Aerosmith 'Rocks' - the first punk-dub album?

the production is insane (Jack Duoglas!!!?!!?!?!)

just so dubbet out and trippy and HEAVY ... my

god

also Joe Perry. and Joe was COMBINING SUCK ASA DOG on the ASA SUCK COMBINING; --- probly is, he and Steven forgot the name

Like a busted watch. Reliably so twice a day.

"Rats in the Cellar" is still Killer.

Aerosmith was the band that really got me into music.

Youtube? I have not looked yet but will now. but yeah, Comibation is totally the keystone cut on this record for me ... maybe the best Aerosmith track EVER

the double-tracked, vaguely-psychedelic vocals all across this thing are pure bliss

Before the Dark Times.
Before the Empire.
Before "Get A Grip"

I think the "funk" that we all love in Aerosmith ("Last Child", "Get it Up", "Sight For Sore Eyes", etc.) totally would not be there with out him. and i listen to "Sick As A Dog", and I love the way Joey does that little roll just as the first chorus comes in..

-- John Darnielle (edito...), April 14th, 2002

i mean, soooooo otm

that was the first appearance of "Chip Away the Stone", right? jeez, what a great tune that is, too.

I love the fact that these guys were such huge Yarbirds fans too. that says it all. From the "Think About It" cover ... to, well, I think there is some Yardbirds cover on that Pandoras box, right? i think so. soemthing like that. i don't have it but probably should get it..

it featured Duff, before she got sick and starred in movies and/or TV Nation

Man, I yearn for the day when that entire show (from '73 or thereabouts) is released.

Can't believe you've never owned "Live Bootleg", Stormy! It's never gotten a lot of praise but it's my single favourite 'smith release. "Toys In The Attic" "Train Kept a'Rollin" and "Lord Of The Thighs", all in "blazing renditions", as they say.

what the fuck is Tyler doing with his voice on "Nobody's Fault"? weird. he was kind of awesomely intelligent back in the day.

Furthermore,their last twenty years of pop schlock material penned by hacks like Desmond Child completely cancels out whatever musical good the US Stones did in the 70s.

oh, c'mon you can find punk, funk, metal or whatever in anything if you look hard enough. chuck eddy's made a career out of this!

Funny thing, I don't feel this when I'm listening to Rocks or a Night in the Ruts super fuckin; loud. Yes, modern Aerosmith sux but nothing can diminish just how good they were for a good chunk of the '70s.

I've been on a big Peter Green-era Mac kick, and I realized that Aerosmith were really influenced by them.

Yeah, Aerosmith really was a logical extension of the late-60s british blues boom, with some street funk thrown in to the mix.

And then I can just picture little Westerberg and Malkmus listening to this and going "oh yeah".

Sick As A Dog? C'mon. What is going on there?

Name a funkier heavy guitar band than Aerosmith? Are you frigging kidding me?

How about P-Funk for starters. Cosmic Slop is 1,000,000 times heavier or funkier than the former bad boys from beantown ever were.

Also, Hamilton's bass playing is underrated. His work is exceptional on this record (as well as on "Toys in the Attic")

The banjo's on 'Last Child' but mixed way low in the 'home sweet home' bits, it sounds a little like a voice. And it's played with a slide, just to confuse things a little more.

Never properly listened to 'Rocks' until I replayed it today and it just clicked - whatever was going up their nose back them sure did come out in some kick ass songs ...

might as well

question: is this thread the origin-point of the intense display of fanship on ILX for 70s Aeromsith?

those mini guitar solos in "nobody's fault" are so frickin badass.

I just had that going through my head the other day. Which is weird because I've only heard it a few times.

listening on headphones the other night I discovered all this crazy shit going on just underthe music during "Back in the Saddle". Nice work Jack Douglas.

Back when I used to listen to headphones on a regular basis, this was one of my fave albums to do it with. There's a lot of creepy stuff going on that you miss w/out 'phones, esp. in Saddle, yeah.

There's no other record in their catalog that has a production as murky, as layered, or as rich. I mean murky in a good way, too.

listening to this right now for 70s rawk poll, Perry's leads (which fade in and out of the mix) sound a little like Fripp on Scary Monsters

Perry's leads on "Rats in the Cellar", I mean

ah my favorite thread title

otm

okay Nobody's Fault slams

those little guitar accents in "last child"

and "rats in the cellar"! all those screaming guitar noises just barely escaping the mix

Drugs - I knew you'd like it.

note how the drums mutate into a walking fleet of giants at the end of "combination"

this is the best album ever

otm

A reminder: This album more than makes up for 30 years of shit Aerosmith.

favorite ilx thread title

I spent most of December listening to "Lick and a Promise."

i'd have said "favorite ilx thread" but the other rocks thread has a lot of incredible posts

yes, this album is some kind of formal breakthrough.

it's a very strange mix of the textures being so shambolic that it feels like it is going to break down into musical chaos at any minute, and yet all the parts are held in what repeated listenings reveal to be a very precise balance. it's kind of perfect example of a certain paradox of hard rock and metal, which is that many of the greatest and most paradigmatic examples of a music whose ethos is all about chaos, haggardness, a kind of studied macho indifference, can in fact be the result of considerable expertise, care, and attention to detail.

^^^^^^^^ hell yeah

love this album. combination is my jam

ragin'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hplDR4TPGTM

Sick as a dog, um, cat got your tongue
Sick as a dog, you'll be sorry
Sick as a dog, 'cause you really ain't so young

that houston show is just peak awesomeness. those guitars....man oh man. everyone sounds great. punk-dub echo on the vocals sound so cool. epic funky lord of the thighs.

amateurist otm

the guitar solos on "nobody's fault"... hell "nobody's fault" on its own is just ridiculous. and "sick as a dog" is punk as fuck, imo

i think i said this in the other rocks thread but imo you can hear r.e.m. being born in "sick as a dog"

R.E.M. actually covered 'Toys In The Attic'!

Yeah, this album rules and this band were totally on fire in the '70s... that they didn't end up really getting much commercial success here in the UK until their best years were long behind them will always have me scratching my head.

I think I'm gonna play this album really loudly when I get home today

that houston show made my morning. i was almost late for work. so cool. i never really listen to aerosmith anymore. they are kinda just a part of my dna thanks to years of exposure. my brother worshipped them.

my brother went to this show. it was the rock event of his summer.

http://theconcertdatabase.com/sites/theconcertdatabase.com/files/1978-08-06.jpg

Not cheap!

Seriously, I don't see a date on that poster, but that's mid '80s pricing, not '70s pricing. (Woulda been a hell of a show, though.)

1978

yeah, '78. my dad took him. but would my dad take me to see maiden and priest in new haven in 1982? noooooooooo.....

Just lost an evening to that '77 show upthread.

like what IS that thing at the end of "Back in the Saddle"? Apparently a 27-string bass, could just as well be a tuba or an exploding meth lab.