After a shock collaboration with Yungblud saw Aerosmith releasing their first new music in 13 years, the Boston boys are back in the saddle (of sorts) as they treat their hit-and-miss debut album to a new remaster.
Speaking of the project, Joe Perry has taken a look back at the band that released the record, how its writing provided them with a steep learning curve, and why he wasn’t sold on its reissue at first.
Released in 1973, their self-titled debut was far from the roaring success they had hoped for. Sure, power ballad "Dream On" and gritty rocker "Mama Kin" have stood the test of time, but the rest have rarely found their way onto Aerosmith setlists over the intervening years. As the band’s success has grown, particularly since the breakthrough record Toys in the Attic, most of the LP has been largely forgotten. But Perry sees it as an important step in the band’s journey.
“We were trying to find our place, what our goals were, what our options were,” he tells Billboard. “We were learning how to write together and play together. We were listening to all of the incredible second-wave English bands; there wasn’t much going on in America at the time, for our ears. All the power was coming from the English bands, so we were drawing on that.”
Key influences included the Rolling Stones and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. But there were also lesser-known acts, like Mick Abrahams' post-Jethro Tull group, Blodwyn Pig, which was a particular reference point for "Mama Kin". He's openly admitted to stealing the opening lick from their song, "See My Way", with the track written on an acoustic guitar that drummer Joey Kramer allegedly found in the trash, beaten and without strings.
Their song origins reflected the band at that point: finding their feet and leaning heavily on the groups that got their blood pumping in the first place.
“Considering everything, I think that the record pretty much does what it’s supposed to do,” Perry says. “I can remember putting [headphones] on and listening to the first song, and I took ’em off, and I shook my head. When you’re in the middle of it, you do it piece by piece. Then, when you start to hear it finished, it’s like…‘Holy shit! I’m glad we did this.’”
The same can be said of “Dream On,” a ballad Tyler had been working on for a long time, with Perry initially deeming it second-rate. He only cared for songs with “energy and excitement.” But, as was the case with refreshing their debut (again), Perry had his arm twisted.
“I was like, ‘Do we need to do this?’ because we’d put out remastered [versions of the album] before, and I never really noticed all that much difference,” the guitarist quips. “But this was different; going in and actually getting to listen to the multi-tracks… it was great to hear it on modern equipment. When everything was translated down to the vinyl [in 1973] it didn’t sound the same as when you’re standing in the room with the band. But these remixes sound like that to me. It’s the same record, the same performances, but it opens it up.”
The drum sound, a point of derision for Perry, has also been given some extra magic, but the album set their career back.
Their second album, Get Your Wings (1974), which featured a guest solo from Steve Hunter, also disappointed commercially. Toys in the Attic (1975), which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, had to be the band’s saving grace, or they were facing being dropped by their label.
"People had heard of us, but we were still playing clubs,” Perry reflects. "We were these underdogs that still had to prove ourselves.”
