AEROSMITH - DRAW THE LINE @ 45

 

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the release of Aerosmith’s fifth studio LP, Draw the Line, which was issued on December 9th, 1977. In many ways, it represented the end of the band’s “classic” early era and ushers in their entrance into a dark phase of their career before becoming ‘80s chart toppers a few years later.

At the time the album was recorded, the band were deeply submerged in the mire of drug abuse and this resulted in a markedly compromised level of productivity in the studio. Joe Perry confessed in the band memoir, Walk This Way, "We were drug addicts dabbling in music, rather than musicians dabbling in drugs.” It signaled the beginning of the end for his relationship with the band at that time, a situation which would soon mean his departure from the fold for many years before returning.

Recording of the album took place at The Cenacle in Armonk, New York, which was a sprawling 300 room former convent suggested by the band’s manager in the hopes that the location would help to keep them sober by virtue of its isolation. That strategy proved to be completely ineffective, however, given the fact that, as Steven Tyler later recalled, "Drugs can be imported, …we have our resources. Dealers deliver! Hiding us away… was a prescription for total lunacy." The band’s front men, Tyler and Perry, were so overtaken by their drug indulgences that they simply didn’t care much about what happened with the album, opening up the door for others to contribute a lot more than they had done on previous records. Perry again recalls:

“A lot of people had input into that record because Steven and I had stopped giving a fuck. "Draw the Line," "I Want To Know Why," and "Get It Up" were the only things Steven and I wrote together. Tom, Joey and Steven came up with "Kings and Queens," and Brad played rhythm and lead. Brad and Steven wrote "The Hand That Feeds," which I didn't even play on because I'd stayed in bed the day they recorded it and Brad played great on it anyway.”

The band’s producer, Jack Douglas, offers this insight:

“So I started Draw the Line, and for a while gave it my all. But because they were half-hearted about the record, I was too. Steven wasn't writing at all. The lyrics to "Critical Mass" came from a dream I had at the Cenacle. I never expected Steven to record it, but he didn't have anything else, so he used my lyrics as written. Same with "Kings and Queens." Steven and I wrote the lyrics together, which was like pulling teeth.”

The resulting album was uneven, to say the least. It was trashed by many in the music press. Billy Altman of Rolling Stone called the LP "a truly horrendous record, chaotic to the point of malfunction and with an almost impenetrably dense sound adding to the confusion." Robert Christgau considered the album the product of a band "out of gas”. I bought the record when it came out and it was the last Aerosmith LP I’d ever spend my coin on. However, the title track is still my all time favorite Aerosmith song, hands down. What made me love the band’s early works was their ability to nail the most distinctive riffs and the hook for Draw the Line was so furious and piercing, with that killer slide slicing through the mix, it gave me chills every time I put it on. It was the last incredibly flash of brilliance the band would ever muster, in my opinion. The top ten hits they’d produce throughout the ‘80s were no more than mainstream power pop to my ears and nowhere near the savage intensity of this song.