Aerosmith - Right Key, Wrong Hole (1987)

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

Steve Hunter - ...and on guitar (2001)

Stephen John Hunter was born on 14 June 1948, and his first introduction to music was as a young child listening to country and western music on a Zenith console radio. When he was eight years old, he began taking guitar lessons on a Lap steel guitar after seeing Jerry Byrd play lap steel and hearing what could be done on the instrument, but inspired by the music of Chet Atkins, The Ventures and Duane Eddy, he eventually switched to standard guitar. He continued playing guitar throughout high school as a member of a group called The Weejuns, which took their name from G.H. Bass & Co.'s perennially-popular penny loafers, and he later joined The Light Brigade, a rock and soul group that played in the Decatur area. In 1967 Hunter was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War, and there he trained as an x-ray technician, ultimately serving at an air evacuation hospital in Okinawa, Japan where Vietnam combat casualties were being treated. He considered becoming a doctor but he enjoyed music so much he knew he would follow a career in music, which he did when he returned to Decatur after leaving the Army, building up a reputation as an outstanding guitar player. In 1971 his friend John Sauter called to tell him that he was playing with Mitch Ryder in Detroit and that Ryder was auditioning for guitar players, so he suggested that Hunter come to Detroit and try out. He packed up his guitar and made the eight-hour drive to Detroit, and after passing the audition he became part of Mitch Ryder's new band Detroit, where he met and formed a long-time professional association with producer Bob Ezrin. Detroit released one self-titled album on Paramount Records, but did have a hit single with Hunter's arrangement of Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll', and Reed was so impressed that he recruited Hunter to join his band, playing on 1973's 'Berlin'. In the 1970's he appeared on five Alice Cooper albums, all of which were produced by Ezrin, starting with the band's most successful album 'Billion Dollar Babies'. When Alice Cooper became a solo artist, Hunter followed and appeared on 1975's 'Welcome To My Nightmare', and can be seen in the film 'Welcome To My Nightmare', enacting the celebrated guitar face-off between him and Dick Wagner that formed part of Cooper's 1975 live show. In 1974 he played the uncredited opening-half solo on Aerosmith's 'Train Kept A Rollin' from 'Get Your Wings', after producer Jack Douglas popped his head out of Studio C and asked if Hunter felt like playing on the recording. Later that year Hunter played guitar on former Cream bassist Jack Bruce's solo album 'Out Of The Storm', and in 1977 he worked with Peter Gabriel on his first solo album, playing the intro to the classic single 'Solsbury Hill'. Other artists Hunter has worked with include David Lee Roth, Julian Lennon, Dr. John, Tracy Chapman and more recently Glen Campbell and 2Cellos. It was while recording Roth's 'A Little Ain't Enough' that Hunter met Jason Becker, and they've remained close friends ever since. He auditioned for and got the job of playing guitar on the soundtrack of the 1979 Bette Midler film 'The Rose', composing the instrumental 'Camelia', which is featured in the film. Hunter's first solo album, 1977's critically acclaimed 'Swept Away', reunited him with producer Bob Ezrin, and he's released a number of further solo albums since, but this collection showcases his guitar-work on other artist's albums, from the famous - Reed, Gabriel, Aerosmith - to the not so well-known but equally as interesting, like The H Factor, Jesse Camp, Angelo, and The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Detroit' by Detroit With Mitch Ryder 1972)
02 Sad Song (from 'Berlin' by Lou Reed 1973)
03 If We Only Had The Time (from 'Flo & Eddie' by Flo & Eddie 1973)
04 Timeslip (from 'Out Of The Storm' by Jack Bruce 1974)
05 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Get Your Wings' by Aerosmith 1974)
06 Some Folks (from 'Welcome To My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper 1975)
07 Back By The River (from 'Hollywood Be Thy Name' by Dr. John 1975)
08 Solsbury Hill (from 'Peter Gabriel' by Peter Gabriel 1977)      
09 Spaceman (from 'Randy Richards' by Randy Richards 1978)

Disc Two
01 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (from 'Midnight Prowl' by Angelo 1978) 
02 Small Town Boy (from 'Richard Wagner' by Richard Wagner 1978)
03 Danger Up Ahead (from 'Don't Look Back' by Natalie Cole 1980)
04 Whatever Will Be (from 'Wake 'Em Up In Tokyo' by Karla DeVito 1986)
05 Urban Strut (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
06 The Hurt Stays Home (from 'The H Factor' by The H Factor 1989) 
07 Saltwater (from 'Help Yourself' by Julian Lennon' 1991)
08 A Little Luck (from 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' by David Lee Roth 1994)
09 Meet Me In The Morning (from 'Perspective' by Jason Becker 1995)
10 Break It (from 'Jesse & The 8th Street Kidz' by Jesse Camp 1999)
11 Blade (from 'Walk Alone' by Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash 2001)

Thanks to Duane for the suggestion. 

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)