Want to feel old? Aerosmith’s self-titled debut album turns 50 today!
‘Aerosmith’, released January 5th, 1973, via Columbia Records, has my all-time favorite song on it… “Dream On”. The legendary Clive Davis, who was the president of Columbia records at the time, signed Aerosmith to their first ever contract in the summer of 1972. The not-yet-dubbed ‘Bad Boys from Boston’ entered Intermedia Studios in Boston, Massachusetts a couple of months later in October of ’72 under the guidance of producer Adrian Barber to begin recording what would become ‘Aerosmith’.
In the matter of just a couple of months, Aerosmith wrote, recorded, dubbed, mixed, mastered and released their first album. In his autobiography, Steven Tyler reflected on how “uptight” the band was during the recording of the album and how nerves really came into play. Tyler said that “when the red recording light came on, we froze”. Tyler even admits to changing his voice on the final vocal recordings, aiming for more of a “Kermit the Frog” – to “sound more like a blues singer”. I always wondered why his voice sounded the way it did on those earlier recordings.
There was an initial pressing of the album, the original, that had misprinted “Walkin’ the Dog” as “Walkin the Dig” on the cover. So, the band had a second cover pressed and eventually a third, which is the most commonly seen and available version of the LP (pictured below). Joe Perry wasn’t a fan of the album’s artwork stating, “Unfortunately the packaging was lame. We didn’t even see the cover until the first printing. It was something that Columbia just threw together… the whole thing was sloppy. It marked the start of our education in dealing with labels”.
“Dream On”, the first single from their debut wasn’t released until the end of June in 1973. Unlike today, back then singles weren’t issued ahead of time to promote the upcoming release of an album – which is crazy to think these days. It wasn’t until a re-issue of the song 2 years later that the legendary tune finally cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Top 100 – peaking at number 6. There is a killer live version of “Dream On” that Aerosmith recorded for MTV’s 10th anniversary show back in 1991, featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra and conducted by the late, great Michael Kamen – a must view!
Overall, ‘Aerosmith’ clocked in at whopping 36 minutes, featuring 8 tracks which included the Rufus Thomas cover of “Walkin’ the Dog”. Songs like “Mama Kin” & “Movin’ Out” are also huge favorites of mine off the LP. When I spoke with Joe Perry last year about the anniversary, he mentioned that there could be some special editions of the album in the works, featuring stuff we haven’t heard before! And hopefully a tour… or at least a show in Philly to follow! (fingers crossed)
Happy 50th Anniversary to AEROSMITH… both the album and the band! -bp
Aerosmith (front cover)
Aerosmith (back cover)
