Aerosmith - Live! Bootleg
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On October 27, 1978, "Aerosmith" released "Live! Bootleg", their first double live album.
In the late 1970s, "Aerosmith" stood on the brink of a dazzling and dangerous precipice. After a dizzying run of five studio albums in just five years, including the energy bombs "Get Your Wings" (1974), "Toys in the Attic" (1975), "Rocks" (1976) and "Draw the Line" (1977), the Boston fivesome had become the wildest, most brazen and dangerous American answer to British rock giants "Led Zeppelin" and "The Rolling Stones". But behind the million-dollar sales and stadium tours, a flame of self-destruction burned. Vocalist Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry, who earned the infamous nickname The Toxic Twins due to their extreme lifestyle and constant tensions between them, stretched the rope to the limits of human and artistic ability, while guitarist Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton, and drummer Joey Kramer held the band's groove machine in their teeth from crashing.
Live albums such as "Alive!" by "Kiss" and Peter Frampton’s "Frampton Comes Alive" had already shown how the connection between stage and audience could reach millions of listeners on record. "Aerosmith" and producer Jack Douglas chose a rougher approach. The title and packaging of "Live! Bootleg" deliberately echo unauthorized concert recordings, while the performances preserve much of the band’s onstage grit.
(Photo: Columbia Records)
Produced by Jack Douglas and the band, the album draws mainly on performances from 1977 and 1978, documented by engineers including Jay Messina. The relatively unpolished presentation lets us hear the guitars rubbing against each other and Steven Tyler’s voice pushing through the noise. Kosh’s design follows the same idea: an official record borrowing the rough appearance of an underground release. That is part of its appeal, without requiring a claim that no studio work took place.
The double album opens with "Back in the Saddle", recorded in Indianapolis on July 4, 1977. The heavy riff and Steven Tyler’s sharp entrance bring us straight into the smoke and sweat of the hall. "Sweet Emotion", recorded in Chicago in March 1978, follows with Tom Hamilton’s unmistakable bass line, before the band stretches into a tense, seven-minute-plus "Lord of the Thighs". Joe Perry and Brad Whitford give the guitars room to breathe, provoke and erupt.
Side one ends with a fast, compressed "Toys in the Attic", also recorded in Chicago. Side two opens with the groove of "Last Child", captured at Boston’s Paradise club in August 1978. Next comes "The Beatles" cover "Come Together", recorded at the Wherehouse in Waltham. This live performance should be distinguished from the studio version featured in "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band", which became a hit single that year. Here, it leads into "Walk This Way" from Detroit and "Sick as a Dog" from Indianapolis.
The second record opens with "Dream On", recorded in Louisville in July 1977. Steven Tyler’s voice climbs from restraint to that familiar falsetto, keeping the tension alive even when we know every note. "Chip Away the Stone", written by Richard Supa and recorded in Santa Monica in April 1978, follows. It is one of four songs on the record that had not previously appeared on an Aerosmith album, alongside the three covers. "Sight for Sore Eyes", "Mama Kin" and "S.O.S. (Too Bad)" then return Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton to the heart of the rhythm machine.
Side four reaches back to two performances at Boston’s Paul’s Mall in 1973: "I Ain’t Got You", also associated with "The Yardbirds", and James Brown’s "Mother Popcorn", featuring David Woodford on saxophone. The "Mother Popcorn" track also hides "Draw the Line", recorded at the Tower Theater in March 1978 and omitted from the original sleeve’s track listing. The combined track runs for roughly eleven and a half minutes; that duration does not belong to "Mother Popcorn" alone. The movement between blues, funk and heavy rock reveals the quintet’s flexibility and the chemistry behind its sound.
The album closed with a mighty Detroit-esque closing chord with the classic Train Kept A-Rollin', in which, in the middle of its feverish solo, Perry weaves in a humorous nod to the famous tune of Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra before the band races to the finish line at breakneck speed. Upon its release in October 1978, "Live! Bootleg" soared to number thirteen on the American Billboard charts, reached platinum status, and remained on the charts for months. Beyond its commercial success, the album remains a living, breathing, kicking monument to the first golden era of "Aerosmith" just before Perry's temporary departure a year later, a rare document in its honesty that proves that true rock and roll at its best needs no studio makeup but only five burning souls on one stage.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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