Aerosmith (album)
| Aerosmith | ||||
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| Studio album by Aerosmith | ||||
| Released | January 5, 1973 | |||
| Recorded | October 1972 | |||
| Studio | Intermedia Studios, 331 Newbury Street, Boston, MA | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 35:48 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Adrian Barber | |||
| Aerosmith chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Aerosmith | ||||
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Second Pressing
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| Source | Rating |
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Aerosmith is the eponymous debut studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on January 5, 1973 by Columbia Records. The song "Walkin' the Dog" is a cover of a song originally performed by Rufus Thomas. The single "Dream On" became an American top ten single when re-released in 1976. "Dream On" was first released as a single in 1973. The album peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 in 1976.
The photo at right is the original cover, which misprinted the song "Walkin' the Dog" as "Walkin' the Dig". When a second pressing of the album was released in 1976, this error was corrected, and the cover replaced with a modified one made up entirely of the photo of the band members. This second pressing is the more commonly available version of the LP. When reissued on CD in 1993 as a remastered version, the original first pressing artwork was used.
After entering a partnership with Frank Connelly, David Krebs and Steve Leber invited members of two record labels – Atlantic Records and Columbia Records – to view an Aerosmith concert at Max's Kansas City. Clive Davis, the president of Columbia, was impressed with the band and Aerosmith signed with Columbia in the summer of 1972. Although lead singer Steven Tyler had been in several previous groups, most of the band members had never been in a studio before. The band was heavily influenced by many of the British blues/rock bands of the 1960s, including The Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
The album opens with "Make It" and the appropriate opening line, "Good evening people, welcome to the show, got something here I want you all to know." The song, composed by Tyler, who had struggled in a slew of local bands before Aerosmith, encourages listeners to succeed in achieving their dreams and not letting anything stop them, much like Aerosmith in their early club days performing up to three shows a day trying to get a record deal. "Somebody" is driven by a basic blues guitar riff and Tyler's lyrics tell the story of a character trying to search for the woman of his dreams. Written by Tyler and his friend Steven Emspak, "Somebody" was released in June 1973 as the B-side to the "Dream On" single. "Dream On" was also written by Tyler and became Aerosmith's first major hit and classic rock radio staple. The single peaked at number 59 nationally but hit big in the band's native Boston, where it was the number 1 single of the year on the less commercial top 40 station, WBZ-FM, number 5 for the year on highly rated Top 40 WRKO-AM, and number 16 on heritage Top 40 WMEX-AM. The album version of "Dream On" (4:28, as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45rpm edit) was re-issued early in 1976, debuting at number 81 On January 10, breaking into the Top 40 on February 14 and peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 national chart on April 10. Columbia chose to service Top 40 radio stations with a re-issue of the 3:25 edited version, thus, many 1976 Pop Radio listeners were exposed to the group's first Top 10 effort through the 45 edit. The song is famous for its building climax to showcase Tyler's trademark screams and notable for being the only track on the album that displays Tyler's real singing voice. It was written on piano but the recording contains a two-guitar arrangement, with guitarist Brad Whitford explaining to Guitar World's Alan Di Perna in 1997, "The idea was just to transcribe what Steven was doing with his left and right hands on the piano." The song is composed in the key of F minor.
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