Flying Even Before Getting Wings
A new release captures the thrilling prehistory of Aerosmith
Hard to believe now, but there was a time when the institution known as Aerosmith was an unsigned rock band in Boston.
The five-piece formed in 1970 after vocalist Steven Tyler, newly arrived from New York, heard guitarist Joe Perry’s loosely organized Jam Band and proposed a merger. They scrounged for low-dollar gigs. They made an agreement with Boston University to use a basement room in a dorm for rehearsals. Their sound borrowed elements of the electric blues influences that bands like Led Zeppelin were warping, then added wickedly addictive pop refrains delivered by Tyler in a campy, instantly relatable style. This wasn’t rock from the mountaintop – it was louche, lascivious, earthy, real.
An impressively cleaned up demo tape from that era came out last week. It’s called 1971: The Road Stars Hear, and according to the band, it contains seven tracks Aerosmith captured on Perry’s Wollensak reel to reel recorder, presumably at a rehearsal. It documents a loose everyday moment in the band’s early development, well before Aerosmith was signed to Columbia Records and launched its extraordinary hitmaking run with the self-titled debut in 1973. Among the tracks: A version of “Dream On” that’s already got the dramatic choreographed peaks of the hit, and a hard-grooving take on Rufus Thomas’ “Walkin’ the Dog” that is more thrashy and intense than many of the band’s subsequent live versions.
In a recent interview with WBUR, Perry explained that when he heard the tape, he believed it was from the BU dorm era. “I think from the way it was set up – we only had two microphones and we had to experiment where to get the best mix – it was probably recorded in the basement.” He added: “It sounded like a more controlled environment and has the vibe of the way we rehearsed there.”
1971: The Road Stars Hear is that rock rarity: A demo tape that doesn’t suck, but instead actually represents the proud grit and nascent potential of a band in its early days It shows that from the start, Aerosmith had a clear sound concept. And, equally important, it had already developed some finesse moves and musical devices that became integral to rock of the early ‘70s.
Aerosmith understood the power of contrast. As anyone who caught the band live knows, this rhythm section could grind out a backbeat and ride it for minutes on end. But Aerosmith never did that exclusively; the 1971 version of “Movin’ On” is studded with abrupt changes of texture and dynamics that add dimension and drama. Lots of the originals from the classic-period albums have similar devices – tension-building crescendos, moments of eruption followed by quiet. And, also, jarring breaks like the ones on “Mama Kin” here when the music stops cold – then resumes in a slightly different mood.
Aerosmith wasn’t afraid to swing. The blues titans who inspired Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones and so many others had deep repertoires of rhythm – distinct approaches to the blues march, the hard-smacking shuffle groove, the Bo Diddley beat, the hypnotically heaving slow blues. Unlike many rockers, Aerosmith was conversant in many of these from the beginning; as “Reefer Head Woman” here shows, the band had its own approach to the low-down slow blues.
Aerosmith played together. This “Movin’ On” shows another tool in the band’s kit: Short punctuation elements that feature the whole band executing a tricky riff before plunging back into their respective roles within the groove. When these “switchbacks” are executed cleanly (as they are here), they generate their own brand of drama; these devices became part of the DNA of many subsequent Aerosmith hits, including “Walk This Way.”
Aerosmith had fun. At this stage in its evolution, Aerosmith was clearly attending to the micro details of the music – the musicians are sweating stuff like tempo, and the structural blueprints of the tunes, and the building blocks of each rhythm. But they’re not hung up on these things. They’re in it for the escape, in touch with rock and roll as pure visceral expression. It’s a refreshing thing to hear these people we’ve come to know as hitmaking professionals approaching the ritual act of rock with lightness, humor, irreverence. They’re wired for action. Taking wild lunges. Not being precious. Say whatever about what Aerosmith became: At this moment, they’re true believers in the transformative power of rock and roll. And they are getting out of that basement.
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