Celebrating
45 years in the saddle, it’s Aerosmith’s 4th studio album, Rocks,
released on May 14th 1976. After the breakout success of Toys in the
Attic the previous year, which spawned the iconic hits, Sweet Emotion
and Walk This way, the band were looking to secure their position on the
top of the hard rock heap and Rocks was more than capable of
accomplishing that goal.
The album was created at a time when
the indulgences of the band’s “rock ’n’ roll lifestyle” were still
offering creative inspiration, before the substance abuse began to take
its toll, both creatively and personally. It’s that fine line where the
debauchery hasn’t quite caused the band’s artistic vision to become too
blurry. Given that they were still a relatively young band, their
stamina was such that the excessive indulgences were fodder for
expression. That wouldn’t always be the case though, but they sure did
make the most of the good times for this album.
The album was
produced utilizing the Record Plant’s mobile recording truck, which was
backed into Aerosmith’s Waltham, Massachusetts warehouse space,
affectionately known as the “Wherehouse”. This gave the band the
freedom to focus on their songwriting and, as a result, the album
benefits from input from all the members, more so that on previous
albums. They were able to submerge themselves into the process and ride
the wave of indulgence while producing a tight, hard rocking record
that kept plenty of edge and avoided over indulgences, at least
musically. For many hard rock fans, Rocks represents Aerosmith at their
peak and it has been repeatedly cited as an influence by countless
performers over the years, and deservedly so.
Rocks was one of
the first records I ever bought when I was just beginning to collect
vinyl back in 1976. It may have been among the first half dozen or so
LPs I ever bought, so it’s got a long history with me. At the time that
I first bought it, it wasn’t one of my favorite albums, although the
opening bluster of Back In the Saddle was always able to get my head
bobbing. However, the band were soon to start losing their footing
after the rousing success of Rocks. The follow-up, Draw the Line, had a
killer title track, but the rest of the album came across as
halfhearted compared to the previous two albums and things would only
get worse in the next few years for the band. Of course they’d make a
massive comeback in the 1980s with monster top 10 hits, but I had long
since moved onto more challenging music and had no interest in 80's
power ballads. For me, Toys in the Attic and Rocks (and the title track
from Draw the Line) are all the Aerosmith I need.
