Certainly, modern production can punch up the sound - it was co-produced by Perry, Tyler and longtime friend and consultant Steve Berkowitz - but Perry claims there was no extensive cleanup. It is almost astonishing how crisp and tight “1971” sounds, given the likely setting and situation. We played whenever they asked, but they didn’t ask for too many and they liked the idea of having a rock band playing in the basement.”Īerosmith would pack up their gear after rehearsal and stuff it into closets, as a ballet company shared the space. “I think we got the better part of the deal,” he says.
If it was a blues song that rocked, that was another story.”Īt BU, Perry says, they made a deal with the person who ran the dormitory: Aerosmith got to use the rehearsal room if they did some free gigs for the university. Then, we only played gigs that let us play our originals along with the covers of our choice.”Īs to their developing sound, it was clearly blues-based and the band specialized in revamping old blues and R&B songs, but Perry says, “I thought it was the kiss of death to sit around and play slow blues. At first, it was all covers, but then Steven and Joe started getting together and writing. “To play clubs back then,” says Hamilton, “you had to do Top 40 commercial crap and play five sets a night, six days a week which would have turned Steven’s throat to gristle.
That was the way of the world in the pre-punk early ‘70s. That was the nascent Aerosmith, which at that point, was mostly playing cover songs during club gigs. On “1971,” you can hear a smattering of applause from invited friends or, perhaps, students passing by and stopping for a listen. It sounded like a more controlled environment and has the vibe of the way we rehearsed there.”Īerosmith’s roadie and right-hand man at the time, Mark Lehman, set up two mics: One for Tyler’s vocals and one for the rest of the band and pushed the record button. “But I think from the way it was set up - we only had two microphones and we had to experiment where to get the best mix - it was probably recorded in the basement of the rehearsal room they gave us as a tradeoff at a Boston University dorm. “I know some people thought it was at a sound check at a gig in Lowell,” says Perry, on the phone from his Sarasota, Florida home. I mean, it’s funky and raw but everything’s there.” Joe seems to remember something about a two-track tape machine, but I can’t figure out how we got the quality. “Tape? Demo? Rehearsal? For me, the thing that makes it so mysterious is that the guitar, bass, drum and vocal parts are almost exactly what eventually went on the album. “I’m still racking my brain to try and remember when and how we recorded this,” he continues. “All of a sudden, it’s just there! When I first heard it, it was like hearing some young new band. “This record is a bolt out of the blue,” says Hamilton, via email. As to its provenance, well, that remains a bit of a mystery. The existence or whereabouts of the tape was unknown for years, until a discovery was made in an old van the band once used. When this was recorded, the band - Perry, singer Steven Tyler, guitarist Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer - was barely a year old.
Five of the songs showed up on their debut LP, recorded the following year and released in early 1973. It’s a seven-song pressing of 10,000 LPs and 2,000 cassettes. It’s now a twice-a-year event and, as always, the second comes on Black Friday, a day when a myriad of bands release limited-edition rarities from their vaults.Īerosmith has come up with a hard-rocking, bluesy doozy - and a mystery: It’s called “1971: The Road Starts Hear,” a 40-minute LP and cassette culled from a two-track tape done on a vintage Wollensak reel-to-reel deck owned by guitarist Joe Perry. Over 13 years ago, Record Store Day was created, a concerted effort to drive fans to buy actual hard copy products in an increasingly digital age.
Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer (drums), Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith on "Midnight Special" in Burbank, CA - June 1974.