https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerosmith-Tapes-Cellar-1970-1986/dp/B08GFSYKGM Excellent book by fellow poster on here @Mark7
I would put Home tonight about You see me crying, but this is about right. I'm dismissing my total burnout over Dream on - it really is a great song. I had never heard Mia, it's really not bad - it's a cool, interesting melody on the verses. The rest is just ok, the guitars are pretty awful - stiff, perfunctory, uninspired, they sound like they don't want to play this song.
Good to hear the love for NITR, I’ve always found it an enjoyable album especially the up tempo rockers, No Surprise, Chiquita and Cheese Cake. Mia is also a great lost ballad that doesn’t come across as a song doctored ballad but an honest lullaby for a new baby daughter. So many comments that I can’t find but it is a short album which maybe why it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. From what I’ve read of the band in the studio, the music went down first with the long process of writing and recording lyrics to follow which might explain why Joe Perry is all over the album and why he also took bone to bone to the Project.
Based on that, two out of the three covers on Ruts were from their old live repertoire - as we saw with “Reefer Head Woman” appearing on the 1971 rehearsal release. That was certainly news to me when that one appeared.
They started playing tracks from Ruts in late 1978 per setlist.fm Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy) by Aerosmith Song Statistics | setlist.fm
This is a bit of a story but here goes. I moved to Arizona from Michigan in 1986. When I did I sold my LP collection. When I began to rebuild my music collection in 1987 it was with CDs. A lot of old favorites were purchased again but a number of albums or artists were never added. That is the case of Aerosmith for me. I have not owned or really listen to Aerosmith since 1986. About a month ago I started a little project I called Use To Be. I created a library on Qobuz that is made up of albums I use to own on LP but have never owned since. Anyways there were about 286 albums in this playlist and 54 albums so far I have added to my library again and another ten I intend to. Of those I have added these three... Aerosmith – "Rocks" Label: Columbia – CK 34165 Format: CD, Album, Stereo Country: US Released: Jul 1986 Genre: Rock Style: Rock & Roll, Classic Rock, Hard Rock Aerosmith – Toys In The Attic Label: Columbia – CK 33479 Format: CD, Album, Reissue Country: US Released: May 1988 Genre: Rock Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock Aerosmith – Get Your Wings Label: Columbia – CK 32847 Format: CD, Album, Reissue Country: US Released: 1986 Genre: Rock Style: Hard Rock I really had forgotten how much I liked these guys...
I see what you did there..... Just as a heads up, I will not be commenting much past "Done with Mirrors" as I just don't care for their latter day albums. Maybe "Pump" and "Nine Lives", I'll chime in, we'll see.
Oh, I'm not discounting "Dream On" whatsoever, but those two are, oftentimes lost in the shuffle because of "Dream On" and its mass popularity. I like "You See Me Crying" in its beginning part, I just think that during the middle part with the overblown production addition of strings and the "over the top" guitar solo included takes it a bit too far for its own good. It does resolve back to the original piano melody and comes to a stately ending, but for what they were during that time, it was a bit much. It could be argued that "Kings and Queens" continued that heavy production and laboring arranging, which is in itself, a song that really is out of place within the context of that album. Great song but it just doesn't fit the style of that record. I'm glad it was included on the record, but it didn't do much on the charts(No. 70 placement), which was also possibly the reason for its inclusion to the album. X amount of people bought singles back then and then would buy the whole record if satisfied. Other X amount would go full on in and just buy the record. Just a thought.
Let The Music Do The Talking Track listing All tracks are written by Joe Perry, except where noted. Side one No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Let the Music Do the Talking" 4:42 2. "Conflict of Interest" 4:43 3. "Discount Dogs" Perry, Ralph Morman 3:42 4. "Shooting Star" 3:39 5. "Break Song" (Instrumental) Perry, David Hull, Ronnie Stewart 2:06 Side two No. Title Writer(s) Length 6. "Rockin' Train" Perry, Morman 6:02 7. "The Mist Is Rising" 6:30 8. "Ready on the Firing Line" 3:54 9. "Life at a Glance" 2:41 Personnel The Joe Perry Project Ralph Morman – vocals Joe Perry – guitars, lead vocals on tracks 2, 4, 7 and 9, backing vocals, bass synthesizer on track 1, percussion, producer, cover concept David Hull – bass guitar, bass synthesizer on track 8, backing vocals Ronnie Stewart – drums, percussion Additional musicians Rocky Donahue – percussion Production Jack Douglas – percussion, producer, mixing at The Record Plant, New York Lee DiCarlo – engineer, mixing Chris Tergesen, Julie Last – assistant engineers Greg Calbi – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York John Berg – cover concept Jerry Abramowitz, Ron Pownall – photography David Krebs, Steve Leber – management
Let The Music Do The Talking Let The Music Do The Talking A grooving bass line and the intro gradually builds with a dive bomb surf like bass line. The verse kicks in and owes a little to Highway Star in the chords and rhythm. Hey, take from the best right? The main riff from Joe really snarls and spits. The chorus is a real rocker with pull-offs galore. The break has Joe filling in with killer slide guitar …..nothing fancy but gets the job done and keeps the groove going. The chorus follows and I like the harmonies. One more time for the verse and the chorus follows with Joe in response vocals. The chorus pounds along and the song ends with a tremolo laden false ending chord with Joe playing the riff one more time slowed down. A final flurry of slide guitar brings the song to an end. A fine opener. 9/10 Conflict of Interest Inhuman effects kick this into gear. Snarling chord fragments answer each other in the guitar intro….like a conflict of interest. Sorry. A descending C major broken line with power chords then enters…..a Joe Perry trademark type riff. This riff anchors the verse. Joe’s vocal sounds great and forceful. The intro riff returns for the mostly instrumental chorus. The verse comes back and then a tough sounding droney bridge follows. It has some chorus like aspects though with the emphatic vocals. More cool twisting of the standard way of using sections. The second bridge at 2:02 gets even more filled in with vocals and guitars. I like the percussion throughout. The next bridge has more Joe fills with guitars darting in and out and is sued to outro the song. 9/10 Discount Dogs Another trademark Perry riff with some funk leanings boogies this one in with a tough triplet riff in the end. The chorus at 1:02 if filled with harmonies from the boys. Joe follows with a transition guitar lick. The funk continues and at 1:50 a bridge breaks up the song in cool contrast. Joe adds in whammy bar dips before the final verse. At 2:56 a pull-off riff is used as a coda leading the song to its ending that rises and bursts into Marshall flame. 7/10 Shooting Star Tough as nails guitars and blues curls galore makes up the opening riff. The verse goes to call and response between Joe and the riff. The chorus at :50 starts without any words for the first go around. The second time lyrics fill out the chorus at 1:43 and it gets a repeat workout. The verse ultimately returns, and the guitars really snarl. Air guitar heaven. The final chorus returns and then the final utterance of the intro riff brings the song to a close. As hard sounding as anything the Aerosmith did. 8/10 Break Song I will post a separate review, but it won’t really be a review but more a fact finding deal. Rockin’ Train Look out James Brown…well maybe a little. A decent funk tune with Joe getting the funk out with some 9th chords. The chorus rises like any good funk song does. At 2:30 Joe lays down an OK solo that is a little sloppy but that is OK. Not much more to discuss here except to say it could have been a couple minutes shorter for me. 6/10 The Mist is Rising Backwards guitar before the loopy riff enters that descends with passing notes. Not that great of a riff to anchor the verse IMO. The chorus is somewhat of a saving grace but not enough for me. Some decent blues vocals though. 6/10 Ready On The Firing Line Another funk laced tune with a riff that is not exactly ear candy. The chorus is OK as well but still….nothing stellar IMO. 6/10 Life At Glance A killer boogie riff locks and loads for this closer. The chorus goes to power chords The second verse gets more laid back. Some fine fills from Joe in the post chorus before the verse. Mostly Chuck Berryish type licks but they fit the bill. A decent closer that makes up for some of the slumping towards the albums end. 7.5/10 I still listen to the album from time to time. It starts out great but gets a little weaker towards the end and loses some steam. The closer is a fine rave up boogie though and saves it from dying on the vine. OK folks, start doing the talking.
I'll have to do a proper overview of this iconic and excellent solo record from Mr. Perry and the project later tomorrow. It's been a minute since I've listened to this in its entirety, but it's definitely got some material that would've taken Aerosmith to a bigger and brighter forward moving for "Night in the Ruts" if he would've stayed within the band. Jack Douglas was quoted within the bio "Walk This Way" by Stephen Davis that Joe held back some of these songs that would've made "Ruts" far better than what became, which I agree, even though I love that album save for two songs that have been mentioned in my previous post on it. Nevertheless...
All good points...I made my comment with the thought that we were comparing ballads, and including Seasons of wither in the discussion mandated we include Dream on. Those 2 along with Kings and Queens are decidedly heavier than Home Tonight and You've seen me crying.. In the end consensus was we count all those in the comparison......In my own mind I typically just think of You seen me crying and Home tonight and as the ballads, often forgetting about Mia. Dream on/Seasons of wither/Kings and Queens are kind of light and shade songs more so than ballads if I'm splitting hairs.....I'm perfectly cool with how we did the comparison
I've never owned this album (Joe Perry- Let the music do the talking) I do have a distinct memory though of someone bringing in a ghetto blaster with a cassette of it into 10th grade art class, and hearing the title track. I remember thinking Joe Perry Project was a cool name for his project and that the song was killer. Listening to it now, I'm not crazy about the singer doing the rough voice falsetto....Brian Johnson does something like that on all the post For those about to rock AC DC albums....He basically lost his power at that point IMO. I'd say Joe's singer was doing a falsetto version of a poor mans Steve Marriott. I did just order a NM LP of this Perry album, being CD's were over priced. I do have a nice needle drop of the Whitfird StHolmes album. Steve Tyler is really one of the greatest rock singers who ever lived and a very tough act to follow, even now when he looks like a grandma. BYW I've only ever seen Aerosmith once, 1994 Get a Grip tour Seattle Center Arena, had a decent seat.. Band was pretty tight and Tyler was was doing flips on the stage....Freak of nature These guys were the opener after Megadeth left the tour The 90s answer to Pink Floyds Seamus
I didn’t know Krebs and Leber managed solo Joe Perry, or that Jack Douglas produced. So it was all still a bit ‘in-house’ at that time. Must check out the album, all I know is the title cut obviously
Here is the allmusic review of Let The Music Do The Talking by the Joe Perry Project - They give it a 4 out of 5. Joe Perry split from Aerosmith under less than favorable circumstances in 1979, directly assembling a solo band, the Joe Perry Project (with Ralph Mormon [vocals], David Hull [bass], and Ronnie Stewart [drums]), which soon released its first album, 1980's Let the Music Do the Talking. Unlike his former band, which would now take excessive amounts of time to record albums that should have been cranked out quickly, L.T.M.D.T.T. recalled the brash and trashy appeal of early Aerosmith. Maybe because he wanted to show his former bandmates that he could succeed without them, the performances were extremely inspired, while the songwriting was sharp and focused. The anthemic title track was aimed at all the in-press bickering that was going on at the time between Aerosmith and Perry. While subsequent Perry Project albums didn't contain many Perry lead vocal spots, the singing on the debut is split 50/50 between Perry and Mormon. Tracks such as "Conflict of Interest," "Discount Dogs," "Shooting Star," and "Rocking Train" were all up-tempo highlights, and the instrumental "Break Song" showed off the fantastic interplay between the new band, while "The Mist Is Rising" was more low-key. A truly great and underrated record, Let the Music Do the Talking could have been a classic Aerosmith release if the drugs hadn't split the band apart.
I mentioned earlier in the the thread that the B-side of the Let The Music Do The Talking was an instrumental version of Aerosmith's Bone To Bone which did not appear on the debut album.
I had this on lp back in the day but no longer have it. Let The Music Do The Talking is a great song. I remember being happy when Aerosmith played it live before Aerosmith recorded it on Done With Mirrors one of the times I saw them. I had to explain to my buddy it was a song from Perry's solo career. I remember liking the album and seem to recall liking Conflict of Interest and Shooting Star.
Ralph Morman is my favorite JPP singer RIP. I think he really helped the first album stand out. Dude deserves a Wikipedia page!
Love the debut JPP album and agree with all the comments. Joe comes out with a very strong set of rock and funky original songs and co-sings on half the album. I also think Ralph Mormon was probably the strongest Project singer. Lots of talk in the books around whether Leber / Krebbs just wanted a solo album and then buried it to get Joe to return to the Aerosmith cash cow… The last time I listened to these songs was on the ‘best of’ which contains 7 of the 9 tracks plus what sounds like a needle drop of bone to bone. it does miss out on the mist is rising (shame) but I didn’t feel the album slow down, and the rest of the tracks from the other albums flowed so I ended up listening to all 20 tracks. The best of us strongly recommended and relatively cheap on discogs.
Let The Music Do The Talking The album starts good and fades quickly. I heard it once when it first came out and again yesterday. I may get one more listen in before I die, but that is unlikely. As it is with most bands, the sum of the parts is far greater than any one individual. Steven needs Joe. Joe needs Brad. And they all need Tom and Joey.
