Done With Mirrors on The Lebrain Train. Live Tonight @7pm EST

So tonight on Mike LeBrain’s live stream we are joined by Tbone and  are going to be throwing it down with Mikey in regards to the “Done With Mirrors” album by Aerosmith.

A record that is highly regarded by both myself and TBone in a song by song online breakdown of each track in which I’m sure it will be a hoot.

Me and Tbone love this album…

Mikey, well here’s his feeling’s about it…

mikeladano

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 AT 7:12 AM 

2/5 stars from me. I like about 2 songs. She’s on Fire and Let the Music do the Talking.

How about another comment..

mikeladano

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 AT 6:49 PM

I don’t necessarily think this album is all that ugly, myself. But to me it sounds unfinished like a demo. I also think the big problem is, song for song, it’s not as good as any of the first five Aerosmiths.

Ouch sez dEke…

What is more concerning now is that on Mikey’s Livestream a  few Friday’s back  Mikey told the world on video in a lead into tonights stream that he only likes one song from Done With Mirrors!

Houston! We got a problem! 

Yet when Mikey reviewed DWM’s back in 2015 here is his comment and score.

“Compared to, say, Pump, Done With Mirrors doesn’t fare too well.  Letting it stand on its own and just enjoying it as a batch of rockers, it’s actually not as bad as I remembered.  Maybe all these years I just haven’t been letting it in.”

I’d say somewhere between 3.5 – 4/5 stars.

Than recently as last Friday January 29th Mikey sent this message to Tbone..

Haha. Whut? Now how’s that for a build up?  Easy on the ‘Barf!” Tbone tell’s him! lol

With Tbone becoming a huge factor in our world of blogging I thought it would be fun to bring Uncle Meat and Mr Kevin along to meet Tbone instead of having to talk to the Tbone Paper Plate! (When Tbone comes back on again down the road it would be cool to have Mr Books and The Snowman on to meet him as well)

I thought by having both MEAT and Kev on it would be good for Mikey as shit could go south quickly as we don’t want to get accused of Live Stream Bullying. lol

So tonight at 7pm. Hit up Mike LeBrain on Youtube and watch us hammer It down with some good conversation and some great laughs!

Here’s my spin on DWM’s that I wrote back in 2014…

 

 Dateline 1985…

 Me and TBone are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Aero album “Done With Mirrors”. This is big news in Thunder Bay (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(1982) but Brad and Joe were not on it but Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay were good subs for a few years.

So when word hit the street that in 85 there was gonna be a new studio opus we were pumped!

Done With Mirrors hit the deck in November of that year and  maybe just maybe Aerosmith would save the day for all of us hard rockers cause now the big empire Van Halen was hidden away in the foothills of LA,  Rothless, so who was gonna carry the hard rock battalion now?

Well sure enough Aerosmith would right?

Well, kinda,  not in those years from 85-87 until Aerosmith shot to the top with “Permanent Vacation” in late 87 but were getting ahead here. “Done With Mirrors” came out floundered around up and down the charts and sank quicker than TBone shotgunning a six pack!

What the hell happened?

Aero enlisted Ted Templeman to produce and we all know who he had produced (Van Halen)so we were kinda shocked to learn that the album did not do well and they cancelled 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 and  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  Joey 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 that they decided not to sober up until after this release!

THE REASON A DOG- Ends side one and holy shit how time has flown. 4 songs in and 4 classics hatched! Once again Tyler at his lyrical best! Kinda neat how during the middle of the song it builds with a bit of Aero-snyth thrown in but they do not overcook it by drowning in a cess pool of Journey like Cain gunk.

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. No pun intended.

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 seem… Um 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”  Steve was indeed talking to me and TBone!

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!