While on tour in 1979, Steve Tyler and Joe Perry had a heated exchange backstage at Cleveland Stadium, resulting in Perry quitting (or being fired from) Aerosmith, and in 1981 Brad Whitford also left the band during the recording of the 'Rock In A Hard Place' album. The band soldiered on with replacements Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, and although 'Rock In A Hard Place' wasn't a bad album, it's often considered one of the band's lesser releases as it didn't feature all five members of the original group. In 1984 Perry and Whitford saw Aerosmith perform at Boston's Orpheum Theater, leading to discussions to reintegrate the two into the band, and several months later the original members of Aerosmith officially reunited. In 1985 the reconstituted band released the album 'Done With Mirrors', and while it did receive some positive reviews, it didn't match the sales of their previous records, and it failed to produce a hit single or generate any widespread interest. With the much-anticipated reunion of the original Aerosmith line-up pretty much falling flat on its face, A&R guru John Kalodner capitalized on the runaway success of Run-D.M.C.'s cover of 'Walk This Way' and decided to draft in the day's top hired hands, including knob-twiddler extraordinaire Bruce Fairbairn and career-revitalizing song doctors Desmond Child and Jim Vallance. Together, they would help craft 1987's 'Permanent Vacation', the album which would reinvent Aerosmith as 80's and 90's superstars. Despite the mostly stellar songwriting, which makes it a strong effort overall, some of the album's nooks and crannies haven't aged all that well because of Fairbairn's overwrought production, featuring an exaggerated sleekness typical of most mid-80's pop-metal albums. However, radio gems like 'Rag Doll' and 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)' remain largely unassailable from a "delivering the goods" perspective, and other tracks like the earthy voodoo blues of 'St. John' and the excellent hobo-harmonica fable of 'Hangman Jury' are Aerosmith at their best. With the inclusion of the additional songwriters, there was an abundance of material that was available to be considered for inclusion on the finished album, and when the final twelve songs were chosen, there were a number of recordings left over - enough in fact to compile a companion album to 'Permanent Vacation', so here are the best of those out-takes from the 1987 sessions.
Track listing
01 Got To Find A Way
02 Feel The Pain
03 Right Key, Wrong Hole
04 Hollywood
05 Funky Thing
06 Once Is Never Enough
07 Sleepy Sickness
08 Samurai
09 Walking On Danger Street
Thank you, I really like the 'Perminant Vacation' album, so this will be interesting to hear. Though 'Pump' is better, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI consider Done With Mirrors the last great Aerosmith album. A return to form after the last two album in my opinion. Some good songs after that but not much tickled my ears and found the albums spotty. For me Aerosmth at their best was raw and dirty, the slick and shiny just didn't feel right. Still love them though but more in a nostalgia way.
ReplyDeleteWasn't "Love Me Like a Bird Dog" another leftover from these sessions?
ReplyDeleteThere were a few other tracks from the same sessions that I didn't include, but probably not enough for another album.
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