ALBUM REVIEW: Aerosmith - Aerosmith

    The story of Aerosmith is largely the story of Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, or rather the story of their bands. Tyler's own band, Chain Reaction, had played at the same gig as Perry's Jam Band, quite literally named "Joe Perry's Jam Band". Very original. Steven loved the sound of the group and proposed combining both the bands, but only if he could become the frontman and lead singer, presumably tired from being a drummer in Chain Reaction. Tyler's conditions were met, and thus the classic line-up was solidified; Steven Tyler on vocals, Joe Perry on lead, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer on bass and drums respectively, and Ray Tabano on rhythm guitar.. until Tabano was fired and replaced with one Brad Whitford. There we go. Much time would pass between their first gig on 6 November 1970 and the eventual release of their debut in January of 1973, and it's evident that their time playing various gigs helped to iron out what is ultimately a tight-knit, fast playing rock and roll group with a healthy touch of blues. It's this musical efficiency that ultimately helps guide Aerosmith's self-titled debut through the finish line, backed up by just enough memorable doses of heavy-hitting rockers to help one justify the 36-minute runtime. If nothing else, Aerosmith is at least an assured first outing.

     The actual best element of Aerosmith is the band's ability itself, and the real stars on this debut are lead guitarist Joe Perry and drummer Joey Kramer; together, these two help to shape the album's backbone and its more colorful, vibrant identities. For what it's worth, Kramer is an incredibly solid drummer, undoubtedly rooted in the same kind of sensible blues rock drumming of a group like The Yardbirds or Rolling Stones, and gifted with a sense of playing the song rather than the instrument. Similarly, Joe Perry's guitar work proves itself fairly versatile throughout this album, and his lack of overwhelming flashiness benefits his playing more than anything. I hesitate to call his guitar work completely subtle, but it's evident from the intricate and gentle guitar line on the eternal "Dream On" or the rational blues work on the preceding "Somebody" that Perry is, if nothing else, a reasonable player, similarly gifted to playing with the mood rather than going ham on the guitar. That isn't to say that he doesn't let loose at all, best seen on the penultimate "Movin' Out", which might as well serve as the ultimate display of his ability, paired with a dynamic composition that finds itself rising and descending. Really, every musician on this album gets their own chance to shine, be it Tom Hamilton's thumping bass on Side B opening "Mama Kin", the BÖC-adjacent opener "Make It" with a generally punching rhythm guitar from Brad Whitford, and of course, Steven Tyler's vocals. Admittedly, Tyler's proclivity to oversinging sometimes shoots material in the foot (exhibit A: side-closer "One Way Street"), but other times this oversinging actually makes the material more memorable (exhibit B: that ridiculous falsetto during "Dream On"). Tyler is probably the most hit-or-miss member of the group on this debut, but given that he can still carry songs like "Somebody" or an amazing cover of "Walkin' the Dog" to the finish line, I'd say he could be much worse.

    Really, two things hold this debut back more than anything, and Steven Tyler isn't either of them, at least not in his performances—weak songs and weak production. For the latter, we have Adrian Barber to blame for this, a rather accomplished sound engineer and previous producer of the Allman Brothers Band debut. Clearly someone who knows their stuff, but I often found his work on this album to show an album that usually lacks bite. Something tells me that if the entire album managed to have the same vitality as "Make It", it would've been much better off. It will probably not surprise you that Aerosmith turned to Jack Douglas, the sound engineer for Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls, to produce their next album. Then, there's the more overtly weak material. Steven Tyler writes virtually all of this album by himself, save for the "Walkin' the Dog" cover and "Movin' Out", which bares a co-write from Joe Perry. Unfortunately, more than a few songs end up bleeding into one another, not helped by a couple songs suffering from Wild Life Syndrome. The real offender here is "One Way Street", which has the audacity to not only go on too long, but also be backed with some of Tyler's worst vocals on record and some blues music that's so stale it's practically rotten. I don't know if I can fully blame Adrian Barber's production job for that, but it doesn't surprise me that the two parties apparently had very little chemistry—any producer working well with a group would've rightfully told them to leave such drivel off the album.

    It doesn't surprise me that this album did very little when it first released, either—the album topped out at 166 on the Billboard 200 initially. Even the now iconic "Dream On" didn't do better than 59 on the Hot 100, and Aerosmith's career was genuinely in rocky territory. By their next album, though, Aerosmith had achieved a remarkable level of growth, both musically and commercially. In hindsight, Aerosmith isn't a failure of a debut in the sense that it effectively introduces the group and their style, no holds bared. In time, the issues on this album would be eventually ironed out, and the band would find themselves far more warranting of the following they would eventually mass. As it is, though, anyone but fans won't be converted by this album, and the fact that "Dream On" is seemingly the only song regularly still appearing on Aerosmith compilations is probably more telling than any score I could give this record. That being said...

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Aerosmith.