Aerosmith – Done With Mirrors

The album signals the return of the classic Aerosmith lineup with Perry and Whitford back in the place of guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay after a six-year, two-album hiatus, and is the first release of their Geffen era.

Written by: Dave T

ARTIST: Aerosmith
ALBUM: Done With Mirrors
LABEL: Geffen
SERIAL: GHS 24091
YEAR: 1985
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Steven Tyler – vocals * Joe Perry – guitar * Brad Whitford – guitar * Tom Hamilton – bass * Joey Kramer – drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 Let The Music Do The Talking * 02 My Fist Your Face * 03 Shame On You * 04 The Reason A Dog * 05 Shela * 06 Gypsy Boots * 07 She’s On Fire * 08 The Hop * 09 Darkness (CD bonus track)

RATING: 85/100

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

Believe it or not, I’d never heard this album in full before, up until one month ago when I found a used, near-mint copy of an early cd press. So this is gonna be a fresh view from a reviewer’s standpoint. I believe that fact will do away with any prejudices or mindset if you will.

Of course I’ve read and heard about DWM being the black sheep of Aerosmith’s discography, Toxic Twins Tyler and Perry apologizing about this album on record, a dreadful Rolling Stone magazine review back in the day, and fans going to either positive or mostly negative extremes with regards to its quality.

The album signals the return of the classic Aerosmith lineup with Perry and Whitford back in the place of guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay after a six-year, two-album hiatus, and is the first release of their Geffen era. It was produced by Ted Templeman, of Van Halen fame.

The Songs

This is perhaps the last classic-sounding Aerosmith album. The production is clear and beefy, Joey Kramer’s drum sound in particular. It’s amazing (all pun intended) how different is the raw, bluesy approach here compared to the vast majority of the hard rock produced by 1985.

The dark shadows of drug abuse and endless partying were still over the band, a situation that would only be overcome by their next album. And it is reflected in the lyrics that lean heavily on sex, drugs and being in trouble. And what about the original album cover, written back-to-front?

A more polished reworking with different lyrics of Perry’s ‘Let The Music Do The Talking’ is the album opener, maybe lacking the edge of the original version however a worthy start. The gritty ‘My Fist Your Face’ is as heavy as Aerosmith can get with the possible exception of ‘Nobody’s Fault’; the riff first heard at around 1:00 is hard-rock genius.

‘Shame On You’ and ‘Shela’ have all the groove only these guys from Boston can commit to song, the latter specially is almost heavy funk and I’m pretty sure Guns N’ Roses and Skid Row members had a steady diet of this back in the day. Sandwiched between these two, the mid-tempo ‘The Reason A Dog’ appears as a little tired. With renewed energy, the pacy ‘Gypsy Boots’ sounds like the blueprint for some songs of the following two albums.

Speaking of which, ‘She’s On Fire’ seems to be an older relative to ‘Janie’s Got A Gun’ from ‘Pump’, plus a bit of ‘Sweet Emotion’ in the choruses. ‘The Hop’ is another groovy, boogie kind of rock and roll whose main riff prospectively brings to mind ‘Satch Boogie’, without the shredding factor. Is Aerosmith following the path of ‘Rocks’, and ending up with a ballad like the heartfelt, soft and brilliant ‘Home Tonight’? Not exactly, as the piano-driven ‘Darkness’ starts as a slow bluesy-jazzy affair, but develops into a haunting song stressed by Tyler’s dramatic vocals.

In Summary

In a nutshell, Done With Mirrors would perfectly fit into the band’s Box Of Fire collection. With no outside songwriters, the album marks the end of the classic Aerosmith era, and I dare to say that without DWM there wouldn’t have been a ‘Permanent Vacation’ or a ‘Pump’.

Not stellar, however strongly consistent in delivering raw, meat and potatoes bluesy, boogie-laden American hard rock. Arguably one of Aerosmith’s heaviest albums, the ensuing tour with Ted Nugent would have been a pleasure to attend. It is true that at times the band sounds restrained, like they were holding back.

But this is an album I can listen to in its entirety without skipping songs, something I cannot say about any of the Geffen-era albums, be it the aforementioned ‘Permanent Vacation’ or ‘Pump’ (both with great moments in my opinion) or the, to these ears, underwhelming ‘Get A Grip’. A year later, the 1986 remake of ‘Walk This Way’ by Run-DMC with Tyler and Perry as guests (a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic), would mark the beginning of Aerosmith’s more commercially successful period.

Videos

My Fist Your Face