the Power Ballad. This is where the loud-soft dynamics are used for all their emotional and musical ability, and the electric arrangement is usually peppered by piano or string arrangements. But songwriter Steven Tyler had this reflection about the song:
"For me this song sums up the sh*t you put up with when you're in a new band. Only one out of fifty people who write about you pick up on the music. Most of the critics panned our first album, and they said we were ripping off the Stones. And I think 'Dream On' is a great song, but it was two or three years before people really got a chance to hear it. That's a good barometer of my anger at the press, which I still have. 'Dream On' came of me playing piano when I was about seventeen or eighteen, and I didn't know anything about writing a song. It was just this little . . . sonnet that I started playing one day. I never thought then it would end up being a real song or anything."
Tyler came up with the melody on a piano in the bedroom of Tom Hamilton, causing sleep to become a problem for the bassist. But he admitted he was glad Steven kept playing, because Dream On would become a classic. The way the melody is carried on guitar sounds beautiful and precise (with the occasional little lead guitar line), and Steven Tyler wraps his voice around his little sonnet with grand conviction:
Half my life's in books written pages
Live and learn from fools and from sages
You know it's true/All the things come back to you
Sing with me sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing it with me if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away
Dream on... dream on... dream on/Dream until your dream come true.
It was no surprise that this song became a classic, and another couple of early greats from Aerosmith precede Dream On. One Way Street is a shuffling, eager blues rocker that features the birth of Steven Tyler s harmonica skills on an Aerosmith record. The seven-minute piece features some more really great vocals from Tyler, and he starts to show some of his wild side in some of the moments of this song. The solos are also particularly good, from both Perry and Whitford, guitarists of pure skill and performance.
Hey looky yonder what's that I see
Well that old bogus honey coming after me
I thought you told her I was out of town
I wonder how she knowed I was hangin' around
Say listen baby don't go wastin' yo time
You keep a comin' round you'll hear the same old line
You got a thousand boys you say you need'em
You take what's good for you and I'll take my freedom
'Cause lately it's been so hard now to make ends meet
And honey your head's a one way street, and I gotta go the other way.
Mama Kin features David Woodford on saxophone, and is a pure straight shot of hard rock fire thanks to Joe Perry. The band has been unfairly accused of ripping off the Stones, but the band here pay homage to Chuck Berry, with a groove that begs to be heard. The song rides an instrumental intro with guitar muscle, before falling down and re-emerging with intensity. Even the rhythm section remains solid, with Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton keeping the pace for Whitford and Perry to play their hard-charging guitars. And Steven Tyler belts out the song with a nice blend of swagger and edge, which is a lyrical reminder of keeping your feet on the ground even if you wander in the clouds:
It ain't easy livin' like a gypsy/Tell ya honey how I feel
I've been dreamin', floatin' down the stream/And losin' touch with all that's real
Whole earth lover keepin' undercover/Never knowin' where ya been
You've been fadin' always out paradin'/Keep in touch with Mama Kin
It ain't easy livin' like you wanna/It's so hard to find peace of mind (yes it is)
The way I see it you've got to say sh*t/But don't forget to drop me a line
Said you're bald as an egg at eighteen and workin' for your daddy just a drag
You still stuff your mind with them dreams
You better check it out 'cause someday soon you'll have to climb back on the wagon
Keep in touch with Mama Kin/Tell her where you've gone and been
Livin' out your fantasy/Sleepin' late and smokin' tea.
Write Me is also some nice toe-tapping boogie rock that employs some nice harmonica touches and humming vocals. A blues song about a desperate want for contact, Steven Tyler starts to punch out some of his trademark vocals here (mumbling and yowling), as the band keeps the beat afloat.
Write me a letter/Write me a letter
Write it today/I'm goin' away
Well i've been away forever suicide's crossin' my mind
But i'll never never never never never get so far behind
Well i've been so many places hidin' from the wind and the rain
But'choo could write me a letter for to save me from a-goin' insane.
Movin Out was the debut songwriting collaboration between Tyler and Perry, based upon living in shambles and getting an eviction notice. The opening guitar lick is smoking, later punctuated by bass drum and finally building into a concrete rock beat, where Steven, Joe and the boys offer up some nice musical interplay. And the poverty-based descriptions and raspy delivery add a sense of sleaziness to the sound.
We all live on the edge of town/Where we all live ain't a soul around
People start a' comin' all we do is just a' grin
Said we gotta move it out 'cause the city's movin' in
Tell me who you know and i'll tell ya who to
Go see my friend he'll set'cha free
Tell me what'cha need and maybe I can go too
No one knows the way but maybe me
Nobody goes there nobody shows where
Nobody knows where you can find me
Good mornin' glory allelujah to ya
What is the story and what's been goin' through ya
Livin' like a king off the fat of the land
Workin' like a dog in a rock and roll band.
Walkin The Dog is a Rufus Thomas cover that ends this brief 35 minute affair. Opening with a wood flute and guitar intro that wouldn t seem strange on a Jethro Tull album, it finally kicks into a thick blues boogie riff with some neat vocal delivery and playful lyrics.
Mary Mack dressed in black, silver buttons up and down her back
I know mistletoe, she broke her needle now she can't sew
Walkin' the dog, I'm just a walkin' your dog
Well if you don't know how to do it, I'll show ya how to walk the dog.
This is my last Aerosmith review as part of the Epinions Aerosmith Write-Off proposed by Beth, the Aerocat. I d like to thank her, as well as the others who got involved, and maybe I ll continue reviewing Aerosmith even after March 29, it s just a matter of time. But to sum up Aerosmith in one sentence is to say this: No matter whom their influences are or how many they got, Aerosmith would have a sound all their own, which is just as influential as any other band. And for shining evidence of this fact, listen to AEROSMITH all the way through. It may not be a perfect album, seeing as how some of the songs feel a tad amateurish by today s standards, but Aerosmith s next three albums would be masterpieces, and the band rightfully ruled hard rock for the mid 70s and the late 80s-mid 90s. Needless to say, Aerosmith truly made it.
Hello, everybody. This is John Bishop typing, the DeadMilkboy of Epinions.com. Before I launch into the following review, I d like to mention that this is part of a series of reviews I m writing based on one of the greatest American rock n roll bands in history, AEROSMITH! I d like to thank Aerocat (another Arizona native, bless her soul) for giving me the chance to do something other than write reviews of classic B-movies and current CD/DVD releases, and besides AEROSMITH F*CKING ROCKS! Posted here is the URL to Aerocat s official Epinions.com Aerosmith Write-Off page, and a list of names of other hopeful Aero Force fellas and freaks joining me in the write-off. For reference purposes, I got the lyrics and and quotations/information from www.rockthisway.de and aerosmithlyrics.homestead.com.
URL: http://aerowriteoff.bravepages
MEMBERS: Aerocat, hipyx, matta75, thevoid99, deaser26, netnut746, pt-paratroopa, pmills1210, pearl-drum-man, jeff_wilder78, kcfoxy, fartzarellah, sparkospunky, joubert, mattbjorke, shilmafone, donignacio, ned1, fuche_bu, and frostiepekkle.
AEROSMITH
Before I get to talking about the debut album of a band that would later become rock legends, I want to tell you a little story about this band from Massachusetts.
Vocalist Steven Tyler was just 18 years old when his first band, Chain Reaction, cut a couple of single releases. The year is 1966, and another band is on the rise: Pipe Dream, which featured Joe Perry on guitar and Tom Hamilton on bass (they would become The Jam Band over time). Paths would cross at The Barn, in Sunapee, NH, and unity would form between Tyler, Perry and Hamilton. Soon, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Ray Tabano would add to the mix. Thus, the line-up was formed for a band, which had a permanent name thanks to Joey Kramer: AEROSMITH.
The band s early 1970 gigs, which included a debut at Nipmuc Regional High School, were pretty much confined to a Student Union building at Boston University. By the time 1971 came, Ray Tabano left the band, and was replaced by one Brad Whitford. They were still a label-free local group that was scratching and scrounging to stay on their feet, and they were given practice space at the Fenway Theatre. Manager Johnny O Toole was awestruck by the band, and invited a local promoter named Frank Connelly to see the band. He was impressed, and helped Aerosmith secure demos and managers.
But in the summer of 1972, the band played at a New York club called Max s Kansas City. Clive Davis was there too, and signed the band to CBS/Columbia Records for $125,000. With producer Adrian Barber, Aerosmith went into Boston s Intermedia Studios to record and mix a debut album in two weeks. There were eight songs and 35 minutes of music on Aerosmith s debut LP, AEROSMITH. January 1973 saw the release of said album, and little did America know it, but a group of five boys had their toys and they were going to play to sell-out crowds in the future.
AEROSMITH opens with Make It, a song which is the early incarnation of a hard rock sound which would become stronger over time. But as an opening track, it sets the mood off right, and it s like I said: everybody in the hard rock lexicon would soon be into Aerosmith s sound, whether the liked it or not. The song packs a driving rhythm which would echo in many later hard rock bands (Heart?), but it has a nice rugged blues feel to it, and Steven Tyler s voice was stellar, even if it wasn t the magnificent scat-spitting demon of later albums. And here s a little sample lyric:
Good evening people welcome to the show/Got something here I want you all to know
When life and people bring on primal screams
You've got to think of what it's gonna take to make your dreams
Make it/Don't break it/I said make it/Don't break it... if ya do
Then ya feel like the world's coming down on you.
These convey some optimism for both the listener and the band. The band would keep on welcoming audiences to their show for three decades, and the band themselves would Make It into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in time.
The album s B-side release, Somebody, features a really great guitar/bass riff and stomping beat that sounds sweet even when listening it 30 years later. Steven Tyler starts to do some neat vocal ad libs, against some lead guitar notes from beyond the tenth fret. The lyrics here seem very simple and solid, a yearning for a lover of Steven s addressing:
I need a lady not somebody shady/I need someone to be close to
Somebody cozy not somebody nosy/Help me see my whole day through
Someone to share the load/Somebody to walk the road I live on
Good Lord send me good Lord mend me/And send me down someone for me
Said I won't be choosy you could send me a floozy/Send me anybody you please
Somebody say you will/Somebody further still
Somebody... send somebody for me
Now won't you send me somebody.
The A-side of that single was a song called Dream On. Now, upon first release, it made it into the Top 100 Singles Chart, albeit at #59. It would be a while before it finally broke the Top 10 (how long does two years seem?). But the song was the first in a style which would be all too familiar to rock music in the future, the style called the Power Ballad. This is where the loud-soft dynamics are used for all their emotional and musical ability, and the electric arrangement is usually peppered by piano or string arrangements. But songwriter Steven Tyler had this reflection about the song:
"For me this song sums up the sh*t you put up with when you're in a new band. Only one out of fifty people who write about you pick up on the music. Most of the critics panned our first album, and they said we were ripping off the Stones. And I think 'Dream On' is a great song, but it was two or three years before people really got a chance to hear it. That's a good barometer of my anger at the press, which I still have. 'Dream On' came of me playing piano when I was about seventeen or eighteen, and I didn't know anything about writing a song. It was just this little . . . sonnet that I started playing one day. I never thought then it would end up being a real song or anything."
Tyler came up with the melody on a piano in the bedroom of Tom Hamilton, causing sleep to become a problem for the bassist. But he admitted he was glad Steven kept playing, because Dream On would become a classic. The way the melody is carried on guitar sounds beautiful and precise (with the occasional little lead guitar line), and Steven Tyler wraps his voice around his little sonnet with grand conviction:
Half my life's in books written pages
Live and learn from fools and from sages
You know it's true/All the things come back to you
Sing with me sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing it with me if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away
Dream on... dream on... dream on/Dream until your dream come true.
It was no surprise that this song became a classic, and another couple of early greats from Aerosmith precede Dream On. One Way Street is a shuffling, eager blues rocker that features the birth of Steven Tyler s harmonica skills on an Aerosmith record. The seven-minute piece features some more really great vocals from Tyler, and he starts to show some of his wild side in some of the moments of this song. The solos are also particularly good, from both Perry and Whitford, guitarists of pure skill and performance.
Hey looky yonder what's that I see
Well that old bogus honey coming after me
I thought you told her I was out of town
I wonder how she knowed I was hangin' around
Say listen baby don't go wastin' yo time
You keep a comin' round you'll hear the same old line
You got a thousand boys you say you need'em
You take what's good for you and I'll take my freedom
'Cause lately it's been so hard now to make ends meet
And honey your head's a one way street, and I gotta go the other way.
Mama Kin features David Woodford on saxophone, and is a pure straight shot of hard rock fire thanks to Joe Perry. The band has been unfairly accused of ripping off the Stones, but the band here pay homage to Chuck Berry, with a groove that begs to be heard. The song rides an instrumental intro with guitar muscle, before falling down and re-emerging with intensity. Even the rhythm section remains solid, with Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton keeping the pace for Whitford and Perry to play their hard-charging guitars. And Steven Tyler belts out the song with a nice blend of swagger and edge, which is a lyrical reminder of keeping your feet on the ground even if you wander in the clouds:
It ain't easy livin' like a gypsy/Tell ya honey how I feel
I've been dreamin', floatin' down the stream/And losin' touch with all that's real
Whole earth lover keepin' undercover/Never knowin' where ya been
You've been fadin' always out paradin'/Keep in touch with Mama Kin
It ain't easy livin' like you wanna/It's so hard to find peace of mind (yes it is)
The way I see it you've got to say sh*t/But don't forget to drop me a line
Said you're bald as an egg at eighteen and workin' for your daddy just a drag
You still stuff your mind with them dreams
You better check it out 'cause someday soon you'll have to climb back on the wagon
Keep in touch with Mama Kin/Tell her where you've gone and been
Livin' out your fantasy/Sleepin' late and smokin' tea.
Write Me is also some nice toe-tapping boogie rock that employs some nice harmonica touches and humming vocals. A blues song about a desperate want for contact, Steven Tyler starts to punch out some of his trademark vocals here (mumbling and yowling), as the band keeps the beat afloat.
Write me a letter/Write me a letter
Write it today/I'm goin' away
Well i've been away forever suicide's crossin' my mind
But i'll never never never never never get so far behind
Well i've been so many places hidin' from the wind and the rain
But'choo could write me a letter for to save me from a-goin' insane.
Movin Out was the debut songwriting collaboration between Tyler and Perry, based upon living in shambles and getting an eviction notice. The opening guitar lick is smoking, later punctuated by bass drum and finally building into a concrete rock beat, where Steven, Joe and the boys offer up some nice musical interplay. And the poverty-based descriptions and raspy delivery add a sense of sleaziness to the sound.
We all live on the edge of town/Where we all live ain't a soul around
People start a' comin' all we do is just a' grin
Said we gotta move it out 'cause the city's movin' in
Tell me who you know and i'll tell ya who to
Go see my friend he'll set'cha free
Tell me what'cha need and maybe I can go too
No one knows the way but maybe me
Nobody goes there nobody shows where
Nobody knows where you can find me
Good mornin' glory allelujah to ya
What is the story and what's been goin' through ya
Livin' like a king off the fat of the land
Workin' like a dog in a rock and roll band.
Walkin The Dog is a Rufus Thomas cover that ends this brief 35 minute affair. Opening with a wood flute and guitar intro that wouldn t seem strange on a Jethro Tull album, it finally kicks into a thick blues boogie riff with some neat vocal delivery and playful lyrics.
Mary Mack dressed in black, silver buttons up and down her back
I know mistletoe, she broke her needle now she can't sew
Walkin' the dog, I'm just a walkin' your dog
Well if you don't know how to do it, I'll show ya how to walk the dog.
This is my last Aerosmith review as part of the Epinions Aerosmith Write-Off proposed by Beth, the Aerocat. I d like to thank her, as well as the others who got involved, and maybe I ll continue reviewing Aerosmith even after March 29, it s just a matter of time. But to sum up Aerosmith in one sentence is to say this: No matter whom their influences are or how many they got, Aerosmith would have a sound all their own, which is just as influential as any other band. And for shining evidence of this fact, listen to AEROSMITH all the way through. It may not be a perfect album, seeing as how some of the songs feel a tad amateurish by today s standards, but Aerosmith s next three albums would be masterpieces, and the band rightfully ruled hard rock for the mid 70s and the late 80s-mid 90s. Needless to say, Aerosmith truly made it.
Review ID: 10000000000210664
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