Is Aerosmith a singles band?

I'm going to go over their whole discography but before I do I need to know..
Should I purchase a greatest hits or should I should I start with their albums?
I wouldn't want to waste time if most of their albums contain filler songs with two to three stand out hits.
If they are a singles band then what is the best compilation to purchase?
If they're an albums band what should should I start with? Which album marks the beginning of the end?

 

Don't bother with greatest hits comps, start with Get Your Wings and proceed through Rocks. If you like those, get the rest of the 70's albums. Can't answer for it after that. However these albums:

Get Your Wings
Toys In The Attic
Rocks
- are 100% classic and deserve to be in anyone's collection, assuming one is interested in that era of rock.

Beginning of the end is Draw The Line. It's still a great album though. The first album is great also but is somewhat less sophisticated than subsequent releases.

 

Cue 5 pages of posts telling you to avoid everything post-70s!

(Get the original red-covered Greatest Hits and Big Ones, and go from there)

 

Everything up through Draw the Line is certainly worth having. If you've never heard those start to finish, you're in for a treat!

 

Post 70's, it's probably safer to go with a comp! Assuming one isn't put off by the very commercial hits.

 

There's nothing wrong with the first album, either.

 

I love every single commercial hit from their 80's era.

 

You'll probably hate the good stuff then, J.Q.

 

Maybe they just write good single tunes that people want to hear on the radio. Could be worse for a band.

 

Get Your Wings is a good record but IMO not a "classic."

Toys In the Attic and Rocks are the two "must-have" Aerosmith records.

My digital musical collection contains those plus two playlists I made myself because I don't really like any of the existing comps. So if you're going to listen to their whole output just do that, slowly, and get what you like.

 

I love "Sweet Emotions". I don't know much of their 70's work but I'm willing to give them a listen and hopefully I enjoy what I hear.
From all of the singles I've heard this is my favorite.

 

Their albums from their 1st through Draw the Line are all good, if not great (Get Your Wings, Toys in the Attic) and all work well as albums.

After that I lost interest.

Scott

 

Well, I'm a big admirer of Aerosmith as a band, even though I'm not big on their post-70's albums, so I can relate somewhat. Of the post-70's albums, I like Permanent Vacation and Pump. However, I strongly feel that neither of these albums really hold a candle to the three essential 70's albums I referenced. I remember in the 80's making a comp tape of Permanent Vacation and putting a bunch of random tracks at the end of it (as was my wont) and I always was struck at how much more muscular and forceful the 70's tracks were. And I really liked PV at the time - I thought it was a stunning comeback. The 70's Aerosmith is just a very different beast - it's elemental like Sabbath or Zeppelin. Not exactly the same thing, but the same kind of cool. The sober Aerosmith is a very professional machine but the original Aerosmith was a force of nature.

 

I like Night In The Ruts possibly better than Draw The Line.

 

As a long time admirer of the band which are the albums I should stay away from? I'm talking about the albums that even the biggest fans dismiss.

 

Draw the Line & Toys In the Attic are my favorites. I've never gotten into Rocks, despite a lot of effort since it's so highly regarded. Big Ones covers the 80s-90s pretty well, missing a few tracks here & there. I like Just Push Play...it's catchy pop! Honkin On Bobo is fun but not essential. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing is embarrassing and should be erased from the planet.

 

I'm reluctant to say "stay away from" any albums because every album I think sucks may have many vocal supporters, but the albums that I found particularly disappointing are Done With Mirrors, Rock In A Hard Place and Get A Grip. I've not heard any of the complete albums after Get A Grip. Night In The Ruts has many good tracks but I would not recommend it as an early choice.

 

That's actually the first song I heard by Aerosmith. That and Jade is what makes me want to check out their catalog.

 

Most of their albums are dirt cheap online so if you're serious about going through their catalogue then perhaps think about buying full albums. Personally right now I only have Permanent Vacation and Pump and I'll have to listen through them before deciding if I should buy their other albums. With Greatest Hits albums, you're only getting their most popular songs and the songs that you may have otherwise enjoyed had you bought their full albums, are left out of the Greatest Hits album. If you're a fan of Aerosmith, I say buy a couple of their albums like I did and think about whether you want to work your way up to their other albums.

 

The first album isn't their best, but One Way Street is a fairly long, rocked-out classic that generally flies under the radar. Get Your Wings and Toys in the Attic are indeed classics in every sense of the word. Rocks, not so much, but many seem to like it.

 

Get the 1st four and call it a day. Anything after that is optional.

 

As comps go, the Pandora Box set is slow a must listen. Many unreleased and live tracks.

 

I agree fully. They became an accomplished singles band, whereas earlier in their classic phase, they had great albums and some great singles too.

 

The first 4 are essential, IMO. For the 80s and beyond, comps are fine.

 

Hangman Jury is my all time favorite Aerosmith song. Was never a single.

Not much of an Aerosmith fan though