If you have been following me for a while now, you know that a lot of the inspiration for my weekly music listening comes from the half hour drive into work or home from work with my wife. This past week we were listening to some channel (I honestly don't even remember now) and the song "Dream On" by Aerosmith came on.
It seems like every time I hear this song, I am always surprised at how different Steven Tyler's voice sounds. It always makes me think "hey, I should go back and listen to some of their other stuff". So guess what, that is what I did this week.
Starting with their very first album from 1973 I worked my way forward to some of the stuff that everyone is more familiar with.
"Dream On" was on their self titled debut album and like I said, his voice is very different than what we have become familiar with. That is up until the end of the song with the repeating "Dream On". I feel like someone must have really liked what he did there and basically said, "just do that on every song". I say this because pretty much all of the albums after this one have more of that style we are used to. Anyway, let's dig in shall we?
I am going to start us off with Chiqita. It is from their 1979 album "Night in the Ruts". This is one of my buddies favorite Aerosmith songs. I honestly don't know why unless it is the killer opening guitar solo.
It is a really good song, it has a good grove and lots of great guitar work. The style is much more what many of us expect from Tyler on vocals.
Listening to a lot of this stuff through the week has made me realize that I might want to try and get my hands on some of the earlier Aerosmith albums on vinyl.
If you are only familiar with their current stuff, this is definitely a far cry from "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing". It has a lot of the feel that was iconic of the 70's ala Iron Butterfly.
As I was going through their catalog, one of the albums that really stood out to me was the 1987 album "Permanent Vacation". This actually really shocked me because it isn't one of the early 70's albums and it has the song "Dude Looks Like a Lady" on it. I really can't stand that song. It is probably my least favorite of all their stuff.
The rest of the album is pretty fantastic though. I mean, who doesn't like "Ragdoll" it is so iconic. If I were in a record store looking for some Aerosmith, this is probably one of the first records I would search for.
Clearly based on the video this is a recording of "Magic Touch" from a bit later in their career, but you can see the difference in the evolution of their music from the past vide to this one. While Chiquita definitely had that 70's feel, the 80's are very present in this one evoking in me thoughts of Van Halen.
Finally, I am going to fast forward a decade and leave you with one of my absolute favorite Aerosmith songs. Part of the reason I love this song is because of the video. It has that whole "Weird Science" vibe to it. Very reminiscent of 80's movies.
Second, the lyrics are just gut-wrenchingly amazing. One of my favorites is "Tell me how it feels to be, the one who turns the knife inside of me". The way Tyler sings it and the way it fits with the music is just masterful.
If you only familiar with the more recent big hits from Aerosmith, I definitely suggest you start at the beginning and work your way through. It is totally worth it.
Have you been listening to anything awesome this week? Let me know about it in the comments. Better yet, write your own post and use the #weeklyspins tag!
