AEROSMITH – Get Your Wings [Blu-Spec CD2 remastered]

Reaching the end with the requested best sounding-reissue AEROSMITH albums, especially from the first era, here’s the band’s second album “Get Your Wings”, pretty improved in sound with this remastered Japanese Blu-Spec CD2 release.

In 1973, Aerosmith released its debut album to little fanfare. It’s a raw, rocking album, but the band had been somewhat nervous recording this first effort, with vocalist Steven Tyler going so far to alter his singing voice, and they had very little chemistry with producer Adrian Barber.
So Aerosmith and the recording label wanted a new approach.
By the time they began recording “Get Your Wings”, producer Jack Douglas had agreed to work with the band, beginning a long and successful studio collaboration that continued with the band’s stardom.
According to Perry, Columbia had wanted the band to work with Bob Ezrin, who was working with Alice Cooper. It was Ezrin who introduced the band to Douglas.

The ‘new’ sound was aimed to focused guitar riffs, catchy choruses and Tyler singing with his own voice / tone, a swagger that would become Aerosmith’s trademark.
Although the album wasn’t a huge hit at the time, peaking at No. 74 on the charts and only going gold by the following spring, it proved a definite portend of things to come for the band.

The track listing was stacked with future Aerosmith concert favorites like the great “Same Old Song and Dance,” “Lord of the Thighs” and their cover of “Train Kept A-Rollin’.”
Just as important was their connection with new producer Jack Douglas, whose presence behind the boards was a crucial factor in some of their most critically and commercially successful records.

Throughout “Get Your Wings” the group consistently integrates their influences into their own approach. On “Spaced,” Whitford unleashes a barrage of Townshend-inspired chords, by now an Aerosmith stamp, while the choppy rhythm and horn work of “Pandora’s Box” are a hard-rock interpretation of soul, suggesting the Stones.
“Seasons Of Wither” is a surprising change of pace, a haunting arrangement that creates a rough-hewn prettiness. The group’s dynamics are expert, deftly blending the hard and soft interludes. Perry makes exceptional use of feedback at the end, while Tyler’s restraint reveals a Led Zeppelin influence.

“Train Kept A Rollin’,” a reworking of The Yardbirds’ classic, is a master demonstration of their style. Their new arrangement begins by retaining the feel of the earlier work, only to cleverly segue into what sounds like a live take, although it was recorded in the studio.
That cut proves they’ve absorbed yet varied the styles of their mentors, creating their own in the process.

If Aerosmith’s debut laid down the template for the band’s sound, then this follow-up “Get Your Wings” filled it in, with Douglas’ production striking a balance between polish and grit while augmenting the group with a battery of session ringers, including the Brecker Brothers on horns and guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, who were brought in to shore up songs where Joe Perry and/or Brad Whitford were indisposed.

With all the elements in place, the stage was set for Aerosmith to take the world by storm — and although it might have missed its sales target, “Get Your Wings” proved prophetically titled: the band started soaring with its third LP ‘Toys in the Attic’ released just over a year later, and although the flight hasn’t always been smooth, it’s still going strong.
This reissue on high quality Blu-Spec CD2 sounds great, I guess the best you can get from this LP.
Highly Recommended

Sony Music Japan ～ SICP-30100
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01 – Same Old Song And Dance
02 – Lord Of The Thighs
03 – Spaced
04 – Woman Of The World
05 – S.O.S. [Too Bad]
06 – Train Kept A-Rollin’
07 – Seasons Of Wither
08 – Pandora’s Box

Steven Tyler – vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica, percussion
Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
Brad Whitford – guitar
Tom Hamilton – bass
Joey Kramer – drums, percussion, backing vocals
additional musicians:
Steve Hunter – lead guitar on 6
Dick Wagner – lead guitar on 1, 6
Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone
Randy Brecker, Jon Pearson, Stan Bronstein – horns
Ray Colcord – keyboards on 3

BUY IT !
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-30100
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