Aerosmith (sometimes erroneously referred to as Make It after the album's first track) is the debut studio album by the American rock band Aerosmith, released on January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records. "Dream On", originally released as a single in 1973, became an American top ten hit when re-released on December 27, 1975. The album peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 album chart in 1976.
Background
After entering a partnership with Frank Connelly, David Krebs and Steve Leber invited members of two record labelsAtlantic Records and Columbia Recordsto view an Aerosmith concert at Max's Kansas City. Clive Davis, the president of Columbia, was impressed with the band and Aerosmith signed with Columbia in the summer of 1972.
Although lead singer Steven Tyler had been in several previous groups, most of the band members had never been in a studio before. The band was heavily influenced by many of the British blues/rock bands of the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Yardbirds, and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
Composition
The album's songs were largely written by Tyler, as, at that stage, the other band members were not interested. Tyler explained in a 1998 interview that he had written "Dream On" three or four years earlier, but had not felt confident with the result; but he decided he could write songs after going through the writing process for the album, during which he would write during the night, and then wake the rest of the band in the morning to play the songs to them on the piano." Tyler continues in his memoir: "'Route 66' was our Stones mantra, a way of finding our groove. It was the riff I asked the band to play again and again in the basement of BU to show them what tight playing meant. We played it so many times it eventually morphed into the melody for 'Somebody' on our first album."
Tyler wrote "Dream On" in stages over several years, finalizing the lyrics during the album's sessions. He explains, "The music for 'Dream On' was originally written on a Steinway upright piano in the living room of Trow-Rico Lodge in Sunapee, maybe four years before Aerosmith even started. I was seventeen or eighteen... It was just this little thing I was playing, and I never dreamed it would end up as a real song or anything... It's about dreaming until your dreams come true." The song is famous for its building climax to showcase Tyler's trademark screams. It was written on piano but the recording contains a two-guitar arrangement, with guitarist Brad Whitford explaining to Guitar Worlds Alan Di Perna in 1997, "The idea was just to transcribe what Steven was doing with his left and right hands on the piano." Explains Tyler, "Never in a million years did I think I'd take it to guitar. When I transposed it to guitar Joe played the right fingers and Brad played the left hand on guitar. Sitting there working it out on guitar and piano I got a little melodramatic. The song was so good it brought a tear to my eye." The song is composed in the key of F minor.
"One Way Street" was inspired by one of Tyler's relationships at the time. He explains, "'One Way Street' was written on piano at 1325 [the street number of the house where the band lived], with rhythm and the harp coming from 'Midnight Rambler.'"
"Mama Kin" was written on the same guitar found in the trash that Tyler later used to write "Seasons of Wither". He explains, "One day I grabbed this old guitar Joey Kramer found in the garbage on Beacon Street, an acoustic with no strings. It had snow on it and was so warped you could shoot arrows with it. I wedged it between the door and let it dry for a week. I looked at it for about two days, put four strings on it, which was all it would take because it was so warped... I stole the opening lick from an old Blodwyn Pig song, "See My Way." In a 2001 interview, Tyler explains the song's lyrics: "People always ask, 'What's "mama kin"?' It's the mother of everything. It's the desire to write music, the desire to get laid, to go through the relationship with a girl, or whatever it is. Keeping in touch with mama kin means keeping in touch with the old spirits that got you there to begin with."
Tyler explains that "'Write Me' was originally 'Bite Me,' something we'd been working on for five or six months starting in the Bruins' dressing room at the Boston Garden, but it just didn't make it. Then one day I said, 'Fuck this,' said something to Joey, who started playing like a can-can rhythm thing, and suddenly there it was." The intro was inspired by "Got to Get You into My Life" by the Beatles.
Tyler considers "Movin' Out" to be the "first song of Aerosmith." He explains, "'Movin' Out' was the first song I wrote with Joe, the first experience of coming up with something and saying, 'See? I can do it.'" In his memoir, Tyler remembers writing the song with Perry sitting on a waterbed at their apartment: "One day at the very beginning of 1971 I wrote the basic track and lyrics for "Movin' Out" on a water bed with Joe Perry in our living room at 1325 Com. Ave. Joe's sitting on the water bed and I hear him strumming this thing and I go, 'Hold on...whoa, what's that?' and a minute later, Joe's riffing and I'm scribbling. I leaped up and shouted, 'Guys! Do you realize what we just did?' Their enthusiasm was curbed. 'Yeah, what is it, man?' 'It's our firstborn!' I proclaimed. 'The first Aerosmithed song! How great is that?'"
The album concludes with a cover of Rufus Thomas' "Walkin' the Dog", a concert staple of the band which they learned from the Rolling Stones cover. It was used in place of an original psychedelic pop song, "Major Barbara".
Recording
The group recorded their debut album at Intermedia Studios in 331 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts with record producer Adrian Barber. As this catalog number is consistent with a June 1973 date, it is possible Columbia used this number to identify the 'Featuring "Dream On"' cover, but stayed with the original KC 32005 catalog number on the actual release. In January 1975 Aerosmith was re-issued with the "PC" prefix, so there may have been some confusion as to the correct number. When reissued on CD in 1993 as a remastered version, the original artwork was used.
Recalling the album art, Perry commented in 2014, "Unfortunately the packaging was lame. We didn't even see the cover until the first printing. It was something that Columbia just threw together... The whole thing was sloppy. It marked the start of our education in dealing with labels."
Promotion
"Dream On" was released as a single and became Aerosmith's first major hit and a classic rock radio staple. The single peaked at number 59 nationally but hit big in the band's native Boston, where it was the number 1 single of the year on the less commercial top 40 station, WVBZ-FM, number 5 for the year on highly rated Top 40 WRKO-AM, and number 16 on heritage Top 40 WMEX-AM.
The album version of "Dream On" (4:28, as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45rpm edit) was re-issued late in 1975, debuting at number 81 on January 10, 1976, breaking into the Top 40 on February 14 and peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 national chart on April 10. Columbia chose to service Top 40 radio stations with a re-issue of the 3:25 edited version, thus, many 1976 Pop Radio listeners were exposed to the group's first Top 10 effort through the 45 edit.
In 1973, Aerosmith toured extensively behind the album, playing clubs in New England as well as larger venues throughout the eastern United States, opening for other groups including Mott the Hoople, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and The Kinks. The jazz fusion, almost classical style of Mahavishnu Orchestra proved to be an idiosyncratic fit. Joe Perry explains, "After us, John McLaughlin would ask for a moment of silence. I guess he figured they needed it." The band's managers would book the band to open for groups that were waning in popularity, so that Aerosmith would have a chance to steal their audience. Manager David Krebs explains, "We learned to play our market so that Aerosmith opened for acts that were slightly on the downslide – bands whose audience we could cop. Even if we didn't blow them off the stage every time, we could at least count on some to buy an Aerosmith album." Tom Hamilton explains, "I think what we wanted to do, without ever really saying it, was to be the American equivalent of all the great British bands like Cream, the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. They were all so classy and powerful sounding. We couldn't think of an American band like that. We wanted to be the first one." Steven Tyler continues, "We were the guys you could actually see. It wasn't like Zeppelin was out there on the road in America all the time, the Stones weren't always coming to your town. We were America's band — the garage band that made it real big, the ultimate party band."
During the year, the group played sets featuring the new album for two different radio broadcasts and made their first television appearance. Both radio performances were professionally recorded. In March, WBCN Boston DJ Maxanne Sartori, who would promote the group through frequent playing of "Dream On", invited the group to broadcast their set from Paul's Mall in Boston. Two tracks from the performance would later be released on 1978's Live! Bootleg. In September, the group would perform a set at Counterpart Studios in the Cheviot neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio for WKRQ. Two tracks from this performance would see release in 1991 on Pandora's Box. In December, the group appeared on American Bandstand to perform "Dream On".
Reception
The album was not a success when it was released on January 5, 1973. Aerosmith was considered a big influence on Guns N' Roses and helped shape their sound. Lead guitarist Slash also expressed fondness for the album, saying that it was "underrated" and featured great playing but didn't get the attention it deserved due to its relatively low production values compared to other rock records of the time.
Track listing
Personnel
Personnel taken from Aerosmith liner notes.
Aerosmith
- Steven Tylerlead vocals, harmonica, wood flute, piano, Mellotron
- Joe Perrylead guitar
- Brad Whitfordrhythm guitar
- Tom Hamiltonbass
- Joey Kramerdrums
Additional musicians
- David Woodfordsaxophone on "Mama Kin"
Production
- Adrian Barber – production, engineering
- Buddy Verga – production assistant
- Caryl Wienstock – engineering
- Bob Stoughton – assistant engineer
Charts
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! scope="row"| UK Albums Sales (OCC)
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