One way you can tell how brilliant a band is is when they put out a decent album when they are at one of the lowest points in their career. When they put out "Night in the Ruts" in 1979, they had fully made the transition from musicians dabbling in drugs to druggies dabbling in music. Joe Perry said in an interview about ten years ago that by this time, they were making records to pay their dealers. In spite of all that, "Night in the Ruts" is still a pretty good album. I know it's not as good as some of their earlier ones like "Draw the Line" and it doesn't come close to "Toys in the Attic," (my all time fave). Still when Aerosmith can put out a decent album when they were at such a low, it only cements how great their earlier albums are.
I have to confess, that there are some parts of this album where it sounds like a bit of a dirge but it's a good dirge. There is that familiar 70's rock sound that Aerosmith were famous for then and Joe Perry comes out of his drug induced state to put down some good guitar solos. Steve Tyler also has some good vocal moments and Aerosmith's three unsung heroes, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer do what they do best. Tracks like "No Surprise," "Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy" and "Reefer Head Woman" lead the way to what is a decent album.
When I first heard the single from the album, "Remember, Walking in the Sand" I thought this was a definite attempt to get into the singles charts, capitalizing on the success from their cover of The Beatles classic, "Come Together." I still believe this is the case. This was a song that was first made in the 1960's and I wondered what were they trying to do. Saying that, like with "Come Together," they put their own unique spin onto it which makes the song somewhat enjoyable.
Track Listing:
1. No Surprise
2. Chiquita
3. Remember, Walking in the Sand
4. Cheese Cake
5. Three Mile Smile
6. Reefer Head Woman
7. Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy)
8. Think About It
9. Mia
- Aerosmith
Steve Tyler- vocals
Joe Perry- lead guitar
Brad Whitford- rhythm guitar
Tom Hamilton- bass
Joey Kramer- drums
Before I close, I just wanted to say that I just realized some information I thought reliable all these years has been proven to be slightly inaccurate. I was told that the infamous bottle incident in Philadelphia happened on this tour. It actually occurred in 1978 on the "Live Bootleg" tour. For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, what happened was during a show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, someone threw a bottle that shattered in Steve Tyler's face. The band immediately walked off stage and the culprit was found, dragged onto the stage and beaten up in front of the audience. (It's bad enough to get your ass kicked but having it kicked in front of 20,000 people must be humiliating.) Anyway, nothing happened for an hour and a half, then Aerosmith returned and Steve Tyler announced, "Fuck you Philly, we ain't ever coming back!" I wasn't at this concert but I know someone who was in this was her account. However, I saw them in 1986, they did come back eventually and while they were good that night, they weren't excellent. In fact Ted Nugent kind of blew them away. I cite the reason as being that Aerosmith still hadn't fully forgiven Philadelphia for the bottle incident. He made reference to it during the show when he said, "Don't throw anything up here, remember what happened last time." I do make mention of this in "Rock And Roll Children."
That incident was probably an indicator of things to come for the band. Joe Perry, after violent arguments with the band, left halfway through the recording of the album and would eventually be replaced by Jimmy Crespo. A greatest hits album would be put out the following year leaving many to think that this was the end of the line. It would be seven years before the next good album would be released. I'm glad that the end of the line theory was wrong. Despite all that, "Night in the Ruts" is still a good album.
Next post: Frank Zappa- Joe's Garage Act 1
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