10. Aerosmith Night in the Ruts 1979 (Columbia)
Hard Rock
A glossy trail at the end of a very hazy tunnel.
Overview
It had been two years since America’s premier hard rock act Aerosmith had released a studio album (they had released the
Live! Bootleg album the year before of course) and so in keeping with the band’s status, studio album number six was definitely due for a 1979 release, but it came with plenty of pitfalls and band heartache! By the time of the album’s actual recording, things had been seriously on the downslope for the band for quite some time and in-band fighting along with heavy substance abuse had finally taken its toll on the band. Somehow the band had previously managed to hold it altogether on the previous
Draw the Line album, but this time around there were serious question marks. So with the help of in-house producer Jack Douglas, the band were able to get it together to start recording sessions for the new album which would be called
Night in the Ruts. But in the middle of these sessions, the record label suggested that the band should go on tour, in order to recuperate some of the recording budget that they had burned through on just recording half of the album. It was on this tour that band tensions finally came to a head, with the band putting out some of their sloppiest performances ever, along with cancelled dates and worst was to come when Joe Perry suddenly upped and left the band to embark on a solo career, he would soon form the Joe Perry Project by the end of the year! This meant that the guitar onus now fell onto the shoulders of Brad Whitford, to complete the rest of the guitar parts for the album, but luckily he had help from various musicians such as band collaborator Richie Supa with the most notable help coming from New Yorker Jimmy Crespo ex-Flame, who would after the album’s release become Joe Perry’s official replacement within the band. Things also got worse for the band, when tried and tested Jack Douglas was replaced by Gary Lyons for the album’s production. This turned out to be anything but a straightforward production swap, as Jack Douglas’ raw production swagger, would now give way to the more en-vogue radio friendly style of Gary Lyons. Despite this more radio-style approach from the band,
Night in the Ruts would prove to be the band’s least successful selling album to date and after its initial sharp climb up the US Billboard charts it quickly fell away and only achieved platinum status, thus making it the least successful Aerosmith release to date. More significantly though the release of
Night in the Ruts, would coincide with Aerosmith’s huge commercial slump as a band and this would continue onto their next album
Rock in a Hard Place which was recorded three years later. This lengthy slumber for the band would last right upto
Permanent Vacation an album which came out several years later!
Steven Tyler-Vocals
Joe Perry-Guitar
Jimmy Crespo- Guitar
Brad Whitford-Rhythm
Tom Hamilton-Bass
Joey Kramer- Drums
Production- Jack Douglas/Gary Lyons
Album
No Surprize- The song title says it all really, as Steven Tyler delivers his typical revved up vocal delivery from the word go and the song is superbly highlighted by Joe Perry’s guitar riffs throughout.
Chiquita- Real singles material here (even though the song wasn’t a single) and in many ways the song predates the polished Aerosmith songs of the 1980s by as number of years and therefore it certainly serves as a template for their 1980s sound. This was also another song that was recorded with Joe Perry still on-board.
Remember (Walking in the Sand)- A cover of the Shadow Morton song that was performed by the Shangri-Las and was the principal single from the album as well.
Cheese Cake- A somewhat rather short-feeling first side of the album, is brought to a close by the energetic “Cheese Cake” which sounds like a good mixture of earlier Aerosmith material all in one song.
Three Mile Smile- A heavy mid-paced track and the sort of thing that the band always did well anyway, making it easily one of the stronger cuts on the b-side.
Reefer Head Woman- A competent blues cover that seems no more than a novelty idea on this album.
Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)- The most interesting thing about this song is its title and the track is real b-side album material as well.
Think About It- A cover of the Yardbirds track and despite not being a bad cover, is probably one cover too many for the album.
Mia- One of the true highlights of the album, as the band lay down one of their powerful trademark outros and a song that despite its quality, has often gone unnoticed by lsteners of the band!
Verdict
In many ways the album starts out as business as usual for the band, with the superb and infectious album opener “No Surprize” one of several songs that were recorded with Joe Perry on guitar and the song certainly reveals that the Tyler and Perry relationship still had fire when they wanted it to. This is then followed up by the pacey and polished “Chiquita” one of the better known songs from the album and a song designed to hang inside your head. Other highlights include the b-side opener the heavy rolling “Three Mile Smile” and the album closer “Mia” which reminds us of how “You See Me Crying” superbly closes the
Toys in the Attic album. Other competent tracks include a cover of the Shangri-Las song “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” which despite being a good cover, does spank of a band that know they lack quality material in depth on the album, so to make up for this deficit of quality material, the band on a number of songs do a good job of plagiarizing their own material, especially on tracks like “Cheese Cake”. Lesser tracks include the blues cover “Reefer Head Woman” which was certainly a dated choice for such a supposedly forward looking album. Then there is the speedy sounding throwaway “Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)” and its following track “Think About It” which is a Yardbirds cover. Overall
Night in the Ruts as an album shimmers and shines in certain places, whilst in other areas the band can really be found wanting especially in the song department. Also most of the material on offer both good and bad, seems to have been glued together from varios riffs, lyrics and ideas that the band had already laid down on their previous studio albums, with the only real difference being that Gary Lyons’ production style gives everything a much more polished feel. Quite often
Night in the Ruts finds itself lumped in amongst the band’s weaker output, which to be fair is somewhat unjust and whilst it might not be one of their best albums, it does document a stylistic change for the band, which would garner them a lot of success several years later in the mid-1980s. The real bone of contention though as far as many fans go, is that this was the first album without a band essential in Joe Perry (sure he was around for about half the album but not the whole album) and the album gets its detractors for this reason, I guess it was kind of like if say Keith Richards had left the Rolling Stones (which never happened of course) This album and their following album would be the Jimmy Crespo era in the band, a name now mostly forgotten when Aerosmith are mentioned.