Night In The Ruts - Aerosmith (CD 1993)

Aerosmith is an excellent band with longevity that isn't matched by many bands. Not that it was easy, with bandmembers going off on each other because of differences and the direction the band was going, it's amazing that they held up over the years. Well, they didn't really hold up entirely over the years, because Joe Perry left a few times, and he left during the recording of this album. Solo projects didn't pan though, thankfully, and he came back to rock with the rest of the boys from Boston.

Night In The Ruts is an appropriate title for this album, although maybe it should've been titled Years In The Ruts or something like that. Their differences and drug habits nearly derailed the band entirely, but Steven kept them going when things were a little down and they continued to pump out good tunes. This album is the product of those differences and there are some excellent original songs on here, but there are also some cool covers that showed their roots as well.

No Surprise and Remember (Walking In The Sand) are classic Aerosmith tunes, but there are other little heard of gems as well. This album rocks on many tunes, and the ones that don't have a cool bluesy feel with nice slide guitar playing and some come with some nice horn playing, which is kind of cheesy, but shows how Aerosmith can do different things. Chiquita and Cheesecake are evidence of this. Three Mile Smile is a song that's like a poorman's Train Kept A Rollin'. It doesn't rock quite as much as Train, but Joe's guitar soloing carries this song to near greatness, but not quite. Reefer Head Woman is an outstanding blues song that's reminiscent of something that Led Zeppelin would probably be proud of. It's not quite as good as any of the Zeppelin blues cover tunes, but it's not too far off either. I really like seeing this side of Aerosmith, they show a little versatility and maybe some of their influences on this tune. Bone to Bone is a good song with some cool riffs. It kind of reminds me of Walk The Dog off of their first album. Next is Think About It, which sounds a little like Golden Earring's Radar Love. It's not quite as good as Radar Love, but it's cool enough that it deserves to be on this album. Aerosmith finishes the album with Mia, a tribute to Steven Tyler's newborn daughter. It's a softer side to Aerosmith that foreshadows what is to come, and where they get their big payday.

Overall Night In The Ruts is an excellent album, even though there are only two household songs on it. The rest, though, makes me happy to own this album. Seeing a different side to Aerosmith makes it worthwhile to own this album, even if it isn't really commercial friendly. I enjoyed listening to the entire album, it was something that I definitely didn't expect prior to listening to it. The album as a whole has a lot of good songs that kind of fly under the radar, but it also shows were they came from and where they were in their career at the time.