SONIC WAVES….Aerosmith/Done With Mirrors

1985…so me and TBone are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Aero album Done With Mirrors. This is big news in Tbay (well for me and him) as when we first got into Aerosmith Perry /Whitford were gone and were blessed though in the meantime with a very good Aero record in Rock In A Hard Place, it wasn’t the original fella’s!

So when word hit the street that in 85 there was gonna be a new studio opus we were pumped! So when Done With Mirrors hit the deck in November maybe just maybe Aerosmith would save the day for all of us hard rockers cause now the big empire VH was hidden away in the foothills of LA,  Rothless, and hey who was gonna carry the hard rock battalion now?

Well sure enough Aerosmith would right? Well, kinda, sorta not in those years from 85-87 until Aerosmith shot to the top with Permanent Vacation but were getting ahead here. Done With Mirrors came out floundered around up and down the charts and sank quicker than TBone doing a tequila shot!

What the hell happened? Aero enlisted Ted Templeman to produce and we all know who he had produced (VH)so we were kinda shocked to learn that the album did not do well and they canceled there Duluth appearance as well(1986)not due to tickets but due to someone being sick?? (take your pick) Who knows what the deal was but for me and TBone, this album cooked liked a batch of Tyler’s Bitches Brew mixed with a dose of Perry’s I’ve Got The Rock n Rolls Again…and you know what we loved this record. It was raw, sloppy, and the songs were downright slimy!

Let’s check on the Aeroboys as there headed down a One Way Street into oncoming traffic…

LET THE MUSIC DO THE TALKING-Bam out of the gate. Ol Joe and his slide guitar are at work here and Aero is playing quicker than a jet taking off of a runway! As any fan knows this is a remake version from Perry’s solo album 5 yrs earlier (1980) but Steve-o changed the lyrics for this version. This album opener is off to a rocking start!

MY FIST YOUR FACE- Perry/Whitford kick it off and Kramer drums it into the wall with some ass-kicking beats. Lyrically and vocally Tyler is at the top of his game here and we’re only on track two! The only guy that can make the line “Whacha pissing in the wind for” sound mega cool! Actually, all the lyrics on this track are some of my fave Tylerisms ever!

SHAME ON YOU- slows the pace down to that sleazy, sloppy jam that we all love from Aerosmith! Aerosmith 1985 is beyond stoned! But beyond stoned here is a real good thing for these guys! Glad they did not sober up on this release!

THE REASON A DOG- ends side one and wow holy shit how time has flown. 4 songs in and 4 classics hatched! Once again Tyler at his lyrical best! Man, he could craft lyrics! Kinda neat how during the middle of the song it builds with a bit of Aero-snyth thrown in but not overdone!

SHELA-starts off with Kramer on the hi-hats and he’s joined by the Aeros and they cook this number, catchy verse catchy chorus. Catchy everything. Just love the rawness of this. No polish!

GYPSY BOOTS- this one is a corker of a rocker. This is the boys not fooling around. Tyler is sharing the mic with Perry and Perry’s trying to keep up! The guitars are blazing along with the drums. This is Aero going 120 mph in a 40 mph zone….these guys cannot drive 55 if their lives depended on it. They manage to keep it on the rails though….

SHE’S ON FIRE-reminds me of a head-on collision between Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin. Check out the acoustic slide guitar action and Kramers drums just kick it along.  Great tempo, great song!  Aerosmith makes being doped up in the recording studio seems, Ummm cool!

THE HOP-is The end of the album jam. Like they threw it together in 5 minutes but Aero putting a song together in 5 minutes some bands can’t put together a cool anything ever! Plus Steve-o says it best at the end ” cause you’ll be kicking ass tonight with the boys in Aerosmith” yes Steve you were talking to me and TBone!

IN CONCLUSION-this is 36 minutes of classic Aerorock in my book! Man, we played this over and over. Laughed at everything being backward in the credits. If your going to get cleaned up in rehab at least check-in after one more bender! Aerosmith made that promise with Done With Mirrors!