Halfway through the Aerosmith catalog we finally reach the ’80s……
Aerosmith – Rock in a Hard Place – 1982 (buy it)
Joe Perry takes his big licks and leaves the band for his own form of superstardom. Anyone remember The Joe Perry Project? Yeah, yeah, but do you own the music? Didn’t think so.
Then Brad Whitford leaves and takes HIS riffs with him somewhere during the making of this album.
Not a very auspicious beginning to the new decade for Tyler, et al.
Now, to be fair, the ’80s were a difficult time for big, loud rock. Sure, AC/DC’s Back in Black was a monster but that was the end of the era. By the time this album came out, we had already dealt with Punk, New Wave and the cresting of an R&B avalanche on the horizon. I don’t think there really was a place for this record to begin with.
Not that Aerosmith has ever really broken any real ground, anyway.
All that said, Rock in a Hard Place is easily the band’s best work since Rocks.
It’s pretty generic stuff, but it isn’t as crass as some of the last work. It’s dirty (Jailbait) and, at times, experimental (Prelude to Joanie & Joanie’s Butterfly), and it’s got something that the last two records didn’t: A need to prove itself. Tyler and the boys don’t fully succeed on that level, but they get damned close. “Bolivian Ragamuffin” & “Lightning Strikes” are closer to form than they band has been in about a half decade. In fact, I would put Bolivian in the top 20 of the band’s tracks….so far.
There are the tired and rote attempts at big band blooze, like the title track and, more so, the closer, “Push Comes to Shove”, which both fail but are nowhere near the abortion that is the band’s cover of “Cry Me A River”.
All told, Rock in a Hard Place is no Rocks but it’s not the worst thing I’ve heard from the band, or from most bands, actually.
Grade: B
A Side: Lightning Strikes
BlindSide: Jailbait, Bolivian Ragamuffin, Bitches Brew & the Joanie Suite
DownSide: Cry Me A River. Yipes.
