Sonic Waves….Aerosmith/Live Bootleg

 

Well how about a shout out to my all time fav live album- Live Bootleg from Aerosmith.

By the time I got around to getting Live Bootleg(summer of 1981) Joe Perry/Brad Whitford were gone and there was no press around for Aerosmith. I was hooked at the time on Joe Perry’s solo album I’ve Got The RockNRolls Again so shortly after I purchased Live Bootleg and what’s in these grooves of this double album was classics track after track! Also for reading pleasure I can say for the Sonic Wave history books that Live Bootleg is also Tbones fav live album also as we have had many a dicussions of its importance to our listening habits over the years. This album is the real deal!

Loved the packaging on Live Bootleg,pics,Gatefold sleeve,notes and places and dates of  where the songs were recorded,Aero bootlegging themselves!

So Steve,Joe,Brad,Tom & Joey thanks for kicking out the jams on this beauty of a live beast!

Let’s all hope aboard the Aero Express circa 78….

BACK IN THE SADDLE- I’MMMMMMM BAAAAAAAAAACK….a song everyone has heard a million times over but this one I love over the studio version. Aero is out of the starters box with a bang and man listen to the looseness of the guitars between Perry/Whitford. Basically it’s Aero 1978 smashing an thrashing about in your local saloon and the boys not knowing when to stop!

SWEET EMOTION- Joe yaps into his talk box and Steve takes over and man this song just rocks ,I mean Aero is putting down the gauntlet here. Second song in and it’s a take no prisoners approach here.

LORD OF THE THIGHS- smash,crash and as soon as Sweet Emotion ends Joey drives the Aero drums right into Lord Of The Thighs and for the next 7 plus minutes were gonna go on a Aero ride of  some good guitar jams some excellent Tylerisms like whack a,whacka, whacka ,whacka ahhhhh shit and than some fine drug induced(I’m sure) Maracca playing…….does it get any better than this???

TOYS IN THE ATTIC- yep it does get better…were into the Attic and this song is played at break neck  speed. Aero punches the gas to the floor or perhaps it’s there boot on your throat  and they ain’t letting u up!  Man this is a wicked crazy good version and I love how it ends, like yeah that’s it song over!

LAST CHILD- this song has some real cool Tyler lyics as so many do but he’s on fire here with this track. Whitford lays done some serious law on the guitar here and you can hear through the notes he’s  saying “hey the other guy might have the talk box but I got the guitar chops” hahaha…..

COME TOGETHER- this is a slop  assed so cool  cover of the Beatles song from that real crap film Aero did with Peter Frampton! Man these guys are gone on this. But you know what? Who cares….it’s Aero it’s meant to be played this way and for me as a young fella hearing this for the first time….I say Right on! But just say no to drugs! Except for Aerosmith,they make drug use seem cool!

WALK THIS WAY-out of the drug induced cool coma of Come Together comes the big hit of Aeros(up to that point) Walk This Way!  Joey sets the  tone and man he’s driving the bus at break neck speed . Holy Hell this live version compared to the studio version is on hyper drive. Perry nails the talk box and Tyler gets down on the muffin and well it’s Time to Walk This Way…she told ya too…….crazy good version,best live version I ever have heard!

SICK AS A DOG-just when you think you have heard cool before it’s wiped away with Sick As A Dog.  This is song reeks of cool man oh man I wore the grooves on this one out. It builds slow and than man Tyler has got to talk to you! Man he’s rocking the song big time. Seriously just close your eyes have a substance of choice(your deal)  and you can time machine yourself back and Aeros playing Sick As A Dog in front of you!

DREAM ON-ok I may have lied this may have been Aeros biggest hit up too that point (1978) and well what a monster track. I mean Aero knew back than knew how to do a ballad and they always put the ballads on the end of the record well on the earlier albums that was. Still this live version is a standout performance considering how loupe de loupe they were and a ton of street cred must be given to Tyler when he drops “MotherF*#ker comes back to you” sneakley! Atta boy Steve-o!

CHIP AWAY THE STONE- was I think a leftover that was lying around and the boys decided to put this out as the single for Live Bootleg. Cool track and if urban legend is concerned I think this may be Tbones fav song off of Live Bootleg or one of his fav Aero tunes of all time!

SIGHT FOR SORE EYES-is from the Draw The Line album and Aero is chugging along and by the end of it you can almost feel Tyler teetering on the edge of the stage singing the lines Sight For ,Sight For…..they almost TRAINWRECK this song but nope at the last minute they pull It back on course and Aero has saved the day(well the song that is)

MAMA KIN- when you think of trademark tunes of a band this Kin would be it! This is a total sleazed out 8 ball of a corker! Don’t believe me check it out!

SOS- man Aero just keeps on giving on surprises as they don’t play by the rules and put on those little hidden gems of songs and in this case it’s SOS from the Get Your Wings album. Great live version.

I AINT GOT YOU- ha Aeros says hey we got bootlegs of our shows so here’s one from 1973 from a place called Paul’s Mall! Listen to Tyler’s voice on this one as well the next he said he never felt comfortable with this style of singing so he changed it up to how we here him now. Cool little snapper of a tune!

MOTHER POPCORN- Aero hasn’t quite left Paul’s Mall and they crank into some Popcorn and throw down some sax courtesy of a Mr David Woodworth according to Steve and than he loses his shit vocally  at the 3/4 mark of the tune! Great raw sounding tune this one and I Ain’t Got You provide. We get to hear early Aero and my friends there is nothing wrong with that!

TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN/STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT- so let me give a little lesson hear on hidden Gems! See when I bought this back in 1981 one of my fav Aero Tunes was Draw The Line and I still remember the little wee minor of a letdown that song was not listed on the credits. So by the time I made it through all four sides of Live Bootleg and Mother Popcorn ends well you go from 20 people at Paul’s Mall back into the arena with 20,000 and what!!! it’s……

DRAW THE LINE- wow this totally blindsided me what a f’n A spectacular surprise. My fav song as the hidden track not listed anywhere but thank you for including it fellas! This is a firecracker of a song!

Now back to…

TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN- the boys are heading toward the finish line and man when it comes to Aerosmith the Train does indeed keep Rollin. The party ain’t stopping with Perry playing Strangers In The Night to close off the night festivities..

IN CONCLUSION- as far as live recordings go this one for me is the King of the live Heap so to speak! For all the bands that get raked over the coals for doctoring up live releases Live Bootleg I think has no doctoring whatsoever as Aero was probably to medicated to worry about fixin  uppin anything let alone a live album and for that…..

THANK YOUUUUUUU!