We Built This City

    Claimed by many, including my son, to be the worst Rock & Roll song ever; I have never quite understood the vitriol spewed at it.  We Built This City has a kewl melody, and a catchy (faux) radio spiel in the middle, reminiscent of Meat Loaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

    Yes, the song was obviously aimed at getting radio airplay.  Yes, a case could be made that Jefferson Starship had copped out for Commercial Appeal, and had tumbled a long way downhill from their "Up Against The Wall, Mother F**ker" heyday.

    But musicians gotta eat, and bands are expected to keep cranking out the hits and albums decade after decade.  We Built This City may not be a paragon of Rock & Roll, but there's a sh*tload of other Classic Rock songs that stink up the airwaves far worse.

Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic

Artist  :  Aerosmith

Album  :  Toys In The Attic

Year  :  1975

Rating : 8*/10

- Tracks -

01. Toys In The Attic

02. Uncle Salty

03. Adam's Apple

04. Walk This Way

05. Big Ten Inch Record

06. Sweet Emotion

07. No More No More

08. Round And Round

09. You See Me Crying

    I've never gotten into Aerosmith.  Can't really say why; they play good old Rock & Roll.  Liz has a couple CD's by them - Big Ones (good stuff); Honkin' On Bobo (not so good).

    A co-worker gave me this LP a couple weeks ago, along with about 10 others.  It was in wretched shape, as was true of all his LP's.  If God is an audiophile, this guy will surely spend Eternity in Hell.  So despite not having a big interest in the band, I digitalized the album, just to see how my De-Scratcher program would do.

    The program performed quite well.  About 95% of the scratches were removed, with only the last track, which is more ballady, still sounding like a wirebrush had been applied to it.  As background music, it sounded good.  On the good speakers on the PC, it was only so-so.  Unfortunately, what the de-scratch program couldn't touch were a bunch of forward skips.  Which became quite irritating once I knew where they'd crop up.

    Surprisingly, I found Toys In The Attic to be a very solid album.  Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion were the big radio-play hits, of course.  But really, there are no weak tracks on either side.  Favorite tracks are in pink above.  You could add the two hits as well, but I've heard them too often on the radio.

    Liz says Aerosmith albums are hit-or-miss; this one must be a hit.  We'll give it 8 Stars, and probably go looking for a better copy of it at the local used-record store.  Amazon sells with - sans any bonus tracks - for $8.99, which is kind of a ripoff.