Rock in a Hard Place is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, released on August 27, 1982, by Columbia Records. It was certified gold on November 10, 1989. which saw them reunited with producer Jack Douglas.
Background
Aerosmith had released six studio albums during the 1970s. But as the decade concluded, multiple problems arose. Guitarist Joe Perry had left the band in 1979 after incidents at the World Series of Rock in Cleveland, Ohio and was replaced by Jimmy Crespo. Meanwhile, Steven Tyler's drug abuse increased. After recording the single "Lightning Strikes", guitarist Brad Whitford also left Aerosmith in 1981 and was replaced by Rick Dufay.
Guitarist Dufay recalls the difficulty in completing the album in a 2008 interview: "They tried to make that album for two years but Steven couldn't finish stuff and they had trouble with their original producer but once they got Jack and me on board, we were just pushing it. When we went down to Florida, Steven was way too fucked up to do anything, he was nodding off when he was trying to write lyrics and I said to Jack that we had to get him out and get him together. It took about two or three months and we pretty much nursed him back to health. We got him off the hard stuff, sat in the sun and had some laughs and I established a bond with him. It's pretty well documented on the Behind the Music show. He was pretty sick and I just took care of him and even had to wipe his ass for him!"
An outtake from the album titled “Riff & Roll” was released on their 1991 box set, Pandora's Box.
Critical reception
From contemporary reviews, J. D. Considine lamented in Rolling Stone how the band had decided to maintain their old sound on the album in spite of the heavier direction of mainstream rock music in the early 1980s, stating that "fast power chords had made Aerosmith's bluesy boogie almost obsolete". He praised "Perry lookalike Jimmy Crespo"'s guitar playing, but wrote that "despite an occasional burst of primal energy, much of the LP rocks by rote." Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the album a one out of five star rating, opining that "It's sad when once-vital hard rock bands outlast their usefulness, if only because there are so few of them around."
"The record doesn't suck," wrote drummer Joey Kramer in his 2009 autobiography, Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top. "There's some real good stuff on it. But it's not a real Aerosmith record because it's just me, Steven, and Tom [Hamilton] — with a fill-in guitar player... It's Jimmy Crespo doing the guitar work."
| length2 = 4:26
| title3 = Bitch's Brew
| writer3 = Tyler, Crespo
| length3 = 4:14
| title4 = Bolivian Ragamuffin
| writer4 = Tyler, Crespo
| length4 = 3:32
| title5 = Cry Me a River
| writer5 = Arthur Hamilton
| length5 = 4:06
Personnel
Aerosmith
- Steven Tylervocals, keyboards, harmonica, percussion, piano on "Push Comes to Shove", producer
- Jimmy Crespolead guitar
- Tom Hamiltonbass
- Joey Kramerdrums
- Rick Dufayrhythm guitar
Additional musicians
- Brad Whitfordrhythm guitar on "Lightning Strikes"
- Paul Harrispiano on "Push Comes to Shove"
- John Turisaxophone on "Rock in a Hard Place (Cheshire Cat)"
- Reinhard Straubviolin on "Joanie's Butterfly"
- John Lievanoacoustic guitar on "Joanie's Butterfly"
- Jack Douglaspercussion, producer, additional engineer
Production
- Godfrey Diamond – chief engineer
- Tony Bongiovi – co-producer, additional engineer
- John Agnello, Bruce Hensal, Jim Sessody, Gary Rindfuss, Josh Abbey, Malcolm Pollack, Zoe Yanakis – assistant engineers
- George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
- Gerard Rozhek – photography, visual direction
Charts
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! Chart (1982)
! Peak<br/>position
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