Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford has discussed the hiring of ‘ghost guitarists’ Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on the band’s second album, 1974’s Get Your Wings. Whitford says the session players, best known for their roles with Alice Cooper, were brought in by producer Jack Douglas to add guitar to certain tracks, with Steve Hunter’s solo on Train Kept A-Rollin becoming the stuff of legend. Whitford clarifies that Hunter also played on S.O.S. (Too Bad) and says Same Old Song and Dance “was Dick, too” and in a direct contradiction to popular myth (or, at least, Wikipedia) he notes, “I don’t think I made it onto Lord of the Thighs, either.”
Get Your Wings is my favorite followed by Rocks. Toys In The Attic rounds out what I consider to be Aerosmith’s big three. As for their post 70s output, Pump is easily the best thing they did. (IMHO, of course.)
Rocks is my favourite but if I was going to start someone off with the band I would likely recommend Toys in the Attic. The first four are essential, a significant drop-off in quality after that.
Start with the first. Great four album run... then maybe find another band. (Oh yeah and live bootleg!!)
Toys In the Attic to me is their best album. And I am one of those that likes the post-85 stuff just as much as the pre-85 stuff. That being said, their first four studio albums is an untouchable run. Honorable mention would go to Rocks, Pump, and then Get a Grip. By the way, Done with Mirrors > Permanent Vacation. There, I said it.
If it were me I'd start with Rocks, followed by Toys In The Attic, Night In The Ruts, Get Your Wings and Draw The Line. Then I'd jump ahead to Done With Mirrors. Hope this helps. If you're previewing their albums on iTunes (or a similar service), you're doing in one day what took us years to do, so have fun!
Hard to argue against Rocks and then Toys, but Draw The Line is great, unhinged rock and Rock In A Hard Place is weirdly fabulous. Live Bootleg is a gem, and Aerosmith, Get Your Wings, Mirrors and Ruts have mostly great tunes. As people say, get Box of Fire and add Mirrors and you're good.
Yep, my "Rocks" original pressing has the textured cover as well. - The QUESTION that has never been answered IS: Why do some covers say Rocks and some say "Rocks"?
Personally I love their first two albums the most. They seemed much more organic and unforced on those albums. They started getting jokey with Toys in the Attic. Toys in the Attic and Rocks are both solid albums, though. They were an automatic purchase for me through Draw the Line. After that things got dicey of course.
I second this. Rocks and Toys are sides of a coin, the two high water marks of the band at their sleazy peak. Pump is the best thing they did as a reimagined commercial enterprise, before starting a long decline, and even though it sounds like I'm damning with faint praise here, it's actually very good. Certainly the best taste of their second era.
The J. Geils Band are also from Boston, as are Tony Williams and other great players in other genres.
