Aerosmith - Night in the Ruts (1979)

Magic

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Aerosmith
Night in the Ruts
Released in 1979 by Columbia
Hard Rock / Heavy Metal


album-night-in-the-ruts.jpg


Personnel:

• Steven Tyler - Lead Vocals , Harmonica, Piano, Production
• Joe Perry - Guitar, Backing Vocals
• Brad Whitford - Guitar
• Tom Hamilton - Bass
• Joey Kramer - Drums, Percussion
With:
• Jimmy Crespo - additional guitars
• Richie Supa - additional guitars (uncredited) on "Mia"
• Louis del Gatto - baritone saxophone
• Lou Marini - baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone
• Barry Rogers - trombone, tenor saxophone
• Neil Thompson - electric guitar
• George Young - horn, alto saxophone
• Gary Lyons – Production


:tl:

1. No Surprize
2. Chiquita
3. Remember (Walking in the Sand)
4. Cheese Cake
5. Three Mile Smile
6. Reefer Head Woman
7. Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)
8. Think About It
9. Mia


The Album:

“Night in the Ruts” is the 6th studio album from Aerosmith which began its recording in 1978. The album title is a play on words for “right in the nuts”, and credit to this was given on the back of the album.

AllCDCovers_aerosmith_night_in_the_.jpg


During the year it took the band to record this album, a lot of activity was happening behind the scenes. Not only was the band still over indulging in drugs and alcohol but Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were having major disputes between them, causing Perry to walk away from the band in 1979 after a concert performance. Even though most of Perry’s guitar parts had already been recorded, Aerosmith still had to acquire the services of a couple session guitarists to complete the album, Jimmy Crespo and Richie Supa. Crespo became Joe Perry’s official replacement from 1979-1984. The session guitarist’s parts are very hard to detect, you would have to be a seasoned expert to notice the differences . Aerosmith ran out of money while recording this album, therefore, went back on tour while the album was in production, which in turn set the release date very late in 1979. This album also had a new producer, selected by Columbia Records, Gary Lyons. Despite all the difficulties and personnel changes the band had during the making of “Night in the Ruts”, the album still came off the presses as one of the fastest selling albums, and hit a decent spot on the charts, but fell off the charts very quickly. I personally find the album to be a hidden gem from Aerosmith. They have learned how to take a chaotic mess and turn it into something enjoyable to listen to. I find “Night in the Ruts” to be an inspirational album.

The Music:

No Surprize Listening to the lyrics, you will realize this is a story about the history of the band thus far. The song itself isn’t anything new: fast tempo, great riffs, with Tyler doing a good job with the vocals. A great opener to the album, but still nothing really outstanding .

Chiquita This song has some great parts from the horn section and some great guitar distortion, which feels very awkward in the beginning of the song. The song is delightfully melodic with a pretty awesome solo. If you watch the video of this song, it is Crespo performing the solo, but I believe the studio album recording is performed by Perry .

Remember (Walking in the Sand) This is a cover of a Shangri-Las song, which was originally recorded in 1964. Aerosmith did the original recording justice, and after listening to the original, I like Aerosmith’s version better. This song gave Tyler a very impressive vocal work out. The guitar work in this song has an eerie smoothness, but I like that quality in the song. Very different from the original’s pop flavor.

Cheese Cake A great opening riff, and some awesome slide guitar work. Sounds a lot like the work of Jimmy Page. Not one of my favorite tracks from the album, but the slide work is definitely noteworthy.

Three Mile Smile This is a song that sounds like it belongs to Aerosmith and brings back memories of songs from “Rocks” or “Toys in the Attic”. It has a nice funky groove, with some catchy riffs and hooks. I believe most of the guitar work is done by either Crespo or Supa on this song. The solo/ ending of this song is pretty incredible.

Reefer Head Woman This is a cover of an old blues song. Although, Aerosmith did a good job on this cover, I feel it is just filler for the album. This album has a total of 3 cover songs, and this fact may be a testament to poor production from Lyons, or simply a lack of material and a rushed schedule by the band. Anyway, Perry has a fantastic bluesy solo in this song.

Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy) A decent song with some stellar guitar work from Perry. Reminds me of a past song “Sight for Sore Eyes”. The lyrics are a very clever play on words. Didn’t you ever wonder what a Coney Island White Fish Boy was? Evidently it is a condom.

Think About It A cover song of a Yardbirds tune. Decently done with some strange guitar solos, and I am not sure if it is Perry or Crespo on the solos. :dunno:

Mia This is the final song of the album, a ballad, and a tribute to Tyler’s daughter, Mia. Some say this is a tribute to Perry, who was M.I. A. from the band. After listening to the song numerous times, I can see where the song’s lyrics apply to both tributes. The piano work on this song is a bit creepy, but beautiful. The guitar solo was performed by Supa, he did a superb job. Tyler did a fantastic job with this song, very moving and heartfelt lyrics. Not quite as epic as “Dream On”, but it runs a close second.


My overall rating for listening pleasure, 4/5.
 

LG

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

Almost tempted to find a copy after reading your review Snoop, but I'll think about it. Something happened to Aerosmith and they lost me, their first 5 albums were really good and when Joe Perry left, more than just his guitar left too.:think:

Still I never close the door completely on a band of their stature, so I'll play the songs you posted before I decide whether to get this one or not.
 

Tiny Tim

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

A great and underrated classic. I put this right behind Rocks, Toys and Wings as my fourth favorite Aerosmith record. It's not a perfect record, but No Surprise, Three Mile Smile and the cover of Think About It rank among my faves.
 

rtbuck

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

It's strange w/ '70's Aerosmith for me because when I first saw this review listed I thought "Wow,this is my favorite Aerosmith album!" but the weird thing is I thought the same thing for every other album!

Here's another one of my goofy stories:

As I've said before "I love this album!" which was the case when I first bought it. "No Surprise" is one of my favorite all-time Aerosmith tunes & I really love the way "Reefer Headed Woman" goes right into "Bone to Bone". The whole album rocks but anyway I was sad when I found out Perry had left.One Sunday night back then, they had a live broadcast from Lyn, MA on our local FM station so I took a walk to a department store called Twin Fair to pick up some blank cassettes. I got there & they had no maxell tapes only these crappy Certron tapes. They had them in High Bias Chrome so I picked up a few 90 minute tapes. I thought that show kicked ass even with Mr. Jimmy(as Steven called him before his solo on Reefer Headed woman) on guitar & that week I found out they were coming to Buffalo & I was psyched. It was sometime in the middle of January & I'll tell you in a minute how I remembered. The first thing I did when I got to the show was check out the T-Shirts. I immediately bought the 3/4 sleeve shirt with Night in the Ruts on the Front & on the Back the N & the R were crossed out & changed around so it read on the back(just what Magic mentioned earlier) Right in the Nuts.Mothers Finest opened the show & were booed off the stage & Aerosmith put on a good show but it was a little disappointing, still it was worth it for the T shirt. On the way home I thought about my mom, she always loved looking at my concert shirts but if she seen that she'd probably throw it out. I got home & cleverly opened my jacket to show her the shirt(only the front). I went to a Catholic school & normally had to wear a shirt & tie but seeing it was mid-Term exam time(middle of January that's how I remembered) we could wear what we wanted so I wore my new T Shirt. I only had one exam which was Geometry & my Teacher was Miss Robinson who was probably in her 20's & seemed to show up to teach half crocked frequently.I figured she'd never notice & I began taking the exam. She walked up & down the aisles making sure no one was cheating. After about 20 minutes she walked up the back of my aisle & I just happened to be hunched over.She walked past my desk,stopped & took a few steps backward & then I felt a tap on my shoulder "Nice shirt,how was the concert?" she asked. I was embarrassed for some reason & just said "It was great".
I did notice though, that within a month that shirt seemed to be missing!
 

Dave78

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

Yet another great review of another great Aerosmith album. :cheers:

This album restored my faith in the band (after the release of the somewhat disappointing Draw The Line album), with four rocking tunes ("No Surprize", "Chiquita", "Cheese Cake", "Three Mile Smile"), two solid album tracks ("Think About It", "Bone to Bone") and a terrific ballad in "Mia". I was never crazy about both "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" or "Reefer Head Woman" but that's the nature of a record album - you gotta take the good with the bad.

Overall, I rank this LP third after Rocks and Toys In The Attic. My only personal gripe about this album is that (similar to the Draw The Line album) the songs don't have a great flow to them from start to finish so thanks to modern cd players I can program the disc to play in a sequence more to my liking to make the album more listenable.

I, too, was bummed to hear that Perry left the band during the recording and/or touring for this album, but that feeling would last "only" four years until they announced their "Back In The Saddle Tour", but I'm getting ahead of myself. :D

And nice story (again), Bucky. :D
 

0000

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

Nice review Magic, and story Bucky:)

Not my favorite album and I'll agree with what LG and someone else said about more than just the guitar leaving with Perry....Even though the chemistry was amost purely tension, that tension gave their music such an anger and angsty drive to it, I do like Mia, Cheese Cake, and Chaquita, its an album I'll listen to, but not very often
 

METALPRIEST

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

Nice!!! :grinthumb

I remember the day I got this along with HYDRA by ToTo

I love this album from start to finish!! :cheers:
 

LG

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Re: Aerosmith ~ Night in the Ruts (1979)

I have a copy now, so I'll give it a spin when I get a chance.:tup:
 

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