Right in the Nuts

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!)

Joe Perry – "Run Run Rudolph" (2014)

Hello Friends,

It seems even the guitarist from Aerosmith is getting in on the Christmas game.

What's next? A novelty coffee line by the band's drummer?

link

Oh, oops!  

It ain't easy livin' like a gypsy, tell ya honey how I feel

Aerosmith - "Live Bootleg" (1978) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

Tonight we've got a great double-live album on the turntable that captures one of the 1970's best hard rock bands at the height of their creative powers while in the the throes of drug addiction and overindulgence!  Sounds like a recipe for some great rock & roll!

Contrary to the LP's title, "Live Bootleg" is not a bootleg at all. Actually, it was kind of joke by the band and the record label to spoof the bootleg format which was usually plagued by bad photocopied artwork & really crappy sound quality!

Not only is Live Bootleg one of the 1970's best live records (its right up there with Alive!, Live at Budokan, Live at Leeds, If You Want Blood You've Got It and The Last Waltz), but it also would prove to be the high point in the band's career.  In our opinion, 1977's Draw the Line would be the last great, sleazy Aerosmith LP.  1979's Night in the Ruts isn't very good, 1982's Rock in a Hard Place is missing Joe Perry & 1985's Done With Mirrors is abysmal!  We all know the story how Aerosmith resurrected their career in the mid-80's thanks to MTV and Run DMC, but none of that stuff can hold a candle to their first five studio albums!

And unlike a lot of the other great live albums of this era, Live Bootleg captures the band at their most raw and strung out.  The album is not littered with polished-sounding overdubs or glossy production.  This is the band warts & all and by 1978 Aerosmith was a hot mess!  (And if you listen closely you can even hear some fans throwing M80's at the stage!  Apparently in the seventies, this was a "thing.")

The album begins, like most Aersomith shows in '77 & '78, with the sound of Norman Bates' knife music and kicks right into the opener, an amped-up version of the cowboy sex anthem, "Back in the Saddle".  

"Sweet Emotion" follows and then a sped up, seven minute version of "Lord of the Thighs". Side One ends with "Toys in the Attic" which, according to the liner notes, is a "folk song about the band's state of mind!"  Nice!

Side Two gives us "Last Child", "Walk this Way" and the underrated classic, "Sick As A Dog". It also contains a hard rocking cover of the Beatles' "Come Together" that the band would later record for the Sgt Pepper's movie.  Can't believe these guys didn't get more acting roles!

Side Three kicks off with the obligatory, "Dream On" followed by the bluesy, "Chip Away The Stone"-- the album's lone single as well as the only Aerosmith song on the LP that wasn't previously released on record!  There's a "nice and ratty" version of Draw The Line's "Sight for Sore Eyes" as well as great, great versions of "Mama Kin" and "S.O.S. (Too Bad)".

Side Four actually takes us back to two early recordings from a live performance at Pall's Mall in Boston in April 1973: the blues-standard, "I Ain't Got You" and a cover of James Brown's "Mother Popcorn".

If you look at the liner notes on the record you would not see the song, "Draw The Line", however in true bootleg fashion the song is included here in all its raucous glory!



The bad boys from beantown wrap things up with a rollicking version of The Yardbirds' "Train Kept A Rollin".  House lights come on and our ears are still ringing! But I just couldn't tell her so...

Live Bootleg is a fantastic listen from start to finish!  Capturing the band at their hardest, most cynical, strung out and sleazy! Even though the band would stick around and actually flourish over the next several decades, it's the band that you hear on this record album that's a reminder to what a great rock & roll band Aerosmith actually was!

RATING: 4.5 Keepin' Touch with Mama Kins out of 5

Workin' Like a Dog in a Rock-n-Roll Band

Hello Friends,

Break out the Boones Farm and the water beds!

Tiki T. here inviting you to step back in time to 1973.

We're steadily pulling out of Vietnam, Sanford and Son is on the tube, Bowie is causing gender confusion, Pink Floyd is blowing minds with the release of Dark Side, I can't shake this dang case of the crabs, and five sniveling punks from Boston have just released a no-frills record simply called Aerosmith.
We love this one on a hot summer night! It's full of garage-y goodness with sadly forgotten treasures all over the place. "One Way Street" is a bluesy Cajun rocker. "Movin' Out", the first song Joe Perry and Steven Tyler ever wrote together, is raw and spooky. The sound of the guitar and vocals dipping in and out a little reminds us that this is still a band steeped in low fi sincerity. After all, this is before the excessive bloat of 70s rock music kicks in and ruins everything.

And obviously you've got your classics on here that never tire. "Dream On" (though I'd be just fine to never hear it again), "Mama Kin" and the funky Rufus Thomas cover "Walkin' the Dog".

Always a party pleaser, this one is great to throw on when having friends over for late night drinks.

All and all, a definite "Must Have" on vinyl!
Rating:  4 Microphone Scarves out of a possible 5. 

You Asked For It!

Ferrante & Teicher - "You Asked For It!" (1966) - United Artists

Hello friends!

Our favorite dueling pianists are back with "You Asked for It!"-- a pretty straightforward living room lounge LP with lush arrangements and familiar cover songs. Not as experimentally-minded or exotic-sounding as some of their earlier records, but by the late 60's, lounge music became redundant and very vanilla.   

Their instrumental version of "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is pretty good, but how can you screw that song up?   Their original composition, the fast and frantic "Firebird" is probably the LP's highlight!  Glad to see the boys still have something in the tank.

Fun Fact: According to Stephen Davis in his book, Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith, frontman Steven Tyler states that Arthur Ferrante & Louis Teicher would practice playing piano at his grandmother's house in New York while they were students at the Julliard School of Music!

"You cats know 'My Big Ten Inch'?"

RATING:  2.5 spaghetti nights at Grandma Tallarico's out of 5