6:11 PM: Thinking
about what I've got to do with the rest of my day, it occurs to me that today
is AeroTuesday. This is an excellent
thing to realize; it's always a fun last thing to accomplish on a Tuesday.
6:14 PM: So today
is Night in the Ruts, right? Should be interesting. I like that album, despite the fact that it's
an utter and total mess. That combo
oughta make for some good writing.
6:33 PM: Oh shit,
Live Bootleg came between Draw the Line and Ruts, didn't it? Damn it,
I've always been sort of "meh" about that one. Guess I'd better pull a copy and throw it on
in the background while I'm doing other work.
6:35 PM: You know
what? Maybe I'll pull the vinyl instead
of the CD - after all, it worked for Draw
the Line, right?
6:38 PM: Here's
how I'm gonna do this: I'll keep a Microsoft Word document open and jot down a sentence or two
for each song as they go by. The track
list on this thing is largely unassailable, so its relative quality all comes down
to the performances.
SIDE ONE:
Back in the Saddle: Jesus,
this performance is about as tight as an XXL t-shirt on a midget. It rocks pretty well, though, and if I wanted
perfection I'd just grab the studio version.
Wasted but right, refreshingly not over-overdubbed.
Sweet Emotion: Perfunctory.
Lord of the Thighs: As
per the liner notes: Little faster than
the studio version, but that's live!
And very kick-ass; I'm usually not a fan of the "extended jam live
version", but this one's got a good reason to stretch itself out. Note to self: add to iPod.
Toys in the Attic: Spot-on. Recorded in Boston, 3/28/78. We'll discuss that show at the end of this
post.
SIDE TWO:
Last Child: Faster and funkier than its studio
counterpart, both plusses. Ragged vocal
a bit too much that of a punk in the street, a negative. It's okay, but it easily could have been
great.
Come Together: I just don't really like this song all that
much, regardless of who's performing it.
I like Aerosmith's version better than the Beatles', and I like
Aerosmith's studio version better than this live one. I also like "Seasons of Wither"
better than any of the above, and wish they'd seen fit to include that on Live Bootleg rather than this.
Walk This Way: Also
perfunctory. Were they already sick of playing the singles by
'78?
Sick as a Dog: Ahh,
that's the stuff. Right on the money.
SIDE THREE:
Dream On: Surprisingly
not perfunctory. A touch ragged, but in
a way that underscores the theme of the song rather than distracting from it.
Chip Away the Stone: One
of rock music's ten greatest all-time non-album b-sides. I slightly prefer the original studio version
(available digitally on 1988's Gems
compilation), but if this is all you've got, it'll do ya just fine.
Sight for Sore
Eyes: It's a shame this one didn't
have a particularly long set-list life; it's absolutely meant for the stage.
Mama Kin: Delivered
with the swagger of a stadium act, rather than the bar-band version featured on
the band's debut album. It's a bit
loose, but then again it's supposed to be.
SOS (Too Bad): An
appropriately earthshaking closing to this album's clear side-to-beat. Short, sweet, fast and loud.
SIDE FOUR:
I Ain't Got You /
Mother Popcorn: Early blues covers, recorded years before anything else on Live Bootleg. The gig from which these were extracted
(Paul's Mall, Boston, 4/23/73) is interesting on its own and readily available
in trading circles. There's nothing at
all wrong with these performances, but they're bar-band stuff that sounds out
of place with the stadium strut - and more fully realized sound - of the rest
of the album. I've long believed that
they'd be more effective tacked on the end of the album as bonus tracks rather
than slotted in between late '70s performances.
Draw the Line:
See, it's not listed on the sleeve or label, just like the sort of mistakes
commonly found on real live bootlegs!
Cute gimmick, solid performance of a classic.
Train Kept a Rollin':
Just makes you wish they could still pull this evergreen off live with as
much power and velocity as it's got here.
Right, then: Live Bootleg is better than I remember
it being, just like it always is. Why,
then, do I go so long between rediscoveries?
Because there's something similar but better out there: a radio broadcast
from the Music Hall in Boston, 3/28/78.
It's from the same era as the bulk of Live Bootleg - indeed, as mentioned above, "Toys in the
Attic" on the LP is from this gig - but with crisper sound and a hotter
set list (hello "Seasons of Wither"/"Kings and
Queens"/"Rats in the Cellar", just to name three). If you're looking to hear Aerosmith in the
'70s, on a good night in front of a hometown crowd, just moments before they
were to hit the metaphorical iceberg, the Boston Music Hall show is really what
you're looking for; a quick Google search makes it seem like it's sitting
around some of the dustier corners of the internet waiting to be found. If real live bootlegs and/or downloads aren't
your speed, however, Live Bootleg is pretty much the next best thing.
Side note to Aerosmith's business managers: if you ever
decide to raid the vaults a bit, I'd pay for a professionally remastered
version of that Boston gig in a heartbeat.
Just sayin'.
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