05. Aerosmith Draw the Line 1977 (Columbia)
Hard Rock
Dropping your trousers and letting it all hang out!
Overview
Aerosmith were down and dirty all the way, after the double barrelled shotgun blast of their two quintessential albums
Toys in the Attic and
Rocks, where the band had been both on top of the world and at the height of their game. But like anybody who’s at the top, there is only usually one way to go and that is down and down they went as dirty as ever! By the time of
Draw the Line the druggy and excessive living style of the band members was well and truly in overdrive, and by the time of the recordings for
Draw the Line, the band were well and truly exhausted and usually out of it! The history of rock has shown us that when bands are in this state of being, there are just usually two outcomes and that is either the recording of an album that hangs together somehow and is then salvaged by its stronger tracks, or we go to the other end of the extreme were the whole thing is just a total mess, just think of the Doors and
The Soft Parade (thanks to Jim Morrison being more out of it than normal) and you have a great example of a load of twaddle. Aerosmith by and large fell into the former description here and somehow despite their excessive living, manage to pull off a-crank-it-up hard rock album that can still blitz out any stereo system! This is an album from a band that were totally washed out, but still sound as exciting as hell!
Draw the Line also splits rock critics as well, as at the time of its release the album was slammed as a bland and unfavourable effort in some quarters, but since then it has appeared on Kerrang! Magazine’s “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time” and a number of hardcore Aerosmith fans have stated it as their favourite album. The album cover is one of the most iconic of its time and certainly pre-dates the “Spitting Image” satirical comedy show of the 1980s and 1990s and the album cover was drawn by well-known Broadway caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The album was recorded in an abandoned convent on the outskirts of New York amidst in-band fighting, druggy sessions and the driving of high performance sports cars around the place……… sounds like all the vital ingredients in recording a hard rock album! The album went on to sell around two million copies and would be the last album for a while with the much celebrated original line-up.
Steven Tyler-Vocals
Joe Perry-Guitar
Brad Whitford-Rhythm
Tom Hamilton-Bass
Joey Kramer- Drums
Production- Jack Douglas
The Album
Draw the Line- With an intro that most groups can only dream about, Aerosmith are out to drive their music down your throat from the word go, this is Aerosmith at their flirty and dynamic best.
I Wanna Know Why- Catchy and melodic and could’ve been on any of the two previous Aerosmith albums.
Critical Mass- Written with Jack Douglas and a song that draws on the band’s bluesy roots and it’s one of the best compositions on the album.
Get It Up- A feel good song that is basically a filler track pilfered from any number of previous Aerosmith songs.
Bright Light Fright- The first ever Joe Perry lead vocal on an Aerosmith album and it’s certainly different in every aspect to Steven Tyler’s delivery, but it still sounds as cool as hell and also pre-dates the future Joe Perry Project material.
Kings and Queens- From beginning to end probably my all-time favourite Aerosmith track, what more can I say……. this is what hard rock is all about!
The Hand That Feeds- A song that largely comes out of the recording sessions for the other cuts on offer here and features some nice screeching by Steven Tyler in the song.
Sight for Sore Eyes- One of the best songs on the second side despite its repetitive structure and again if features writing contributions from Jack Douglas and a guest spot from David Johanson.
Milk Cow Blues- A much covered version of the Kokomo Arnold song of the same name and to be fair not a bad album closer and fits the bill.
Verdict
Draw the Line is an album that is highlighted by a couple of standout tracks, these tracks are by and large a class apart from the rest of the album and show the band hanging on by their shirttails with some very underrated material on offer. Just think of
Draw the Line as a beautiful woman loaded up with poorly applied make-up, because she was just too drunk to apply it properly in the first place, but she still ends up looking damn sexy anyway and that’s exactly what
Draw the Line does! The standout tracks come no stronger than the title track “Draw the Line” with its punchy power, Steven Tyler’s screeching vocals and it’s pulverizing guitars, along with Steven Tyler’s abrasive screaming on the latter part of the track is quite simply legendary! Then there is the rolling brilliance and main riff of “Kings and Queens” and if this song doesn’t raise your temperature and give you an instant erection, then it’s doubtful that you’re even alive! In fact it took me a number of years to come to the above conclusions on this album, as I only ever really loved its standout tracks and saw the rest of the material as largely throwaway stuff……….. and boy I was certainly wrong in that respect, as this stands as a vital band release!
Draw the Line is an album that focuses on the styles that the band had already mastered some years back, it shies away from any kind of experimentation that a group of Aerosmith’s standing at the time would’ve been prone to do. Album tracks like “I Wanna Know Why” and the even better “Critical Mass” show just how comfortable the band were when it came to writing this type of material. Friskier sounding material like “The Hand That Feeds” which despite being real b-side material, will appeal to anybody that loves Steven Tyler’s vocal style and then there is the somewhat funky sounding “Sight for Sore Eyes” which is another competent track.
Draw the Line has just so much power, energy, funk and punch and for that reason alone it makes it an essential listen for anybody exploring stripped down 1970s hard rock and fans of our beloved ‘Toxic Twins’ Steven and Joe.