I’ve never seen Aerosmith in concert, but my understanding is Brad Whitford plays the majority of the lead work. I’m a bit confused now because you’ve said Joe Perry played with Aerosmith and now you’ve mentioned the Joe Perry Project. Which is it?
Are you saying these albums are similar or that both are a return to a style that bombed previously? If the latter, what albums are they a “return” to? If you’re saying the former then I disagree completely. Unmasked and Crazy Nights are very different sounding albums (though both are crummy).
Yeah...I always saw Crazy Nights as Unmasked II...they went for pop songs with rather thin production/mix. Unmasked is light years better in terms of songwriting.
The Ace songs are all I like on Unmasked. If you take out the Paul songs on Dynasty, I actually think it’s a really good album.
They definitely were related—both were from Houston, both were mentored by Sam Taylor at around the same time, and Galactic Cowboys guitarist Dane Sonnier's brother Len was in Atomic Opera.
I’d say if you take out the Gene songs on Dynasty it’s great. It’s still one of my favorite KISS albums.
I meant Ace and Paul on leads...but I get what you are saying. Personally I think Paul hit it out of the park on Unmasked, while Ace's tunes are mediocre at best.
All the Sam Taylor produced bands sounded kind of similar: down tuned guitars and Beatlesque backing vocals. A very unique sound for one band, but when you’ve got King’s X, Galactic Cowboys, and Atomic Opera it becomes a bit much. Still, I like the Atomic Opera album and still listen to it sometimes.
I interviewed one of the members of Third Day way back in the day when I was on the arts beat at a newspaper, and he mentioned that when they worked with Sam Taylor, he kind of insisted that they change their sound to his thing rather than work within the style they'd been successful with. The Third Day guy was vaguely complimentary of Taylor because, I mean, he was in THIRD DAY—he wasn't going to go scorched earth on anyone, obviously—but he certainly did have a subtle hint of "we won't be working with him again" in his tone.
Something about Pauls vocals between '78-'81 just grates with me. I don't know what it is but it's why I don't like Paul's solo album either.
I just meant it was Joe Perry singing and playing Red House during an Aerosmith concert. A.K.A., 'being cheeky' as that point in the show it was the Joe Perry project. Could very well be that Mr. Whitford plays the majority of the lead work. Perhaps I should of payed more attention.
Got it. Thanks. Yeah, Whitford does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to lead guitar in Aerosmith. Most people assume it’s Perry because he’s more of the face of the band, but it’s not.
Yeah, that’s cool. I understand. I think he’s quite good, but there are a couple of songs on Paul Stanley where his singing is pretty bad; one in particular that’s horrible. I’ve never disliked Paul’s vocals, but he did get of shriek-y on more of the metal oriented material. These days, well, ... it’s pretty sad.
One of my favorite albums by them. Actually, 4 of their first 5 albums plus Ironbound are my 5 favorite albums by them. Saw them this past September in Dayton, Ohio and they brought the house down. See them every time I get the chance. IMO, they should be part of the Big 4, in place of Anthrax. Too bad there isn't a Big 6. If that were the case, there would be room for both Overkill and Testament. Overkill is probably the most consistent, old-school Thrash band out there. Every 2 to 3 years, you can count on a new good, high-quality album by them. (Megadeth consistently puts out new albums in that timeframe too, but can be hit or miss on quality.)
Gonna have to get this now... Perry and Whitford I'd say pretty much equally share lead guitar in Aerosmith - Perry is no slouch at all but very bluesy and almost sloppy while Whitford is more trained and precise!!
Got this one during the week. Bloody great album by a hugely overlooked band... Anyone else here a fan?