229 - Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic

[csberry]

I tend to listen to two or three albums on the Rolling Stone Top Albums list at a time. There are times that the group of albums I listen to seem related other than their presence on the list. Sometimes two albums of the same/similar genre are listened to together. Other times I'll have a complete box set of songs for one artist and a slim greatest hits collection from another artist together. This time around, I had the soft, smooth blues-pop of Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time paired with Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic. Where Bonnie and Don Was polished the blues to the satisfaction of yuppie America, Aerosmith infused large doses of blues into hard rock. Where Bonnie had me a bit bored, Aerosmith got me all charged up.

Toys in the Attic jumped right of the speakers with the title track opening up the album. Steven then demonstrates to the listener the depth of his love of sex and the use of double-entendres, inuendos, and 12-year-old sex humor. It is sleazy fun that at worst will result in eye rolls. The album is then wrapped up in what 10ish years later would be called a power ballad.


Songs I Knew I liked: "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion"

Songs I Now Like: "Toys in the Attic"

Songs I Can Go the Rest of My Life Never Hearing Again: "Big Ten Inch Record"

Comments

[chris21718.livejournal.com]

"Big Ten Inch Record", the song you seem not to like, is actually not their song, but an old song they covered. Bull Moose Jackson recorded a number of risque songs. He recorded "Big Ten Inch Record" back in 1952. Singles were on 10 inch 78 RPM records back then. :-)

[csberry.livejournal.com]

I thought it may be a cover. And that may explain why the band seemed to take a goofy approach to the recording. I dunno, while the lyrics fit with the other songs on the album, their attitude musically/instrumentally was a bit more lighthearted and seemed out of place to me.