Aerosmith “Aerosmith”

sfilzen — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 19:24:44 +0000

Aerosmith “Aerosmith” released 50 years ago today, January 5th, 1973. Aerosmith’s debut s/t record. Our copy certainly looks about 50 years old but it is not the first pressing (the song “Walkin’ the Dog” – originally by Rufus Thomas in ’63 – was misprinted as “Walkin’ the Dig” on the first pressings and ours is correctly printed). It is most likely a second pressing since it has the original cover art. The third pressings of Aerosmith after the success “Dream On” had bigger photograph of the band with the text “Featuring ‘Dream On'” on the cover. The single “Dream On” was first released in 1973 and went to #59 (though it was huge in the local Boston market) but then went to #6 in 1976 in its edited down form. That track is really the only song I know from this record, and it’s the only song that actually sounds like Steven Tyler. The rest have his voice really subdued. From Tyler’s autobiography via Wiki: “”The band was very uptight. We were so nervous that when the red recording light came on we froze. We were scared shitless. I changed my voice into the Muppet, Kermit the Frog, to sound more like a blues singer.” “One Way Street” has some glimpse into Tyler’s true range and shriek, and the track “Movin’ Out” is a really great gritty blues rocker, but the rest of the record is kind of meh.

Aerosmith took a few years to really gain traction. It received mostly negative reviews, from those who bothered to review it, upon its release in ’73. After “Dream On” the album went to #21 and since has gone well over double platinum.

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Run DMC “Raising Hell”

sfilzen — Tue, 16 May 2017 17:16:52 +0000

Run DMC “Raising Hell” released on yesterday’s date, May 15th, 1986. Profile Records. This LP, Run DMC’s third studio album, is a new acquisition: I received it for Mother’s Day on Sunday but I’ve had a cassette of Raising Hell since the fall of ‘86 (and it’s further evidence of a lifetime of odd musical pairings as apparently I thought Charlie Sexton’s Pictures for Pleasure would make a good B-side).

Raising Hell was, of course, a significant development in popular music history. Run DMC’s collaboration with Aerosmith on “Walk This Way” on the recommendation of album producer Rick Rubin was brilliant and ridiculously popular, becoming the first rap song to crack the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and helped resurrect Aerosmith. Raising Hell was the first rap album to hit #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B album chart and it peaked at #6 on the Billboard album chart. Run DMC released three other singles from the LP besides “Walk This Way” – “You Be Illin’” which hit #29, “It’s Tricky” went to #57 (and still one of my faves) and “My Adidas” which failed to chart on the main US charts but did manage to teach a generation how to incorrectly pronounce Adidas – it isn’t pronounced ah-DEE-duhs; it’s AH-dih-dahs.

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aerosmith Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Aerosmith “Aerosmith”

Run DMC “Raising Hell”