: Andrew Rooney
: Aerosmith Every Album, Every Song
: Sonicbond Publishing
: 9781789524154
: 1
: CHF 8.30
:
: Musik
: English
: 176
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

Dave Grohl is one of the most respected musicians of the 21st Century. His career began in the early 1980s punk scene, and he then established himself as one of the greatest rock drummers of his generation. He survived the chaos of Nirvana to establish his own songwriting voice as singer and guitarist for Foo Fighters. With hits such as 'Everlong', 'Learn to Fly', 'Times Like These' and 'Best of You', the band have become a dominant force in modern rock for three decades. Outside of his band, Grohl is the ultimate rock and roll hype man, playing in side projects with famous friends, and boosting the profiles of undervalued underground acts and up-and-coming artists.
Yet Grohl's music is strangely underappreciated. Diehard alt-rock fans dismiss it, while critics are often more interested in his tragic backstory than his songs. This book is the first to cover the entirety of Foo Fighters' discography, as well as Grohl's various experimental side projects. By reviewing every song in depth, it reveals that his band have produced far more impressive and varied music than is often imagined, and that there is far more to Grohl than his reputation as 'the nicest man in rock'.


Ben L. Connor is a freelance writer who specialises in alternative rock music of the 1990s and 2000s. He has written two books for the On Track series: on Pearl Jam and Jack White and The White Stripes. He caught the bug for music writing in the 1990s when he decided to own every one of Rolling Stone magazine's 200 'Greatest Albums of All Time', which led him to the world of record collecting and pop music archaeology. When not writing about music, he works as a teacher of psychology and sociology. He lives in Canberra, Australia.
Chapter1

Aerosmith (1973)


Personnel:

Steven Tyler: lead vocals, piano, harmonica, electric harpsichord and Mellotron on ‘Dream On’, flute on ‘Walkin’ The Dog’, percussion

Joe Perry: guitars, backing vocals, second guitar solo on ‘One Way Street’

Brad Whitford: guitars, first guitar solo on ‘One Way Street’

Tom Hamilton: bass guitar

Joey Kramer: drums

David Woodford: saxophone on ‘Mama Kin’ and ‘Write Me A Letter’

Recorded at Intermedia, Boston, in October 1972 and between December 1973 and January 1974

Produced by Adrian Barber

Label: Columbia

US release date: 5 January 1973

Peak chart placings: US: 21

Where hard rock comrades like Van Halen and Guns N’ Roses came out of the gates with debut albums that would, in many ways, define the rest of their careers, Aerosmith’s debut was more of a warm-up. It lacked some of the swagger and the crunching guitars that would define their best 1970s material. This is not to say thatAerosmith was a disappointment; it contained at least three bona fide classics and set a blueprint for the future. A lot of the blame for any criticisms of the album has been placed on producer Adrian Barber, especially by Perry, who criticized Barber for, among other sins, allowing Aerosmith to sound ‘too tight’.

We sounded neither spontaneous nor explosive, two of our best qualities. My attempts to explain this to Barber went in one ear and out the other ... I didn’t have the right technical vocabulary to say what needed to be said. In the end, Barber and his assistants simply set up mics, got an acceptable take and moved on ... Steven and I sat behind the board, trying to learn as much as we could.

Perry would elaborate, callingAerosmith the easiest and hardest record that the band would ever make. It was the hardest because they had no idea how to make a record, but the easiest because the band had been performing and rehearsing these songs for two years, with Tyler having written a majority of the songs even earlier. The band were excited to lay the songs down and had a confidence about them that did not always come through on record. Aerosmith played their first live show at a gymnasium in Mendon, Massachusetts, on 6 November 1970, with a setlist that included, among other songs, ‘Movin’ Out’, ‘Somebody’ and ‘Walkin’ The Dog’; all three of which would show up on their debut. By 15 May 1971, when the first Aerosmith bootleg is dated, both ‘Dream On’ and ‘Mama Kin’ were already being played every night, allowing them to really inhabit these songs before putting them to record.

The band dynamics had yet to be formalized in October 197