Brings in to question how it went down for me, but other people here who have read Ted T's book and other stuff might know. Specifically I mean were songs rejected by the label and new ones submitted etc? To this day the bands best songs were the earlier ones they wrote themselves with maybe some input and help from Jack Douglass. Is there a good book to read on Aerosmith to get the behind the scenes history...?
Classics Live I and II From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Classics Live and Classics Live II are a set of albums by American rock band Aerosmith, released in 1986 and 1987, respectively. Together, they constitute the band's second live offering, after Live! Bootleg. Classics Live I has gone platinum while Classics Live II has gone gold. Live album by Aerosmith Released April 1986 Recorded 1977–1983 Classics Live! is made up of concert recordings from 1978 and 1984. Some of the recordings include guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, who had temporarily replaced Joe Perry and Brad Whitford respectively. Different live versions of most of these songs had already been released on Live! Bootleg in 1978. Venues and dates are not listed on the sleeve, and there is only the all-encompassing and vague statement "These songs were recorded at various concerts between 1977 and 1983." It is not listed which of the four guitarists played on which tracks. The studio track "Major Barbra" was originally recorded for the album Get Your Wings but remained unreleased. An alternate version is available on the compilation, Pandora's Box. Track listing All Songs recorded at the Orpheum Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, February 14, 1984, except where noted. All tracks are written by Steven Tyler, except where noted. No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Train Kept A-Rollin'" Tiny Bradshaw, Lois Mann, Howard Kay 3:22 2. "Kings and Queens" (Boston Music Hall in Boston, MA March 28, 1978 and re-recorded. Original recording appears on the compilation Pandora's Box) Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Jack Douglas 4:46 3. "Sweet Emotion" (Huntington Civic Center, Huntington, WV, Dec. 12, 1982) Tyler, Hamilton 5:13 4. "Dream On" (Capital Center, Largo, MD, Nov. 9, 1978) 4:50 5. "Mama Kin" 3:41 6. "Three Mile Smile / Reefer Head Woman" Tyler, Joe Perry / Lester Melrose, J. Bennett, Jazz Gillum 4:54 7. "Lord of the Thighs" 7:05 8. "Major Barbra" (Studio Outtake) 4:02 Classics Live II Released June 1987 Recorded 1978–1986 Classics Live II Classics Live! II mainly features tracks recorded at a New Year's Eve show in 1984, with all five original members once again reunited. The other two tracks were the first track of 1985s Done with Mirrors, "Let the Music Do the Talking", and a rendition of 1977s "Draw the Line" from California Jam II. Aerosmith photography by Paul McAlpine Track listing All Songs recorded at the Orpheum Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, December 31, 1984, except where noted. All tracks are written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, except where noted. No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Back in the Saddle" 4:40 2. "Walk This Way" 4:21 3. "Movin' Out" 5:44 4. "Draw the Line" (California Jam Festival, Ontario Speedway, Ontario, CA, March 18, 1978) 4:46 5. "Same Old Song and Dance" 5:45 6. "Last Child" Tyler, Whitford 3:42 7. "Let the Music Do the Talking" (Worcester Centrum, Worcester, MA, March 12, 1986) Perry 5:44 8. "Toys in the Attic"
Classics Live I Some quick comments….. Train Kept A Rolling The song is rearranged as usual for the stage. The slower treatment of the riff section is gone, and I have a suspicion why they did this. I may be wrong, and it just has to do with the tempo and their desire to charge up the crowd. It would have been interesting to hear the guys attempt to replicate the solos on the studio version. 7/10 Kings and Queens The guitars sound great and same with the rhythm section but Steven gets a little pitchy here and there. NO big deal though. 7/10 Sweet Emotion Another decent version of the song. Joe and Brad really piledrive here but Joey sounds like he is trying to keep up. The harmonies are particularly good, and the coda is a real rave up. 8/10 Dream On A fine live version overall. Everyone turns in a satisfactory performance and the song is tight without any major screw ups. 8/10 Mama Kin Heavy version of this terrific song. Joe and Steven are cool on the harmonies as usual. Their vocals were a great combination. 8/10 Three Mile Smile/Reefer Head Woman The highlight of the album for me and the band is spot on throughout. Joe and Brad sound sharp with the changes. Same with Joey and Tom. The songs sound terrific back to back even though Reefer is truncated. Kind of like…yeah here is us with a complex arrangement song but we can play the blues as well. 9/10 Lord of the Thighs Well played all around IMO. Joe is fluid and snarly on slide. Some interesting changes to the rhythmic arrangement. Sounds more bluesy than the studio version due to Steven’s vocals. Brad plays an awesome solo. 9/10 Major Barbara An OK R and B song done in the cliché arpeggio style. Some surprising chords for R and B though. Get used to this sound and style…..it will show up later in their later albums. 7/10 I enjoy this album now and then. Some of the songs I skip though. There are great/killer versions of some of the songs that keep me coming back to it.
hate to bust your balls here but most of this album is rick/jimmy if the dates provided are correct. you can tell too the guitar tone and solo's are not joe/brad. i bolded the only songs joe/brad are on if the dates cited are corrected
By all means correct me. For some reason, I thought the only live songs with Jimmy and Richie were on II. But you are right, the dates are the evidence of who played guitar.
if most songs are really from early 1984 joe/brad rejoined mid 1984. to my ears the tone and style sound like jimmy/rick classics live II is all joe/brad
Aerosmith - Classics Live Complete This is ‘Classics Live! Complete’, both albums on one disc, a 1998 Euro/South African release according to discogs. I love it when record co.’s do something like this. It doesn’t sound any louder than the other ‘93 remasters, so I’m pretty sure it’s just a straight transfer of the ‘93 versions of I and II. I can remember checking the track timings compared to the individual discs to make sure nothing was edited out - all good. Again another great booklet in the style of the ‘93 remasters, and I think everything is present pictures-wise, (must check again ). I listen to this a lot more than ‘Live! Bootleg’, and I love the fact that Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay are featured on most of the first half of the album (i.e ‘Classics Live! I). It’s a great collection of songs, ‘Major Barbra’ does stick out a bit, being a studio recording, so I look on it as a cool bonus track. Produced by Paul O Neill, and w/Tony Bonjovi for ‘Major Barbra’. He did a nice job editing the shows together. Never heard of Paul O Neill, but I’m assuming the Tony guy is the same Tony Bongiovi guy who is credited on ‘Rock In A Hard Place’? Wonder how he ended up being drafted in to work on ‘Major Barbra’? Anyway, great live album from Boston’s finest - highly recommended, by me at least anyways .
Hare is the Classics Live 1 review from Allmusic - They give it 2 stars. Out of all Aerosmith's live albums released over the years (Live Bootleg, Classics Live! Vol. 2, etc.), 1986's Classics Live! is the least effective. The main reason it doesn't meet the high standards of their other in-concert releases is simple -- the band had little input in deciding the song selections and performances -- plus, it was released by their then-former label, Columbia, to cash in on the newly re-formed band's reunion tour. The majority of the tracks were taken from a show at the Orpheum Theater in February of 1984, while replacements Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay were still standing in for the departed Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, resulting in often lackluster performances. The song selection is also peculiar: instead of featuring songs previously unreleased as live versions, six of the eight selections were already included on the aforementioned Live Bootleg ("Dream On," "Train Kept a Rollin'," "Mama Kin," "Sweet Emotion," etc.). The underrated "Three Mile Smile" proves to be one of the album's few bright spots, while a studio outtake, "Major Barbra," from their 1973 self-titled debut album, is intriguing but hardly essential. Stick with the band's other live recordings. Here is the Classics Live 2 review from Allmusic. - They give this one 3 stars When Aerosmith got wind that their then-former record label, Columbia, was going to release a follow-up to the lifeless Classics Live!, the band wisely decided to get more involved this time around. The result is arguably the band's finest live album, even though it may be a bit short (not even 39 minutes in length). But the performances are vibrant and focused -- almost all were taken from the reunited lineup's New Year's Eve, 1984 gig at the Orpheum Theater. The only criticism is that, again, the majority of the tracks were already released as live versions (on 1978's Live Bootleg), and only three make their in-concert debut on record. Still, positively smoking versions of "Back in the Saddle," "Walk This Way," "Same Old Song and Dance," "Last Child," "Draw the Line," and "Toys in the Attic" rock out like no other Aerosmith live recording. The album's undisputed highlight is a fantastic rendition of the autobiographical early nugget "Movin' Out," as well as the title track from the Joe Perry Project's 1980 debut, Let the Music Do the Talking (which was subsequently re-recorded for Aerosmith's Done with Mirrors). Although Live Bootleg may contain more songs, the more succinct Classics Live! Vol. 2 succeeds with it's consistent, fiery performances. Just note that the cool live version of Kings and Queens from Vol. 1 also later appeared on the Pandora's Box 3 cd compilation set.
I found it interesting that for the most part, they avoided using outtakes from the Live Bootleg album for these releases. It is also interesting that they avoided using cuts from the Texxas Jam set on these. Vol. 2 is the better of the 2 in my opinion. I wish they would have included more songs which did not appear on Live Bootleg but I guess they wanted to include the hits so they would sell better. From Vol.1 It is cool to have the live versions of Kings And Queens and Three Mile Smile. Major Barbra feels a bit out of place here but at least it appears at the end. Much of this release features Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay rather than Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. From Vol.2 I am really glad they included the live version of Movin' Out. This is the highlight of the album for me. It was also nice to get a live version of Let The Music Do The Talking. They played both of these when I saw them live. A nice version of Same Old Song And Dance was another favorite which was included here and was omitted from Live Bootleg. I prefer most of the live versions of the songs here than the ones on Live Bootleg.
I'm listening to Classics Live right now, just started and enjoying it, will hopefully comment later after listening to both in full. But I was thinking, was the 1980 Greatest Hits album mentioned in this thread in sequence? I missed it maybe. That one was kinda big for me. We had that tape as kids and listened to it quite a bit. I doubt I'd really listen to it now, for not wanting to listen to edited/single versions of the tracks. I always thought "Come Together" was recorded specifically for that comp, but I just read it was part of the Sgt. Pepper's soundtrack. Makes sense, ha (totally unfamiliar with that whole thing except Alice Cooper's contribution). That song, this version and the Beatles version both, has never been a particular favorite, possibly due to overplay.
I always preferred the Live Bootleg version, but probably that was the first I heard and we played the hell out of that album. Also thought the liner notes for that track were cool about it being a top secret recording or gig.
some of the work for classics live was done in the 80's even "major barbara". Paul is a genius and worked with Savatage/Trans siberian orchestra. Tony is related to Jon Bon Jovi Paul O'Neill (producer) - Wikipedia Tony Bongiovi - Wikipedia
I saw the Sgt. Pepper movie on cable many years ago. It would be hard to imagine a worse movie. The performances of "Come Together" by Aerosmith and "Got to Get You Into My Life" by Earth, Wind & Fire are the only good things about it.
Listening to Classics Live II, specifically "Walk this Way", it also occurred to me I didn't remember any specific discussion in this thread about the Run DMC/Aerosmith version from 1986. Which obviously was a big part of Aerosmith coming back the way they did, right? I love hip hop as much as I love rock and metal. I never tire of that song, the two bands/groups are a perfect match, in my opinion. Obviously, the general public thought so too. I was wondering if the Classics Live albums came out as placeholders to keep the band in the public eye after the success of the Run DMC single, while waiting for Permanent Vacation---but the release dates on Wiki don't add up to that theory, with Classics Live 1 being released in April 1986 and "Walk this Way" being released in July.
Classics Live was a way for old management to cash in on the band's new album (Mirrors) and tour. The band had no idea it was coming out. Tyler complained that it sounded like he was singing in the Alps on Major Barbara because of all the vocal tracks they used on the intro. The did get involved with Classics Live II.
Well I'll get in first. Rap-rock started with this Walk This Way re-make and ended up with nu-metal. Therefore if this wasn't a hit, we'd have been spared the horrors of Limp Bizkt, Korn and their ilk. That's my hot take, and I'm sticking by it!
I share your distaste for Limp Bizkt, Korn et al; however, wasn't rap-rock started by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, and others two or three years earlier?
I mean, "Rapture" preceded all of that though. It doesn't really matter when or who first combined rock and rap, it was inevitable. Even if there was a direct line from "Walk this Way" to "Nookie", it still wouldn't matter. Along the way, in addition to Beastie Boys, there was also "Epic", "I'm the Man", "Bring the Noise", all the other guitar heavy Run DMC tracks, rap artists like KRS One heavily sampling RNR, Sir Mix A Lot's "Iron Man" with Metal Church, the Judgement Night soundtrack, The Biohazard/Onyx version of "Slam", and all these other things that make "rap rock" or whatever you want to call it existing, including Fred Durst, totally worth it. Ha.
Classic Live I and II Aside from these releases being Columbia cash-grabs at the time, they are worthwhile and rather under the radar releases after all these years. I sometimes forgot that we have the 2 "gems" in their catalog. It's rag-tag collection of random shows and nothing before 1977. Which I find strange as Live Bootleg covers mostly 77-78 (plus 2 live 73 tracks). It would've been nice to get something from 74-76 & 79-80 tours. Either way all of these are very good live versions of these songs. Dream On even had a video for it. 4/5 Also, Video Scrapbook was released on the heels of Classics Live II with participation from Aerosmith. Here are some live clips from the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZfZ8uWaOFI
