One key - a marked difference between the songs. The band avoids pretensions and the result is one that is simply better than most acts of this type. Lead singer Steven Tyler is among the best of rock's singer/screamers. And, though they are not great lyrically (sounding, indeed, like a latter-day Black Sabbath at times), the energy level of the music and the skill in the instrumental work more than makeup for any lyrical shortcomings. Very basic stuff, but far better material than the average heavy rock group. Quintet has followed a formula of basic rock and has quietly sneaked up to become one of the major concert attractions and record selling acts in the country.
Joel (Milton) Vance, Stereo Review, 11/76.
You'll agree that Aerosmith have blew it. No more substantial than the hiss of fizz
Souvenir feathers from, when they've hit the ground.Īnd in meantime youth will hunt another sound. I greatly fear they'll be a bird to pluck So it has been before, and will be again.īut what of Aerosmith when childhood ends? Great thumping drums and vocals howled, not sung Should be the current heroes of the young: On red-hot hits played o'er the local station, Worshipping radio's instant gratification,ĭelight to munch with puberty's sweet tooth Aerosmith may have their hard-rock wings, but they won't truly fly until their inventiveness catches up to their fast-maturing professionalism. The material is Rocks' major flaw, mostly pale remakes of their earlier hits, notably "Dream On," a first-album ballad that helped make the complete Aerosmith catalog gold. Unlike Jagger, his vocal performance cannot save otherwise mediocre material. On the riff-dominated songs, though, such as "Last Child" or "Back in the Saddle," he is prone to shrieks that don't bear repetition. On the rockers, his delivery is polished and commanding and sufficiently enthusiastic to disguise the general innnocuousness of the lyrics. Steven Tyler is the band's obvious focal point, a distinction earned primarily by his adaptation of the sexual stance that missed the young Jack Flash. The songs have all the band's trademarks and while they can be accused of neither profundity nor originality, Aerosmith's stylized hard-rock image and sound pack a high-energy punch most other heavy metal bands lack. This initially hides the fact that the best performances here - "Lick and a Promise," "Sick as a Dog" and "Rats in the Cellar" - are essentially remakes of the highlights of the relatively flat Toys in the Attic. The guitar riffs and Steven Tyler's catlike voice fairly jump out of the speakers. The most winning aspect of Rocks is that ace metal producer Jack Douglas and the band (listed as coproducers for the first time) have returned to the ear-boxing sound that made their second album, Get Your Wings, their best. While the band has achieved phenomenal commercial success, their fourth album fails to prove that they can grow and innovate as their models did. If you're a teen of the Seventies, they are likely to be the flashiest hard-rock band you've ever seen. If your hard-rock tastes were honed in the Sixties, as this band's obviously were, Aerosmith is a polished echo of Yardbirds' guitar rock liberally spiced with the Stones' sexual swagger. Whether or not Rocks is hot depends on your vantage point.