Friday, December 21, 2012

Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic

Every great Rock band has that album that's pretty much a perfect ten. I've covered one or two of them already in past reviews. Well, I feel safe in also calling Toys In The Attic a perfect ten as well, and the only reason I would want to trash on it is due to how commercially successful this album was. However, when you release an amazing Rock album it's going to sell well.

I should mention that some of the individual song reviews were previously published, at least in part, in my review of Pandora's Box (10/05/12).

Let's start with the albums title track, which kicks off the album. This has always been one of my favourite Aerosmith songs. It is everything that kick ass Rock should be. It's fast, aggressive, poetic, and reaking of all kinds of attitude. Not to mention the boogie and drive. It's just fantastic.

Uncle Salty is slick, grimey, and very thought provoking for a song released in 1975. These first two verses are pretty bone cuttingly honest for the time. "Uncle Salty told me stories of a lonely / baby with a lonely kind of life to lead / my mammy was lusted, Daddy he was busted / they left her to be trusted till the orphan bleeds / but when she cried at night, no one came / and when she cried at night, went insane / Uncle Salty told me when she was just a baby / that she'd get by and maybe someday she'd see / but soon she found her mother's love for all the others / the pushers and the shovers was the life to lead / but when she cried at night, no one came / and when she cried at night, went insane".

Adam's Apple has this great swagger and groove that's totally sexy, and raw, and pure in an honest musician sort of way. The music in this song just makes me want to get my groove on. It's so much fun. I also consider this one of the weakest songs on the album, which says something about the album itself.

At this point we move on to Aerosmith's most popular songs, Walk This Way. Chances are you know it, and if you don't go Youtube it. Then hang your head in shame, and pray to God for forgiveness. If you want more on the subject, this is what I've preveriously written. "Walk This Way was the very first radio friendly rap song. Not the the Run DMC version either. I'm talking about the original Steven Tyler highspeed, rhyming, and sliding, totally rap like poetry, that is spewed out over one of the most recognizable riffs of all time."

Big Ten Inch is one of those songs, that has one of those lines, that alway get's people up in arms. There's a a line that goes, "'Cept (except) on my big ten inch" and everyone hears "Suck on my big ten inch". Tyler has always claimed that he says the first version of the line, and the second is just people's dirty minds.

Next is Sweet Emotion. The only Aerosmith song almost as popular as Walk This Way. The funny part about this song is that it became more popular as a single release for the Pandora's Box box set, than it was in it's original release.

When it comes to No More No More I can't make up my mind. Part of me likes the song. Especially when it goes into the "Baby I'm a screamer / Bound to a wife in marriage / Baby, I'm a dreamer / Found my horse and carriage", or the various variations of that line. I love the change up that happens, and the sweet honesty you can hear coming from Steven's voice. However, at points I find the song a bit basic, and kind of flat for Aerosmith.

Round and Round is excellently written and arranged. It has that feel you get from the more musically developed epic songs that Aerosmith use to make. This isn't anywhere near as good as songs like Kings And Queens or Seasons Of Wither, but it's still a decent song.

I really like the prettiness of You See Me Crying, but I don't care for the fact it's a slow ballad approach. This is what would later become the format of almost every radio hit they released in the 90's. This was Crazy, Amazing, Cryin', twenty years early. Which makes me very biased against this song.

The reality is that even the songs I don't care for, or just don't turn my crank, are still really good songs. This is one of the great Rock albums. A must have in any collection.

10/10 - content

10/10 - production

10/10 - personal bias

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