Aerosmith - "Night in the Ruts" (1979) - Columbia Records
Hello Friends,
An oft-overlooked Aerosmith record from '79 when the band was strung out on pretty much anything and everything. Definitely not as coked-out sounding as their 1977 album, Draw the Line, but definitely not capturing a band at the height of their rock & roll powers. The band basically fell apart in the middle of recording Night in the Ruts with their next LP, A Rock and A Hard Place, missing both Joe Perry and Brad Whitford.
That being said, Ruts isn't all that bad. In fact, it has a handful gems that could have been Aerosmith greatest hits, including the hard-rocking opening track, the autobiographical "No Surprize", and the closing track, "Mia"-- a haunting ballad not too far removed from the great "Seasons of Wither" from 1974's Get Your Wings. "Three Mile Smile" and "Chiquita" are pretty great rockers too. Not big fans of the album's lone single, "Remember (Walking In the Sand)" or even their cover of an obscure Yardbyrds' tune, "Think About It".
Musically, the album holds up pretty well, its just that for the most part a lot of the songs sound as if they're being mailed in. (This is also the first album since their debut record without longtime producer, Jack Douglas, so there's that to consider as well.)
We like this record because it does a good job of capturing one of the great acts of the sleazy 70's coming apart at the seams and who doesn't love a good trainwreck? Still I'd take average-sounding late 70's Aerosmith over anything they've done in the decades to follow. And you can quote me on that*!
RATING: 3.5 Coney Island Whitefish out of 5
(* Please don't quote me on that!)
An oft-overlooked Aerosmith record from '79 when the band was strung out on pretty much anything and everything. Definitely not as coked-out sounding as their 1977 album, Draw the Line, but definitely not capturing a band at the height of their rock & roll powers. The band basically fell apart in the middle of recording Night in the Ruts with their next LP, A Rock and A Hard Place, missing both Joe Perry and Brad Whitford.
That being said, Ruts isn't all that bad. In fact, it has a handful gems that could have been Aerosmith greatest hits, including the hard-rocking opening track, the autobiographical "No Surprize", and the closing track, "Mia"-- a haunting ballad not too far removed from the great "Seasons of Wither" from 1974's Get Your Wings. "Three Mile Smile" and "Chiquita" are pretty great rockers too. Not big fans of the album's lone single, "Remember (Walking In the Sand)" or even their cover of an obscure Yardbyrds' tune, "Think About It".
Musically, the album holds up pretty well, its just that for the most part a lot of the songs sound as if they're being mailed in. (This is also the first album since their debut record without longtime producer, Jack Douglas, so there's that to consider as well.)
We like this record because it does a good job of capturing one of the great acts of the sleazy 70's coming apart at the seams and who doesn't love a good trainwreck? Still I'd take average-sounding late 70's Aerosmith over anything they've done in the decades to follow. And you can quote me on that*!
RATING: 3.5 Coney Island Whitefish out of 5
(* Please don't quote me on that!)
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