You know you're the sh-t in the 70s when the Playbill guy does his line drawing of you. The best part of my day today is when Steven Tyler goes extra high and screechy near the end of "Draw The Line." Kind of thrilling if you're listening to the song right.
What was the connection between Karen Lawrence & the band? Was she a friend of the band, or was it through management, or through Jack Douglas? Anyone have insight into this?
That's because you're not listening to the song right. KIDDING. Up to "Kings and Queens," the last time I listened to this album was July of last year, according to iTunes. (Sometimes I prefer vinyl because there's no automatic keeping track of what you listen to.) Overall, this album seems like Aerosmith's Presence.
I do have to be in the right mood to enjoy this one fully. 2 of my under the radar cuts here are Critical Mass and I Wanna Know Why. I Wanna Know Why was played live quite often. Not sure why they didn't play Critical Mass. I also like their Kinks inspired cover of Milkcow Blues. I was surprised when they played it the first time I saw them. Kings and Queens is one their better ballads. Get It Up was released as a single but it didn't chart and was played live only sporadically.
I really like their outtake cover of All Your Love by Otis Rush and wish it was included on the album.
Draw the Line 3.5 / 5 A clear step down in song craft and focus from the prior three albums - the band have now, so it turned out, passed their peak - the excesses of rock star life strained the creative process and the outcome is audible. The music, previously rapier guitars, a funky groove, fast moving, sharp and with a commanding finesse, is now dense and muddy - what used to scythe now bludgeons, hungry inspiration curdled into satiated, junkie perspiration. But hey, it’s a gloriously messy and addled way down. The songs here that do make the Aerosmith canon are absolutely tier one. “Draw the Line” scorches with their classic momentum - bass, guitar and drums rumble furiously in a rapid rock symphony, whilst “Kings and Queens” delivers the melodic majesty it’s title promises, a true atmospheric mini-epic. The next tier of songs down - “I Wanna Know Why”, “Get It Up”, “Hand That Feeds” and “Sight For Sore Eyes” - are gritty, tough and worthwhile rockers with basic but insistent hooks which repay repeated listens in spades. I like those songs, but I’ll concede, they do miss that x-factor that elevates Aerosmith’s very best rockers. What I can live without? “Milk Cow Blues” is a pretty forgettable cover and even if “Bright Light Fright” isn’t terrible, it reminds us why Steven Tyler should sing all Aerosmith songs - Perry’s banal lyrics lack the necessary wit, his voice is without charisma, and his vocal melody here is so basic that it’s practically amateurish. It’s no surprize the band were wholly underwhelmed when presented with this, and Perry had to sulk it onto the album. Overall, this is no masterpiece, but there is plenty of mastery in its pieces - if it pales due to its immediate proximity to the quality of what it followed, it’s still in the mix with the debut for position as Aerosmith’s fourth or (more likely) fifth best album, and that’s a reasonably elevated spot at which to draw the line.
I may be in the minority here, but I really like "Bright Light Fright." It's pretty unique in their catalog (at least the part of the catalog I listen to): Fast, tight down beat; no bridge or key changes - as mentioned there's not even really chorus to speak of; and Joe on vocals. The band has plenty of heavy songs - "Round And Round," "Nobody's Fault," etc - but I can't think of another song they ever did that was hard and fast like this. The only nit I have to pick is I wish Joe would have kept his register lower on the "The only thing on TV is the good morning news" line - he keeps it low in the first "chorus" but then brings it up for the following ones and to me kind of loses the groove on it. Thematically, this song to me is the heart of the album. As @munjeet said, DLT is an example of the classic 1970s "party's over, hangover time" album. "Bright Light Fright" is literally that - Perry is talking about being wasted in the a.m., when the morning news is on. When he sings "I'm all out of zoom," I take it he means the problem is he's out of drugs." But then you get: "Open a bottle and I'll pull down the shades, Glance in the mirror, Back into bed." This song rocks so hard. But he sounds like he knows the party is over but doesn't know how to stop. Which, obviously, is exactly what the problem with the band was - the party became joyless.
You can tell this album just barely manages to hang on to "Classic Aerosmith Album" status because everyone seems to agree there are classic songs on there, but with the exception of maybe two-three songs few can agree what those songs are.
Oops missed it! I like it - it’s in the pack with most of the other songs I reference as liking, but which are just missing that unique sprinkle of rock magic that Aerosmith alchemise when at their best. “Critical Mass” swings nicely in the verses and grooves in the chorus, decent deep cut.
Pretty sure it's a soundboard. Not the best soundboard ever, but no way someone did this from the audience. I don't know anything about the lineage. The performance defiantly definitely comes across. It's got a decent amount of audience in it, almost like a radio broadcast. It may be one.
This Largo Maryland show was filmed and is in pretty good sound. Tracklist: 1.Back In the Saddle 2.S.O.S. (Too Bad) 3.Big Ten Inch Record 4.I Wanna Know Why 5.Lord of the Thighs 6.Lick and a Promise 7.Get It Up 8.Walk This Way 9.Sweet Emotion 10.Dream On 11.Walkin' the Dog 12.Mama Kin 13.Draw the Line 14.Same Old Song and Dance 15.Train Kept a Rollin' 16.Milk Cow Blues 17.Toys In the Attic