Aerosmith Album By Album Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Rose River Bear, May 1, 2022.

  1. gyp casino

    gyp casino solid state tuner

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    Toys is a 10/10 for me. Love the sleazy but tuneful vibe. Of their 70's albums, I think this one probably has the best and most accomplished songwriting, although "Rocks" has it beat sonically.

    A funny thing about "Sweet Emotion"...the band re-recorded the song and made a new music video in the mid-80's. As a kid, I just assumed it was a new song. It didn't seem out of place at all on MTV. Goes to show what a huge influence they were on 80's hard rock.
     
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  2. shakesomeaction

    shakesomeaction ‘s what i need

    Location:
    couch
    Toys was an instant classic and destined to be the best Aerosmith album ever... until Rocks came out.
     
  3. ron/asheton

    ron/asheton Forum Resident

    Location:
    tempe, az
    Don't think I've ever seen that. Did they use it for a b side? Or was it a single from a greatest hits or something?
     
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  4. Jimmy Agates

    Jimmy Agates CRAZY DOCTOR

    Love Toys in the Attic - great album well produced with great variety - Aerosmith had truly hit their stride on this one. A solid 9.5/10
     
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  5. mikedifr0923

    mikedifr0923 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Which would be a shame…..By time they got to Just Push Play I could see validity in the criticism but Perm though Nine Lives are all great rock albums. Everyone’s sound became more pop influenced in that time. Was just how the industry went other than extreme metal lol (and then grunge of course)

    Going to try and follow this as close as possible even if I don’t get to comment much.

    Love Aerosmith. They were my first concert with my dad on the Get a Grip Tour and then saw them about 10-15 times on subsequent tours.

    My favs are Get Your Wings through Rocks and Pump through Nine Lives but pretty much like almost everything from them.

    Keep the great thread going!
     
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  6. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    never heard of this either. it was a re-record and not a remix?

    are you thinking on this one?

    Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion From Pandora's Box
     
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  7. ron/asheton

    ron/asheton Forum Resident

    Location:
    tempe, az
    That has to be it. First thing I thought of after I posted.
     
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  8. Jimmy Agates

    Jimmy Agates CRAZY DOCTOR

    Exactly
     
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  9. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member Thread Starter

    Adam’s Apple

    Opens with an amazing gnarly riff that is part Pete Townshend and part Delta Blues. One of Joe’s best. An E flat chord tritone at :07 turns it around and it really adds to the tension and gives it an ominous tone. The verse starts with a groove on the A chord and then goes thru descending power chords. Another verse follows and then at :48 the chorus enters deceptively and adds more to the fluent blues groove. No standout chorus here…this down and dirty hard rock blues. At 1:05 the intro riff returns, and the verse follows. The chorus comes back at 1:43 and ends on the E chord at 1:58 for the turnaround but instead an unexpected song writing move happens. Joe and Brad play a variation of the verse vocal melody on guitars in harmony in the new key of E. At 2:11 Joe adds in fills. The harmony riff returns and then at 2:27 Joe starts an amazing solo over the chorus chords still in the new key. The section is repeated, and Joe’s solo is mostly right over the chords. One of his best solos….a mix of hard rock, rockabilly, and blues. At the end of the solo at 2:51 we would expect the intro riff but instead we get treated one more time to the harmonized verse section. Genius use of the song sections. At 2:58 the intro riff finally brings the amazing break section to a close. The verse returns stripped down at 3:13 and the chorus follows at 3:45. The chorus repeats and at 4:04 Steven lets loose with a blood curdling howl. At 4:13 the turnaround chord gets one last treatment, and the song ends on a brutal A chord that feeds back and fades.

    One of my favorite songs by the band. Brilliant song writing. A master class from Steven in how to write a song with just power chords that goes beyond the blues and is totally unique. The harmony of the vocal melody in the break is stunning and floored me when I first heard it. Joe’s solo is one for the record books IMO. I am not sure whether Joey is playing way ahead of the beat or way behind it. Whatever he is doing it sounds great.

     
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  10. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member Thread Starter

    I can't do without either album but for me, Toys edges out Rocks by a hair.
     
  11. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    No, I hadn't heard that one. Frankly, I was kinda thinking that Aerosmith's was the best of the latter-day post 50's long haired rock'n'roll covers of Train, but that's a bit too many qualifiers. :laugh: So I'll just take my lumps and admit I haven't heard all the best versions of Train, and this is definitely in the running. It's definitely better than the Yardbirds version, and I say that somewhat begrudgingly because I remember playing the Yardbirds' version for my high school stoner buddies and they all HATED it. The rejection still stings. :laugh:
     
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  12. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    Exactly how I feel about this album also. It’s a cast-iron classic that’s plays almost like a Greatest Hits, but way too burnt out on the hits.
     
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  13. Doomster

    Doomster Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Superb review
     
  14. Doomster

    Doomster Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Toys In The Attic (4/5)

    So here we are at arguably Aerosmith’s best album (even if not my favourite - see earlier, Get Your Wings has that spot).

    I won’t attempt a “full” song-by-song review, as others, especially RRB have nailed it, but some reflections:
    • Even if not my personal favourite, in the debate between which is superior between this and Rocks, then Toys shades it - it’s iconic hits are that little bit more iconic and it’s deep cuts are certainly a little bit stronger … it’s close but it’s not a dead heat. (I held the opposite view for many years, feeling Rocks, well rocked that bit harder, so hey, the wind may change direction again soon).

    • Let’s deal with it now - “Big Ten Inch” near ruins this record as a masterpiece album. I’m far from prurient, but it’s such a lame gag for a cool rock band to indulge (and I thought that as a kid who otherwise found d1ck size jokes amongst my mates hilarious). It was a sign of the cartoonish version of the band I dislike. “Pandora’s Box” may have been silly, but this is just a novelty song and shouldn’t have been more than a b-side. Ugh. No truly great hard rock albums have novelty songs on them.
    • Other than that, the album is terrific - sure “Walk this Way” and “Sweet Emotion” are horribly overplayed, but that’s because they’re stone cold rock classics, full of a heady blend of swagger, funk, riffage and indelible hooks - unique tracks too. No one sounded like this.

    • And the album tracks are superb … Side 2 is basically flawless (I know it’s only four songs, but still!) … “Sweet Emotion”, then “No More No More” - jeez - I mean “Blood stains the ivories of my daddy’s baby grand” - yeah! More, actually!! Followed by “Round and Round” - a grinding, crushing juggernaut and closing with “You See Me Crying”, perhaps second only in Aerosmith’s catalogue to “Dream On” as a beautiful ballad. Four totally different but equally amazing tracks. Peak Aerosmith, their best side of vinyl.
    • So why do I prefer Get Your Wings? Well, any menace and edge is more or less completely gone from the band. It’s replaced by humor, fun (nothing wrong with fun), brightness and a certain, um, jauntiness. Both in the big hits, but also“Uncle Salty” and “Adam’s Apple” - both have a kind of story telling narrative and music which evokes an upbeat optimism (yes, even “Uncle Salty” despite its subject matter). So I miss the dirty gutter rats, basically.
    • Barely merits comment but the sleeve is gross, as usual! A feast of brown, with a Rockwell style painting of, um, toys in an attic. Yuk.
    So anyways, a terrific album, my second favorite Aerosmith.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2022
  15. nowyouknow

    nowyouknow Music addict

    Location:
    Nice - France
    Sorry i'm late !

    Aerosmith (1973) 3,5/5

    It took me a little while to get into it because of the 'forced' vocals and the somewhat flat sound. It has its charms (more bluesy / rootsy flavors than later on), that's a good album.

    On my Aerosmith playlist :

    - Dream On, a total masterpiece and one of their greatest achievements.
    - Mama Kin, sounds like an old rock n roll classic and with time that's what it became.

    Get Your Wings (1974) 4/5

    Coming from the next album to this one, i was puzzled by some of the pieces because of what i felt was a lack of energy. It took me a bit of time to get into Woman of the World or Pandora's Box and i felt songs like Lord of the Highs or Spaced screamed for a faster tempo (to be honest they probably would have been recorded that way in the Toys or Rocks sessions, see the Live Bootleg version of Lord of The Highs). I'm not saying i was wrong but now i get the album as it is, i like that it's not a 100% rock-n-rol- in-your face record, there's is "Rocks" for that. If the first album was their version or Rolling Stones/Yardbirds album, this one is their Zeppelein album : Dynamics, slower and faster tempos... I'm not familiar with the post-reunion stuff but so for now "Get Your Wings" is my second favorite Aerosmith album.

    On my Aerosmith playlist :

    - Same Old Song And Dance, a killer opener and and instant classic (too bad there isn't' a live version on Live Bootleg or Pandora's Box, maybe they didn't play it that much because Joe Perry wasn't on the original recording).
    - Lord of the Highs.
    - The Train Kept A-Rollin'. Like the band themseves i'm a Yardbird fan (for the lack of a better word) and i have to say i was gladly suprised by their cover. They did find a killer slower rythm for that song that totally change the mood and yet the second "fake-live" part, coming back to the Yardbirds in-a-hurry version, is totally welcomed. Great.
    - Seasons Of Wither, almost as impressive as Dream On was, albeit in a totally different mood.

    Writing in english is too exhausting for me i'll come back later for Toys, sorry for not being on time.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2022
  16. vinyl diehard

    vinyl diehard Two-Channel Forever

    I don't consider it a novelty song, anymore than Big Balls by AC/DC. And what group is more sleazy than them. Big Ten Inch expounds sleaze.
     
  17. Doomster

    Doomster Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    It’s not at all sleazy to me. Not remotely. By contrast, “Lord of the Thighs” is sleazy, it’s dripping in it. There is a difference.

    ”Big Ten Inch Record” is playground double entendre stuff - Carry On / Kenneth Williams material, played for laughs.

    FWIW I do think “Big Balls” is also terrible, and is also a novelty song.

    These are both songs you listen to once and get the joke and don’t need to hear ever again.

    YMMV.
     
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  18. Padre69

    Padre69 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Helsinki, Finland
    Sorry to be late, but why did they use extra guitar players for GYW?
     
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  19. deanrelax

    deanrelax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    The mighty Toys in the Attic. I think that one of the strengths of classic Aerosmith is that they sound very much like they could be the band next door. Whereas a band like the Rolling Stones were hip, cool, glamorous and part of the jet set, did classic album covers and brilliant music, Aerosmith sounds and looks like it's only rock and roll (but I like it), something that is more difficult than it sounds. There are no "hidden meanings" or myths to decipher, it's just dirty boogie/rock and roll but still with a certain twist that makes it hard to copy and pin down. Despite being overplayed, Sweet Emotion is still badass rock and roll. Adam's Apple and Uncle Salty are great deep tracks, No More No More is just a plain joy to hear. Big Ten Inch is a let down and Walk This Way is worn out.

    Fully agree with Doomster that the menace of the debut and Get Your Wings is gone.
     
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  20. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
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  21. vinyl diehard

    vinyl diehard Two-Channel Forever

    BTIR is well executed. It has an old time swing to it. Thought was put into the song, so I wouldn’t dismiss it. Yes, not as sleazy as some other of their songs.
    If you think BTIR is a novelty tune, you must think that of The Who’s Sell Out album. Isn’t that a spoof on a radio station?
     
  22. Doomster

    Doomster Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    About time you and I disagree on something.

    :)

    It took a three day meeting to decide to illustrate an album called Toys in the Attic with a painting of … you guessed it?

    This seems like a lack of sufficient drugs.

    Anyways, I find the cover too on point … to state the obvious, the song lyric references the idiom “toys in the attic”, meaning craziness or eccentricity (ie the attic being the brain). So it’s a cool metaphor rendered banal by choosing a literalist route of a children’s illustrator to just, um, paint the words. Surely so many other cool ideas exist?

    That aside, although clearly technically accomplished, I don’t personally like the painting with its heavy, traditionalist style - it seems visually boring rather than striking and that is probably what I’m complaining about as much as the concept.

    Rant over - we will see over the course of this thread that I really don’t rate Aerosmith album covers … not meant to be threadcraps!!

    Sorry!
     
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  23. bare trees

    bare trees Senior Member


    Bob Ezrin had a hand in GTW (He is listed in the credits as "executive producer"). He brought in Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner to play on "Train Kept A Rollin'" because he felt they could get the job done more quickly than Perry and Whitford. (Remember, studio time is costly).
     
  24. Murph

    Murph Enjoy every sandwich!

    This also puzzled me. JD thought they could get it done quicker? Ok. But as a band, don’t you say: “No”
     
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  25. Murph

    Murph Enjoy every sandwich!

    @Rose River Bear how can you tell which guitarist is playing lead? From what’ve seen and heard , Whitford is just as good as Perry..
     
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