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JennYBlast From The Past Vol. 1 - Part I: Aerosmith - Rock in a Hard Place Album Review
August 2nd 2008 03:17
Welcome to the first edition of Blast From The Past. In this monthly column, we'll post three (sometimes four) reviews of albums that came out a long time ago. This month, we'll cover three very different musical genres by revisiting Aerosmith's Rock in a Hard Place, Michael Jackson's Ben, and N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. We'll begin with Aerosmith whose Rock in a Hard Place was released 24 years ago.
Release date: August 1, 1982
Genre: Hard rock
Length: 40:16
Label: Columbia
Released in 1982, Rock in a Hard Place is the seventh studio album by Aerosmith. Led by Steven Tyler's unmistakable voice, it swings between heavy metal, hard rock, and soft rock without any sense of purpose and direction almost as if the band had lost its identity. To see what I mean, read up this track-by-track review of Rock in a Hard Place.
The first track of the album is Jailbait, a fast-tempo song reminiscent of Iron Maiden's work. The listener gets treated to Tyler's trademark scream (which sounds like a screech to me) right at the 10-second mark as if to signal his return. Every two line ends with the world “jailbait,” something that makes the songwriting seem a bit lazy, but you stop noticing it after a couple of listens.
The lyrics and general feel of Lightning Strikes seem to breach into AC/DC's territory as Tyler tries to sound tough and/or dangerous. The problem is, the man behind the mic doesn't really match the lyrics' image, so the song seems a bit fake.
On Bitch's Brew, Steven Tyler's singing seems completely improvised as he can't settle into a clear pattern of notes for the end of his lines. The ordinary instrumental combined with the average singing makes this song the weakest of the album.
Bolivian Ragamuffin is next and this time, it's the guitar's turn to improvise as every verse gets followed by a mini-solo. Thankfully, the guitar saves the song from oblivion thanks to a decent solo towards the end. The song even sounds better after a couple of listens.
Cry Me A River slows down the tempo of the album almost to a screeching halt. It's the kind of song you would hear from a live band in a dark and smoky bar, not a rock 'n' roll band. By the title, you can easily guess that it's a love song.
Prelude To Joanie is a simple interlude with Tyler's synthetized voice speaking.
Joanie's Butterfly is the album's seventh track and is probably one of its best. At first listen, it seemed like the band was confused by that point and were simply putting everything together in an effort to sound good, but I found that the song has a nice structure, starting with an acoustic guitar and finishing into a full-fledged rock song with an electric guitar.
Like Jailbait, Rock in a Hard Place (Ceshire Cat) has Tyler and the guitar sharing the same rhythm. However, Ceshire Cat's instrumental is much more better than Jailbait's.
Finally, Jig Is Up and Push Comes To Shove bring the originality that I was looking for. To the casual listener, the two songs probably sound like any rock song airing on the radio, but to me, both songs have that extra something that makes them Aerosmith songs. Maybe it's Push Comes To Shove's harmonica or maybe it's the fact that the two tracks don't sound anything like metal giants AC/DC and Iron Maiden. Whatever it is, that was probably what I was looking for in a Aerosmith record.
So, in conclusion, the problem with Rock in a Hard Place isn't that it has bad songs - in fact, none of the songs are really “bad” - it's just that several tracks have a sound that's similar to other bands; bands who are better at making those songs. Furthermore, Steven Tyler tries to do too much with his singing instead of keeping it basic. Aerosmith fans might want to buy this album but you're better off listening to the bands they're trying to emulate. I give this record a 2.75/5.
[Click here for Part II: Michael Jackson - Ben]
Release date: August 1, 1982
Genre: Hard rock
Length: 40:16
Label: Columbia
Released in 1982, Rock in a Hard Place is the seventh studio album by Aerosmith. Led by Steven Tyler's unmistakable voice, it swings between heavy metal, hard rock, and soft rock without any sense of purpose and direction almost as if the band had lost its identity. To see what I mean, read up this track-by-track review of Rock in a Hard Place.
The first track of the album is Jailbait, a fast-tempo song reminiscent of Iron Maiden's work. The listener gets treated to Tyler's trademark scream (which sounds like a screech to me) right at the 10-second mark as if to signal his return. Every two line ends with the world “jailbait,” something that makes the songwriting seem a bit lazy, but you stop noticing it after a couple of listens.
The lyrics and general feel of Lightning Strikes seem to breach into AC/DC's territory as Tyler tries to sound tough and/or dangerous. The problem is, the man behind the mic doesn't really match the lyrics' image, so the song seems a bit fake.
Lightning Strikes music video
On Bitch's Brew, Steven Tyler's singing seems completely improvised as he can't settle into a clear pattern of notes for the end of his lines. The ordinary instrumental combined with the average singing makes this song the weakest of the album.
Bolivian Ragamuffin is next and this time, it's the guitar's turn to improvise as every verse gets followed by a mini-solo. Thankfully, the guitar saves the song from oblivion thanks to a decent solo towards the end. The song even sounds better after a couple of listens.
Cry Me A River slows down the tempo of the album almost to a screeching halt. It's the kind of song you would hear from a live band in a dark and smoky bar, not a rock 'n' roll band. By the title, you can easily guess that it's a love song.
Prelude To Joanie is a simple interlude with Tyler's synthetized voice speaking.
Joanie's Butterfly is the album's seventh track and is probably one of its best. At first listen, it seemed like the band was confused by that point and were simply putting everything together in an effort to sound good, but I found that the song has a nice structure, starting with an acoustic guitar and finishing into a full-fledged rock song with an electric guitar.
Like Jailbait, Rock in a Hard Place (Ceshire Cat) has Tyler and the guitar sharing the same rhythm. However, Ceshire Cat's instrumental is much more better than Jailbait's.
Finally, Jig Is Up and Push Comes To Shove bring the originality that I was looking for. To the casual listener, the two songs probably sound like any rock song airing on the radio, but to me, both songs have that extra something that makes them Aerosmith songs. Maybe it's Push Comes To Shove's harmonica or maybe it's the fact that the two tracks don't sound anything like metal giants AC/DC and Iron Maiden. Whatever it is, that was probably what I was looking for in a Aerosmith record.
So, in conclusion, the problem with Rock in a Hard Place isn't that it has bad songs - in fact, none of the songs are really “bad” - it's just that several tracks have a sound that's similar to other bands; bands who are better at making those songs. Furthermore, Steven Tyler tries to do too much with his singing instead of keeping it basic. Aerosmith fans might want to buy this album but you're better off listening to the bands they're trying to emulate. I give this record a 2.75/5.
[Click here for Part II: Michael Jackson - Ben]
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Comment by Jarrah
Back to the Eighties
No Joe Perry= no Aerosmith, simple as that.
Comment by Ann 2
Muzikal Mafia
Canadiens Watch
Football Slate
Yeah, I noticed people don't really like this album. It shows you how influential one member of a band can be.
Thanks for stopping by.