Artist: Aerosmith
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 1975
1975 was the year of Aerosmith music. After countless gigs and two albums that were, let’s say, commercially “interesting” — albums that, besides the occasional burst of creative magic from Tyler as well as promising displays of the guy’s organizational skills, mostly delivered heartfelt and therefore understandably unfocused, low-calorie recycling of old blues motifs — the five Boston lads are not repeating that story with Toys In The Attic this time. The third attempt at getting the Smiths airborne pays off with the brilliant Toys In The Attic, an unrepeatable proof of the charm of “old-school” aero music. With its refined mix of Tyler’s wisecracking lyrics, his traditionally inventive use of that unmistakable voice, and a hard, uncompromising hard rock delivery, Toys In The Attic soon after its release turned out to be a seriously hot offer, one that the rock world of the seventies, oversaturated music scene and all, simply couldn’t turn down!
The fruitful and, despite the obvious clashing personalities, incredibly well-balanced relationship between Tyler and Perry, which began very cautiously with Movin’ Out back in ’73 and gained confidence through the enviable Get Your Wings, turns with Toys In The Attic into a torrent of capricious blues-rock interplay that after five years of tempering finally delivers more tangible results. A nice example of the two’s lively collaboration is the title track, a rock carousel whose vulgar swagger you’ll have a hard time resisting. The hot-blooded outpouring of erotic passion is quickly cooled down by good old Uncle Salty. Which makes perfect sense, since the pervert’s take on the lecherous trade in all kinds of bodily fluids is a long way from the parade of male lust shown off in the opener. It’s Tyler’s cheeky reckoning with the eternal problem of pedophilia, which most of you probably know Steven for best from the incomparably more popular Janie’s Got A Gun, a full fourteen years later, of course.
With Sweet Emotion, the mischievous Adam’s Apple — which, besides Steven’s incorrigible lyrics, is graced by outstanding communication between the two guitarists — and the funky, measured stomp of Walk This Way, we return to the embrace of the sexological sermons from the start of the album. This time with more control and less self-driven enthusiasm for assorted mating formations, it’s the former that impresses most. Written by Hamilton, Sweet Emotion presents one of Perry’s finest guitar riffs, which, accompanied by the aforementioned bassist’s remarkably inventive lines and Tyler’s utterly perverted verses, slides toward the end into an untamable frenzy that can also be read as an inspired musical depiction of unchecked debauchery. A phenomenon of its own is the fun arrangement of the old Weismantel classic Big Ten Inch Record, which gets away with it unscathed mainly thanks to its raw primal quality, which, at the expense of easygoing cuteness, gives it a pleasantly mild look. Without that mildness, the gloomy Round And Round does more than fine — a typical Brad Whitford creation with which Toys In The Attic for the first time gains some real presence in more tightly framed motifs. Plenty of you will surely wish for more punch on No More No More, and especially on the truly unnecessary ballad You See Me Cryin’, but Tyler and company, eager to make the most of the opportunity, clearly didn’t yet dare to surrender completely carefree to their instinctive response to the malicious hints of rock & roll, which in the coming years would throw the doors to the world wide open for all of the band’s as yet undiscovered potential.
To this day, Toys In The Attic remains a charmingly readable primer of authentic rock & roll, a compact circuit of all its magic and quirks, and at the same time the baptism of Aerosmith’s transformation into not just one of the most influential rock bands of all time, but definitely also the biggest American rock outfit of the seventies. A classic among classics for all eternity!
Lineup
Steven Tyler: vocals, harmonica
Joe Perry: guitar
Brad Whitford: guitar
Tom Hamilton: bass
Joey Kramer: drums
Production
Jack Douglas
Tracklist
1.Toys In The Attic
2.Uncle Salty
3.Adam’s Apple
4.Walk This Way
5.Big Ten Inch Record
6.Sweet Emotion
7.No More No More
8.Round And Round
9.You See Me Crying
Running time: 37.12
