Joe Perry: Let The Music Do The Talking(1980)

 

Can you think of another artist who quit a band and releases two brilliant solo albums and a third solo album which is a turd(we won’t go there) than rejoining there main bread and butter earner until a few years later?

Well, if your Joe Perry than that is the case! I reviewed Joe’s excellent second solo album I’ve Got The Rock N Rolls Again(1981) Actually I have reviewed it twice. One of the first albums I tackled when I started this blog and when I reacquired that album on vinyl it hit me as an Impact Album in my world!

Recently I came across Joe’s debut  Let The Music Do The Talking on vinyl and it was a quick addition to the collection!

Give Joe credit man as back in the early 80’s he splits from one of the biggest arena stadium bands in the world in Aerosmith and goes solo!

I’m sure the Suits at the record company were not pleased but what can you do when 5 stoned guys in a band basically break up over spilled milk!

So here’s Joe taking his guitar and putting together a new rock combo and bam here’s the debut!

Joe assembled for this debut an ass kicker of a band consisting of Lead Singer Ralph Morman. Drummer Ronnie Stewart and Bassist David Hull.

Let The Music Do The Talking ( redone by Aerosmith(Done With Mirrors) in 1985 when Joe returned to the band with Steven Tyler changing the lyrics!) leads off the charge and Joe slip n slides all over the neck of the guitar and Joe and the Boys just let it rip right out of the gate!  Basically, this album is just that. Live and fun! Rock N Raw!

Joe handles 4 of the lead vocals on this album and as well enlisted Aerosmith Producer Jack Douglas to produce as well.

Basically, Joe summed up this album best in his autobiography Rocks from a few months back

“Let the Music Do the Talking” – the title track – spoke for itself. It was just how I was feeling. I didn’t need to talk. Didn’t need to explain how much I wanted to be on my own timetable, free to work at my own speed, which was pretty fast. “Conflict of Interest” was inspired by my feelings about the shady side of the record business. I was going straight back to my roots, as demonstrated by the R&B-heavy “Rockin’ Train.” Songs like “Life at a Glance” and “Ready on the Firing Line” were constructed around riffs that had been bouncing around my brain for months

Joe doesn’t fool about amongst the albums 9 tracks. If guitar driven riff rock is up your alley then you might as well spend 36 minutes of your time listening to how it’s supposed to be done!