Aerosmith - The Aerosmithsonian Archive (1981)

When I was going through my heavy rock phase in the mid to late 70's Aerosmith could always be relied on to produce some great hard and heavy rock albums. 'Rocks' was my first experience of the band, followed by 'Toys In The Attic' and 'Draw The Line', and they were one of the best heavy metal/hard rock groups around at the time. I never really considered them the sort of band who would record extra songs during their sessions, which would then be filed away and forgotten, as they seemed like the sort of band who'd go into the studio, bash out the songs in one take and then get back on the road while the producer sorted out what to do with them. So it was something of a surprise to find a number of rare and unheard songs on their 'Pandora's Box' 3-CD hits and rarities set, and even better was the fact that when you extracted all these from the box set there was exactly enough to make a 42 minute album. They seemed to do most of their extra recordings between 1977 and 1979, but there are a couple of nice takes from 1973 and 1975, and the most recent is from 1981, so all in all this is a good collection of previously unreleased songs from the early years of one of the best hard rock bands of the period. I'll be the first to admit that I can see why some of these didn't make the final cut, but they're still at least worth a listen. 

Track listing

01 On The Road Again (from the 'Aerosmith' sessions 1973)
02 Major Barbara (previously unreleased studio version)
03 Helter Skelter (from the 'Toys In The Attic' sessions 1975)
04 Soul Saver (from the 'Toys In The Attic' sessions 1975)
05 All Your Love (previously unreleased 1977)
06 Circle Jerk (from the 'Draw The Line' sessions 1977)
07 Come Together (from the 'Sgt. Peppers.....' soundtrack album 1978)
08 Krawhitham (from the 'Draw The Line' sessions 1977)
09 Shit House Shuffle (previously unreleased)
10 Subway (from the 'Draw The Line' sessions 1977)
11 Downtown Charlie (from the 'Night In The Ruts' sessions 1979)
12 Let It Slide (early version of 'Cheese Cake' from the 'Night In The Ruts' sessions 1979)
13 Riff & Roll (from the 'Rock In A Hard Place' sessions 1981)