Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith Review

At their beginning in the mid-seventies, the band Aerosmith caught on slowly. Their third album, "Toys In The Attic," is a perfect example of their slow rise to success. The album was released early in 1975. That summer, the band scored their first Top 40 success with the single "Sweet Emotion," the first single to be released from this title. In the meantime, Aerosmith achieved modest chart success with "Toys," which maintained consistent sales for well over a year. During that year, they had their first Top 10 single with "Dream On," a song from their first album, the 1973 release "Aerosmith." They also released their fourth LP, "Rocks," which yielded another Top 40 hit with "Last Child." The success of "Rocks" helped to keep the sales of "Toys In The Attic" strong.

Late in 1976, the band went back to their third album and re-released "Walk This Way" as a single. This song, which was originally the single release after "Sweet Emotion," had become a popular song on album-oriented radio stations. The re-launch of the single became the band's second Top 10 hit, and propelled "Toys In The Attic" to new heights on the album charts. "Toys" was the album that introduced me to the quintet from Boston - Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, and Joey Kramer. It would be the first album of theirs I bought, and I upgraded to a CD years later. They were a part of the seventies generation of rebellious rockers, with long hair and loud guitars. The bluesy vocals of Tyler and the screaming guitar of Perry helped to distinguish the band among their contemporaries. They rocked hard and played hard, and some members eventually paid a price for that way of living. "Toys In The Attic" had the smell of teen spirit fifteen years before Nirvana wrote their memorable anthem on that subject.

In their early albums, Aerosmith reserved a spot on each release for an R & B cover. On "Aerosmith," they covered the Rufus Thomas hit, "Walkin' The Dog." On their second album, "Get Your Wings," they covered the Tiny Bradshaw song "Train Kept A-Rollin'." On "Toys In The Attic," the band returned to the Bradshaw catalog with "Big Ten Inch Record." On "Big Ten Inch Record," Aerosmith mixed their sound with the sound of the fifties, in a manner similar to the way Brian Setzer has been known for doing. At the time, Aerosmith had not led a track with a horn arrangement, but the horns complement Perry's playing well. Tyler gets very playful with the lyrics as he belts, "She just loves my big ten inch." After waiting a beat, he adds, "record of the rhythm and blues." (For those who don't know, record labels used to release discs on thick shellac discs, ten inches in diameter, and played at 78 RPM. Albums used to consist of a collection of these discs, and are far heavier than the 21st century methods of album collecting).

The two most popular songs on "Toys," though, are the two hit singles. "Sweet Emotion" starts softly, with a chorus singing the song's title. Then, Tyler and Perry take over, and show the flipside of soft. It's the tale of the dangers of pursuing hedonistic pleasures encountered by rock musicians on the road, especially when it comes to dealing with young groupies. They can be sweet one moment, and be unpleasant the next. There's the young lady who wants her night with a rocker to be meaningful, but Tyler bluntly retorts, "I can't see, baby, where I'll be in a year." Another is quoted by Tyler as saying, "My got up and go must have got up and went." His response is that the girl is "a real good liar." Still, Tyler loves and lives for the connections that go right, and promises "a month on the road, I'll be eating from your hand." Tyler's voice is in his lyrics, but Perry's is in his guitar. Not only does Perry come with a barrage of notes, but he knows how to stretch out a few of them. He does that there, as well as on the following song, "No More...No More," another slice of the life on the rock road.

"Walk This Way," though, is one of Aerosmith's very best songs. It's a nostalgic, but frank, recollection of a young man making his mark with the opposite sex for the first time. It's the tale of a "high school loser" who takes some advice from his father and "took a big chance at the high school dance, with a missy who was ready to play." From that day forward, the boy has played the field. Perry adds some of his most memorable guitar work, which sometimes sounds orgasmic. Perry got to reprise that guitar work in 1986, when Run-D.M.C. covered that song. Tyler hit his high notes once again when the rap group invited him to sing backing vocals on their take of the tune. Run-D.M.C. fared even better with the song than Aerosmith did, reaching #4 on the Billboard charts (Aerosmith only managed to get to #10).

"Toys In The Attic" was the album that introduced many a listener to the music of Aerosmith. For many followers, such as myself, Aerosmith was at their best with "Toys." Later albums have been more polished, but this release best unleashes the raw energy of Tyler, Perry, and company. The rise to success may have been slow for both the band and this album, but "Toys In The Attic" has become one of the most revered works in the Aerosmith catalog. It's a celebration of the joys and the headaches of sexual attraction that often has a playful sense about itself. It's a collection of musical toys worth playing over and over again.

A slightly altered version of this piece first appeared on Epinions in 2003. This update also appears on Associated Content.