nope done with mirrors. he pretty much had checked out after draw the line and saved his ideas for a project outside the band. Brad Whitford - Wikipedia
Nobody’s Fault Guitars tuned down ½ step. Volume swelled chords drift between the channels and a crashing riff enters. Low E string that hammers up. Nothing unique to hard rock or heavy metal but still makes the grade IMO. The verse kicks in and Steven is on fire here. A blues turnaround this time. The verse shifts to A, al a the blues again at :53 and then goes back to the main riff at 1:03 but this time Steven changes the melody and adds killer harmonies. He turns the verse section into a sort of pre chorus with a great build up. The chorus at 1:14 shifts to D with a little bit of shuffle. The chorus ends with a relentless downward note by note trail with Steven leaving a trail of vocal destruction. The verse returns at 1:34 and Steven is really nailing it with a nerve wracking vocal. Everything repeats and Joey really is another star here giving the sections their own rhythmic character. The break at 2:35 is based on the verse section and Brad plays a solo with a touch of Wah pedal that is not too flashy or melodic….just right. Fine restrained use of the Wah by Brad. Effects shift between the speakers that mimic mayhem. The verse section returns, and the chorus returns at 3:17 with the harmonies in full bloom. The outro is based on the verse riff with Brad playing more great leads that now have just the right amount of melody to ease the song to its conclusion. I realize that Brad wrote a great riff laden song here but IMO, Steven Tyler makes this song. Joey as well. Without Steven’s melodies and lyrics, the song would not sound special to me. Go ahead and tell me I am wrong…I probably deserve it. Regardless, a great hard rock blues song due to everyone’s contribution. A cool segue from Sick As A Dog as well. Some added heaviness to the Band’s oeuvre that adds to their eclecticism.
I think it was the Get Grip tour I got to see them, and they were great... and everyone seemed to get into the old and new stuff
I saw them in the early 90s and the late 90s. The first time was more exciting for me because it was my first time seeing them, and it was NYE at the old Boston Garden. The second time wasn't as thrilling, but it was a good show. "Nobody's Fault" certainly "Rocks". When I was 21, I dated a 19 year old that sometimes babysat for Joe Perry. Pinnacle of my existence, right there. Another lame claim to fame Aerosmith story. My brother works in TV and for a while was dating someone with, um, access. Anyway, after he breaks up with her, my stepmother, who had met this woman once or twice, calls her up out of the blue and asks her for front row tickets to Aerosmith at Great Woods, and my stepmother had those tickets waiting at the box office for her and her friend. When my stepmother told me this story years later, I was like, "That was forward of you." Also, my brother was front row at an Aerosmith concert several years ago, and after it would inform me periodically that Joe Perry is the best guitar player ever.
Ahh, Draw The Line. My all-time fave Aerosmith album. It never seems to get the accolades it deserves. Many fans put it down because they feel the songs are not up to par (true for some tracks yet several others are stellar and the title track is absolutely killer). But there’s more to it than that. This album captures a certain moment in time by defining the very essence of pure late 70s rock excess. And I for one love that. The sky high swagger and confidence on display here are impossible to ignore as Steven's supreme Rock God attitude shines through in every patented banshee shriek and Peruvian-frosted lyric line, some of which are quite clever. And the heavy snowstorms in the studio don't stop the boys from coming up with some really tasty grooves, and throwing down one killer riff after another. Sadly the killer riffs would practically disappear from the next few Aerosmith albums. Another reason to cherish this one. Draw The Line was in my opinion the true final stop before the Aerosmith train really began to fly off the tracks. Of course as we all know the train was ultimately rebuilt into a multi-million dollar hit making machine. But something very special was lost in the process. And that special something can be heard in all its self-indulgent glory for the last time on this record. This album is a flawed masterpiece but a masterpiece nonetheless.
Love the artwork on DTL, best songs for me are title track, ‘Milk Cow Blues’ and the god-like ‘Kings And Queens’ (what a song!! And from @Mark7’s book, rarely played live, which I’m staggered about!). Are all versions a bit muddy in the production? Jack Douglas did such a great job for these guys usually, maybe it was intentional?
I’m waiting for RRB to get proceedings going before properly commenting on the music, but the cover is indeed perhaps my favorite Aerosmith cover (not tough competition), with a neat enough pun in terms of being a line drawing. They had that literalist approach for the prior two album covers too, but here the execution works better and produces something aesthetically pleasing or at least interesting, rather than what I considered boring outcomes previously.
Draw the Line Here is link to the Rolling Stone review of Draw The Line . They call it horrendous and state it sounds more like a band's first album than 5th. Draw the Line - Aerosmith | User Reviews | AllMusic The Allmusic review gives Draw The Line 3.5 stars. Renting out an abandoned convent on the outskirts of New York City to record the follow-up to the hellacious Rocks may not have been the best idea, but 1977's Draw the Line still managed to be another down-and-dirty Aerosmith release. While it wasn't as awe-inspiring as their last two albums -- the members have said that the music suddenly got "cloudy" around this time (due to in-band fighting/ego clashes, excessive living, etc.), Draw the Line catches fire more times than not. Unlike their most recent album successes, the band shies away from studio experimenting and dabbling in different styles; instead they return to simple, straight-ahead hard rock. The album-opening title track features a gloriously abrasive Joe Perry slide guitar riff and has been featured in concert ever since, while the punk-esque "Bright Light Fright" featured Perry's first ever lead vocal spot on an Aerosmith record. Other highlights include a reworking of the blues obscurity "Milk Cow Blues," which Perry's pre-Aerosmith group, the Jam Band, played live, as well as "I Wanna Know Why," "Critical Mass," "Get It Up," "Kings and Queens," and "Sight for Sore Eyes." Draw the Line would turn out to be the last true studio album from Aerosmith's original lineup for nearly a decade.
Various Kings And Queens single sleeves - The single went to #70 in the U.S. Get It Up was also released as a single in the U.S. but did not chart.
I think the band had pretty well said it all up to Rocks. To me, Draw The Line comes across to me as just a bunch of ordinary Aerosmith songs with nothing particular about them. The title track, Get It Up and Sight For Sore Eyes are OK.
I love the “Oh holy Jesus!” on “Sight For Sore Eyes”, just before the second chorus kicks in … alongside “Lord of the Thighs”, this song is just about as sleazy as Aerosmith ever got. Which is saying something.
I like "Draw The Line" as much as the previous three albums. "Sight For Sore Eyes" is their best funky track, the psychedelia of "Critical Mass" has been a favourite since I heard it on "Gems" and even a lesser track like "The Hand That Feeds" has something irresistible. Hamilton's great Stingray bass sound at least. OK, "Get It Up", "Bright Light Fright" and "Milk Cow Blues" I skip if I skip something from that album. Also, the great riffs continued well after this album but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Rocks : Probably Aerosmith's finest hour. The band was firing on all cylinders here and Jack Douglas's production captured it perfectly.
Muddy! Seriously - I wasn't at all familiar with their repertoire (the audience recording is on Youtube) but I thought it was good. I was really there for Thin Lizzy and Ultravox! (this was John Foxx era). Both bands were excellent.
About half the album is classic Aerosmith. Thing is, the other half is comprised of average to above-average songs.
Yes, it’s a very worthwhile record, but a “masterpiece” it ain’t. Nothing here is bad, but there aren’t quite as many standout highs.
My very early pressing of Draw The Line, with T-shirt/fan club insert and half the shrink wrap still on the cover. Many times I've thought about tearing off the rest of that shrink wrap but I just don’t have the heart.
