Aerosmith
Permanent Vacation
Released in 1987 by Geffen Records
Hard Rock / Blues Rock
Personnel:
• Steven Tyler - Lead Vocals, Percussion
• Joe Perry - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Pedal Steel Guitar on "Rag Doll"
• Brad Whitford - Guitar
• Tom Hamilton - Bass
• Joey Kramer - Drums
With
• Drew Arnott – mellotron
• Henry Christian – trumpet
• Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet, cello, background vocals
• Scott Fairbairn – cello
• Mike Fraser – plunger mute
• Tom Keenlyside – clarinet, tenor saxophone
• Margarita Horns – horns
• Ian Putz – baritone saxophone
• Morgan Rael – steel drums
• Bob Rogers – trombone
• Jim Vallance – organ, songwriter
• Christine Arnott – Gaelic voice-over on "The Movie"
• Bruce Fairbairn – Producer
1. "Heart's Done Time" Joe Perry, Desmond Child 4:42
2. "Magic Touch" Steven Tyler, Perry, Jim Vallance 4:40
3. "Rag Doll" Tyler, Perry, Vallance, Holly Knight 4:21
4. "Simoriah" Tyler, Perry, Vallance 3:21
5. "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" Tyler, Perry, Child 4:23
6. "St. John" Tyler 4:12
7. "Hangman Jury" Tyler, Perry, Vallance 5:33
8. "Girl Keeps Coming Apart" Tyler, Perry 4:12
9. "Angel" Tyler, Child 5:10
10. "Permanent Vacation" Tyler, Brad Whitford 4:52
11. "I'm Down" John Lennon, Paul McCartney 2:20
12. "The Movie" Tyler, Perry, Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer 4:00
The 9th studio album from Aerosmith and a big turning point for the band. The original members of the band are now back together and they have all gone through drug rehab , they have a new record label (Geffen Records which is owned by United Music Group), and a new producer, Bruce Fairbairn. Fairbairn was considered to be one of the best producers in the industry, and has done work with such acts as Bon Jovi, Scorpions, AC/DC, Chicago, Kiss, Yes, Van Halen, Blue Oyster Cult,The Cranberries, Loverboy, and INXS. This time period became a happy time for Steven Tyler, who was now united with his daughter Liv ( now age 11), and they formed a relationship during the “Permanent Vacation” tour. Their touring opening act, Guns n’ Roses, were asked by Aerosmith to keep all drugs and alcohol, and any materials related to addictions, completely behind their locked doors. Guns n’ Roses complied with the request, and the tactic seemed to work in keeping Aerosmith from falling into relapse.
“Permanent Vacation” employed professional songwriters ( Desmond Child, Jim Vallance) to assist in the making of the songs, instead of relying solely on the members of the band, which breathed some new inspiration into the music. The previous album, “Done With Mirrors” was intended to be the big comeback for Aerosmith, but as things turned out “Permanent Vacation” was the band’s return to fame after 10 long years of hiatus. This album finds Aerosmith returning more to their roots in the blues, which I find to be the reason for the album’s success. Another notable plus for the album, was MTV. This album was extensively covered by MTV with music video airtime:
The Music
Hearts Done Time This song opens with birds chirping then comes a primal yell and scream to announce that the band is back in business. This song is in top form for Aerosmith; Perry delivers some great licks, the rhythm section is strong, and Tyler is full of energy. Excellent high energy song.
Magic Touch A high testosterone song, filled with tons of rock energy. No blues in this song, just pure rock n’ roll. This song is loud, with hard hitting drums, great guitar riffs, and excellent vocals.
Rag Doll One of my favorites from this album. The song has some decadent percussion going on and a fantastic sleazy, blues groove. The horn section adds a spectacular kick to the hook of this song. Welcome back Boston Bad Boys!!!
Simoriah An energetic song with some great guitar work from Perry, and as usual the rhythm section does an outstanding job. Very neat hook with the vocals “Simmmmooooorrrrriiiiiiaaaah”. Another decent song.
Dude (Looks Like a Lady) Another song with a bluesy groove. This song has received a ton of radio air time, which has made it a bit of a bore to hear anymore, but this song has become one of the most famous songs ever written about a transvestite. The brass section really adds to the songs funky groove. Oh! And there is a very impressive solo.
St. John The opener to this song is really cool…..symbols to some real deep blues lines. The blues lines continue throughout the whole song. The song is very different from any song done by Aerosmith thus far, and an underrated track, IMO.
Hangman Jury Another full blown blues tune, that literally sounds like it was put together and played sitting on someone’s back porch, complete with washboard and jug sounds and crickets chirping. Tyler on the harmonica is fantastic then the song progresses to a super catchy riff. A very enjoyable song.
Girl Keeps Coming Apart This is my least favorite track on this album. The lyrics are pretty typical Tyler, singing about a woman, and all her “business” coming apart for everyone to see. This song makes heavy use of the brass section, but I am still not that impressed with the song.
Angel I think I like this ballad more than “Dream On”. A very beautiful song about love, but is not a sappy ballad. The guitars and strings come together fabulously in this song to give this song some meat. All I can say is, turn it up, it’s a great song.
Permanent Vacation After some jungle sound effects and the sound of a plane flying, Tyler sings about a vacation. The song has a Caribbean feel, with some great percussion. Not a bad song, but not one of my favorites. The song is another super high energy song, with a nice harmonica touch. Tyler has definitely shown listeners in this album he can play the harmonica. The outro of the song leaves you sitting on a beach somewhere!
I’m Down All I can say about this song is Aerosmith did a fantastic cover of a Beatles song. This song just keeps the high energy, “having a blast” ambiance going.
The Movie A dark and ambient instrumental song with some strange voice-overs. Very nice work from the band, with some interesting scratch guitar work, and other sounds. Not what I would expect an Aerosmith album to end with, but spice is always a good variety to add.
Well, the album doesn't rock like their stuff from the 70's, but it's miles ahead of anything they've done in this century.
Favorite song of mine from this album is "Heart's Done Time". "Dude Looks Like A Lady" was allegedly written about Vince Neil. And for some reason I'm not a big fan of their 80's ballads, including "Angel".
"Dude Looks Like A Lady" was allegedly written about Vince Neil. .
Dave have you read Nikki Sixx's book "The Heroin Diaries". The book talks about this song and the inspiration for it. Evidently, Nikki Sixx used the word 'Dude' all the time, and the original title of the song was "Cruisin' for a lady", before they changed the title to "Dude, looks like a Lady". Also the subject matter of the lyrics comes from statements that Tyler use to make about Vince Neil, and how he use to hang in the bars, with women around him like a harem, and Tyler commented how even Neil looked like a lady.
This may all be true, but if you really read the lyrics, it is about how some guys can really pull it off as cross-dressers. "Never judge a book by its cover".
The official video of the song shows Tyler several times dressed from the waiste down as a woman
Magic - I read that little tidbit of information about Vince in the book 'American Hair Metal'.
I haven't read 'The Heroin Diaries' or 'The Dirt' if you can believe that! One of these days I'll have to check out Amazon for a decent used copy and get caught up. Until then I'll just rely on you to keep me up to date with what happened twenty years ago.
Magic - I read that little tidbit of information about Vince in the book 'American Hair Metal'.
I haven't read 'The Heroin Diaries' or 'The Dirt' if you can believe that! One of these days I'll have to check out Amazon for a decent used copy and get caught up. Until then I'll just rely on you to keep me up to date with what happened twenty years ago.
ha ha! you are so nice to me If I had your address, I would send you my copy...it is pretty tattered, though, and the dog peed on it once
Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation (1987) 
If I had your address, I would send you my copy...it is pretty tattered, though, and the dog peed on it once 
Linear Mode
