A break from politics….which really busted up my music appreciation summer…and back to the catalog of Aerosmith.
Aerosmith – Draw the Line – 1977 (Buy it)
I’ve listened to this record twice now. Once at a coffee shop and again on a ride home. Both times I had a dramatic response.
The first track, “Draw the Line” had a familiarity about it, an aggression and jaunty and sexy sludge ride of classic rock. The production was flat and boring and ugly as the rest of what I heard of the album. And that’s the problem. I ‘phased out’ each time. I can’t tell you what song was what after the title track. The whole endeavor sounds like it was recorded by people whose audio sensitivity might been compromised, perhaps drugs, perhaps alcohol. But I DON’T REMEMBER any of the rest of this album.
When I phased back in on occasion I wouldn’t hate what I was hearing but, damnit, I can’t remember any of it.
Maybe “Sight for Sore Eyes” has some familiarity factor, be it that the song has been played on classic rock or it just sounds like 20 other Aerosmith tracks.
This is a sad record. No one seems to be all that interested in being here.
Least of all me.
Grade D
A Side: Draw the Line
BlindSide: The Hand that Feeds (which sounds like it was written and recorded right after Draw the Line and nobody remember that they had mined this territory already.
Downside: Get it Up. (Really? Very mature, guys.)
