Aerosmith - Rocks

This was my first and for a long time only Aerosmith album. Growing up my older cousin Jeff had an 8-track copy of Toys in the Attic, and that album was a greatest hits album on its own. However, as a kid my record buying was sporadic and my small collection was played to death. I got Rocks in 1979 (I love how I can remember this, but I will forget to buy eggs when I'm out shopping) at the thrift store where I got my comics and Robert A. Heinlein paperbacks. They didn't have a lot of records, but I did find a copy of the Beatles White Album on white vinyl, the first two Prism albums, April Wine Live, and Rocks. Probably all in the same year - I lost them all to water damage, but have replaced most of them - although I'll likely never find that Beatles album, and if I did couldn't afford it. I almost bought Tour of Japan by Teaze several times ... but never did. I recently picked it up, and it is the shit! I should have bought it as a kid.

Back on topic ... So here was Rocks, and although the album was a few years old when I first heard it, it was sweet nectar to my young ears. It's funny, I must have played it dozens of times but listening to it now for the first time in decades, I'm surprised at how little I actually remembered outside of the two big songs "Back in Saddle" and "Last Child" everything felt new to me.

It's a weird experience to rediscover things with the added benefit of knowing more about the band now than I did then. All of the Mick and Keith dynamic duo comparisons applied to Steven and Joe as the American saviours of rock and swagger seemed to be all anyone could focus on. It didn't help that they were the guys who wrote the big songs. On Rocks the dynamic duo wrote four of the nine songs, including "Back in the Saddle" but it was Steven's ability to work with the rest of the band that really meshed things together. From guitarist Brad Whitford to bassist Tom Hamilton, Mr. Tyler helped craft great songs that showcased the band as a collective unit, except for poor Joey Kramer who had to be content driving the beat. His work is really tasty and I suspect he never gets enough credit for how he serviced the songs.

Then there's Mister Whitford, you know the other guitar player in the band. The guy always seemed to play second fiddle to Joe Perry, mainly because Joe was more prolific and as such was at the forefront. He who is in the credits, gets the credit. However, it's only been in recent years where I've gained a greater appreciation for Brad's playing. The internet is full of a lot of wonderful tidbits and over time people have gleaned who played which solo where and this was something I would have loved to know when I was a kid. I still remember loving that Styx included on the liner notes to Pieces of Eight whether it was Tommy or J.Y. who tracked the solo on a song. 

It's kind of weird to think that by the time Aerosmith dropped their fourth album they were already looking to get back to their raw roots. The songs were indeed brash loud and raw, and the band was living large. While Rocks sold half of what Toys in the Attic sold, it was by no means considered a dud. Four million copes of is still a lot of albums. Although with their subsequent releases album sales would wane, their albums were still going platinum and gold, feat any band would kill to achieve. They never went away. Although I stopped paying attention after this album and I never kept up with the band, the band was far from done and would experience an unprecedented second act starting with their 1987 release Permanent Vacation. Suddenly the Bad Boys from Boston were back on top kicking ass and taking names.

As for Rocks to me this is as good as it gets. While I will freely admit that my sense of object permanence was a bit stunted at first, it didn't take more that a couple of spins to remember the songs. Yeah, Aerosmith Rocks.