Better Than It Should Have Been

Even though the core of the band is missing, this album has some great stuff on it. It's 100% better than any of the newer albums (Get A Grip, etc).

"Bitches Brew", "Cry Me A River" and the title track are equal to anything bearing the Aerosmith name, and there really isn't and all out dud here.

Stronger than you would expect...and it has worn well over time.

The Aerosmith album that time forgot

Rock In A Hard Place (1982.) Aerosmith's seventh album.



Aerosmith disbanded in 1980, leaving many long-time fans disappointed by their sudden departure from the rock and roll world. In 1982 a reunion of the band occured, but sadly, it was not a full-fledged reunion. Perry and Whitford, the band's two legendary guitarists, did not participate in the reunion. Instead the band brought in Crespo and Dufay, two session guitarists who had worked with the group on their last album before their initial disbanding. Read on for my review of Rock And A Hard Place - Aerosmith's ONLY album ever released without the classic formation.



This is a much better album than people give it credit for being, but if you're looking for classic, seventies-style Aerosmith, you're not gonna find it here. This is the band's most different-sounding album, in that they take elements of eighties hard rock/heavy metal, and fuse them with elements of hard blues rock. The end result is an album that, literally, sounds like nothing or no one else. This album was a commercial failure, due in no small part to the absence of Perry and Whitford. But a commercial failure does not always mean a bad album - this album rocks! Crespo and Dufay fill the shoes of the missing guitar pair nicely. I swear, these two guys get a bad rap for no reason at all! Not a single hit emerged from this album, which is a shame, because the material on here really is very good. It's NOT an album that's going to appeal to casual fans, though, so only venture into this territory if you're a die-hard.



Aerosmith's albums were remastered and reissued, but the remasters are disappointing in that the record company didn't do twofer issues or include bonus tracks. This is a shame, because there were so many opportunities that went wasted accordingly. In other words, if you have the earlier CD releases of the albums, there's no reason to get the remasters.



Rock In A Hard Place is an excellent, hard blues rock album, despite being a commerical failure. However, due to its wildly different nature from other Aerosmith releases, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS RELEASE TO CASUAL FANS OF THE GROUP. In fact, I think that this album and the follow-up, Done With Mirrors, are the LAST albums a fan of the group should buy. Still, if you're a fan like me, I bet you'll grow to love this album.

The haters of this album have no depth.

It seems I'm reading typical reasons from the masses for not liking this record. No Joe/Brad, sounding too different from the 70s catalog and the band doesn't look back on it fondly so I won't either.



Come on folks grow a brain. What makes this record interesting is that while yes, it was not a commerical barn burner. It did offer some varying sounds and was an attempt to soldier on through dark days.



If you can say with a straight face Jailbait isn't worthy of inclusion in Aerosmith's most smokin' songs your kidding yourselves. Lightning Strikes the minor hit isn't bad. I personally really like Bolivian Ragamuffin. That beat, oh baby - its the good stuff.



Other noteables on the album are interesting cover of Cry Me A River, the very 80s sounding intro to Joanie's Butterfly. Rock in a Hard place also rocks with a stiff grove.



So the bottom line here? If you want to see Aerosmith attempting to move beyond the 1970s. This is a fascinating listen. Be prepared for those of you who like the current pop band that masquerades as Aerosmith or fans of the back catalog. RIAHP is different. Its a band attempting to claw its way out of the 1970s. You should keep that in mind when listening.



By no means is this thier best effort. Its good though and worth a listen with an open mind. Its quite refreshing when an artist makes an album once in awhile that isn't uber radio friendly or stomps the same tired ground.



BTW - to the person who called Done with Mirrors great - What are you smoking? RIAHP stands up 10X better than that album does. Perminent Vacation ushered in the pop incarnation of the band we're all familiar with now. This album is better than Perminent Vacation too IMHO.