On November 4, 1985, Aerosmith attempted a comeback with the first album for Geffen Records (overall eighth studio album) but met with a mixed bag of rocks. The plus side the return of guitarists of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford who both respectively left in 1979 and 1981. Don’t get me wrong I really like the band but it’s tough as I must deliver a fair review – no favorites.
Image Credit: Getty Images
The lead off song “Let the Music Do the Talking” was originally from Joe Perry Project band’s first album; but was reworked for Aerosmith with changes to the lyrics and tone. I have heard both versions and it really depends on your taste which one is preferred. “The Reason a Dog” has been harshly judged over time, it is a playful dirty minded track, folks just need to stop with the thin skin attitudes. It does have teasing rock-blues melody that feels it should come from more of bar band than the eighth album of Aerosmith. “Shela” doesn’t do a thing for me it feels it belongs on someone’s else album, the tone is off-beat, hence and easy to skip it. Now, “Gypsy Boots” starts a bit slow, but quickly ratchets into gear it has that classic AC/DC feel, that pulls the listener back to the reason why I really like the band. At 2:20 it returns to slow pace of the opening riffs and does it a few more times though in between the songs rips well. Gotta say the early vinyl edition included the bluesy track called “She’s on Fire” and fast groove song that sounds a bit like The Rolling Stones influence for “The Hop”, with more blues layering. The CD version of then concluded with the song “Darkness”.
For the purest the original artwork was all backwards and only readable if held to a mirror, the remastered version reverses this experimental design which served as a suggestion of laying out lines of coke to sort off a mirror in the classic style of then.
Track List:
Let the Music Do the Talking
My Fist Your Face
Shame on You
The Reason a Dog
Shela
Gypsy Boots
She’s on Fire
The Hop
Darkness
Aerosmith Band Members:
Steven Tyler – lead vocals, piano, harmonica, percussion
Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
Brad Whitford – guitar, acoustic guitar
Tom Hamilton – bass guitar
Joey Kramer – drums, percussion
So where does the album wobble off the path? Well, I think it starts as a redone version of Joe’s five-year-old track, right there is all seems misguided in the direction they really wanted. It has gotten more love over the decades, but I still find it as an album with 50% enjoyable songs and the rest lacking.
Vincent Rating: 3.5/5.0
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