Great Rock Albums of 1979: Aerosmith- Night in the Ruts

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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Great Rock Albums of 1979: The Jam- Setting Sons

I have to thank my ex-wife for this one because she is responsible for getting me into The Jam. I had heard of them in the past but never got around listening to them. Then one day we were at a car boot sale, which I guess is like a swap meet for my American readers, when we were going through a load of records that one seller had on display. We came across The Jam's Greatest Hits album and she practically did cartwheels. We bought it straight away and I think it only cost us 10 pence (roughly 15 cents). I have to say, when we got home and listened to this album, I have to say I was converted. To me, they were straight ahead no nonsense rock, often called punk, but I'm not so quick to do labels. I know that I liked the hard aggressive sound that they made.

The other interesting note, that is if you are interested, is that if you were to make a Venn Diagram of my ex-wife's and my musical tastes, it would overlap with such bands as Heart, Alice Cooper and Marillion and a few others. Although she did really like my Kenny Wayne Sheppard album. From that common ground, our musical tastes go in different directions. She was more into New Romantic 80's stuff where I went more for the harder stuff. Anyway, enough of that.

The great thing about The Jam's "Setting Sons" album is that it continues with that same powerful rock that attracted me to them in the first place. Songs like "Thick as Thieves," "Private Hell" and "Smithers-Jones" all give that great aaargh feeling which typifies their sound back then. It also helps that this album contains the hit "The Eton Rifles," which I confess is my all time favourite song by The Jam.

Track Listing:

1. Girls on the Phone

2. Tick as Thieves

3. Private Hell

4. Little Boy Soldiers

5. Wasteland

6. Burning Sky

7. Smithers- Jones

8. Saturday's Kids

9. The Eton Rifles

10. Heatwave

The Jam

Paul Weller- guitar, lead vocals

Bruce Foxton- bass, backing vocals

Rick Buckler- drums, percussion

So full marks to my ex-wife for introducing me to The Jam. "Setting Sons" is a classic Jam album in which every song has that power for which they were known for. It shows that hard and to the point is sometimes the best way.

Next post: Aerosmith- Night in the Rights

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Great Rock Albums of 1979: Olivia Newton John- Totally Hot

Everybody reading this must be probably think that I've totally lost the plot here. Okay, I lost it many years ago but posting about an Olivia Newton John album, I must be totally bonkers. I mean she was the girl who played along side of John Travolta in "Grease." We won't go into some of the songs that were on that soundtrack. Even before "Grease," ONJ was more of a country singer whose more mellower songs made the cross over into the rock charts. What I can say is that as a result of "Grease," she wanted to shed her goody-two shoes image and so she went with a more rockier sound and "Totally Hot" was the result.

I'm not going to kid anyone into thinking this album is a total rock out, it's not. In the rock stakes, Debbie Harry and Pat Benatar by far blow her away but I have to give her credit where it's due, she tried. "Totally Hot" has both of my favourite ONJ songs of all time on it, "A Little More Love" and "Deeper Than the Night." The first song does have some good rock guitar in it and of the two mentioned, it takes the number one spot. While I don't shoot the devil horns in the air and start headbanging away to it, it is still a good song. The rest of the album is in my view more of an attempt at prog rock without the classy musicianship. Still, it is pretty good and that's why after a long mull in the mind, I have decided to visit it here.

Track Listing:

1. Please Don't Keep Me Waiting

2. Dancin' Round and Round

3. Talk to Me

4. Deeper Than the Night

5. Borrowed Time

6. A Little More Love

7.  Never Enough

8. Totally Hot

9. Boats Against the Current

10. Gimme Some Lovin'

Olivia Newton John

Olivia Newton John- vocals

Mike Botts, Ed Greene- drums

David McDaniels, David Hungate- bass

Jai Winding, David Foster- piano

John Farrar, Steve Lukather- drums

Michael Boddicker- synthesiser

Steve Modaio- trumpet

Marty Grebb- alto sax

Chuck Finley- trombone

Gerald Peterson- tenor sax

Lenny Castro- percussion

The other thing I like about this album is that before it, I thought Olivia Newton John was on the skinny side for my personal tastes. But she put on some weight as well for this album and was looking good for the leather shot on the album cover. The album itself is still a decent listen.

Next post: The Jam- Setting Sons

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London