Artist: Aerosmith
Label: Geffen Records
Release: 1987
The raw energy of the Boston outfit that had almost casually packed stadiums across the pond in the 1970s was, in the eyes of the average mid-’80s rocker, nothing but a pale memory of bygone days. The Aerosmith star started to fade at the turn of the decade with the “big experiment” Rock In a Hard Place, then went fully dark with Done With Mirrors, and in the whirlwind of burnout, all the enthusiasm and determination of one of the most anticipated comebacks of the ’80s got lost along with it. But not for long! Permanent Vacation, a pretty accessible record by Aerosmith standards, is a spectacular return to form, the one that finally let Tyler and company march toward a brighter future.
With Permanent Vacation, Aerosmisth confirm after nearly a decade that the most important ingredient of making music, namely creativity, is back, and that goes especially for the Tyler/Perry duo. The pair carries the lion’s share of the responsibility for the thorough “regeneration” of the Aerosmith sound, alongside the understandably noticeable sonic makeover courtesy of Bruce Fairairn and his gang of Geffen cronies. That ruthless label diktat is also to blame for the waste of some fairly promising material in Heart’s Done Time and Girl Keeps Coming Apart, and Simoriah gets it worst of all. But don’t panic! The sudden bursts of genius you stumble over while chewing through Rag Doll or Dude (Looks Like a Lady) are enough to make the “permanent lounging” stick in your memory as a thoroughly enjoyable adventure. It seems nothing was left to chance. Just in case, there’s Angel, their first stab at playing around with a power ballad, no less thrilling than the jangle of the aforementioned gems. The final nail in the coffin of skepticism is sneakily hammered in by the cowboy foot-tapper Hangman Jury, which is also one of the rare departures from the overly fabricated vibe that runs through the album from top to bottom.
All’s well that ends well. Aerosmith finally managed to get back in the flow of evolution, which put at least a little fear into the rock & roll elder statesmen. That’s probably why it’s no surprise that in the album’s closing stretch the gentlemen cling to their roots like a swarm of ticks, first with the rightfully borrowed I’m Down, and then the curtain falls to the eerie instrumental The Movie, which already reeks way too strongly of the “rosy” days of the 1970s.
To this day, Permanent Vacation surely remains the toughest test of Aerosmith’s character, one the band passed in grand style, but with a good dose of caution, which shows in the album’s flexibility and the commercial tinge present at every step. Aerosmith paid a steep price for it, surely too steep for plenty of orthodox aero cosmonauts. But not in vain, of course! The bold move brought the Aerosmith sound closer to younger generations in an instant, and they could soon carefree devote the coming years to the real thing: discovering the traditional “aero” values!
Lineup
Steven Tyler: vocals, harmonica
Joe Perry: guitar
Brad Whitford: guitar
Tom Hamilton: bass
Joey Kramer: drums
Production
Bruce Fairbairn
Tracklist
1.Heart’s Done Time
2.Magic Touch
3.Rag Doll
4.Simoriah
5.Dude (Looks Like a Lady)
6.St. John
7.Hangman Jury
8.Girl Keeps Coming Apart
9.Angel
10.Permanent Vacation
11.I’m Down
12.The Movie
Album length: 51.43
