listening Post: Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation

Run-DMC re-energized the flagging brand and they return with a mega selling album. But is it any good?

Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation - 1987 (Buy It)


There is something familiar about this....this opening track...lemme check wikipedia...it's so....well, it's obviously a stronger, more assured piece of songwri- Oh, right. Got it.
So, Aerosmith basically realized that their strongest songwriting days were behind them and brought in some ringers. Like Desmond Child. Didn't I JUST get through dealing with this guy's work with Bon Jovi???? I thought for sure I was done with mirrors...I mean, Desmond Child. Okay, crap.

GREAT ROCK CONNECTIONS: Holly Knight co-wrote "Rag Doll". You don't know her? Do a wiki search, I'm not an encyclopedia (which is blogspeak for 'neither do I'). The great connection is that it's because of Mike (I write Hits for a living, mutha) Chapman. He's the person who really gave her her start in songwriting and publishing.

Thank goodness. If the first two tracks off this monster aren't that exciting (they're nothing special), Rag Doll is the deserved hit. Maybe I just like it so much better because I remember the video's constant presence and the girls were really hot in it, but I think the song is actually just the perfect little 'smith confection. Dirty, bloozy, simple, broadly stroked. I could listen to that song ever week for the rest of the decade.

It should be noted that this is the strongest the band has sounded in ages. Since Rocks. And the production carries with it just a hint, a glimmer, of '80s over production so it actually ends up sounding pretty good and not too dated at all.

You know, after listening to "Dude Looks Like a Lady" (Yes, I am live blogging this record) I have to come to a commonly head precept: Hits are Hits for a reason. This is just a tasty tune amidst workman-like songsmithing.
St. John sounds like the song David Lee Roth wish he had written for his "Skyscraper" solo record.
Hangman Jury is the closest Aerosmith has come to sounding like a real worshipper at the blues altar and not just at the feet of Jimmy Page.

And Bruce Fairbairn. He was a genius. The world definitely misses him. He gets special note because his work here and with Bon Jovi has elevated two mediocre bands to heights I didn't think they could reach.

The nice thing about "Permanent Vacation" is that it gets better as it gets roiled. Instead of being front-loaded with a couple hits and falling apart after that like so many of these albums do, this one keeps the listener entertained and engaged.
A solid return and a definite keeper.

Grade A

A Side: Rag Doll, Dude Looks Like A Lady & Girl Keeps Coming Apart
BlindSide: St. John (I'm a sucker for that prowly bass line that sounds like it's lifted from Dead Kennedys "The Prey" or every noir novel ever written & Hangman Jury
Downside: Angel. Yeah, I know it was a monster hit. But that opening just sounds so much like J. Geils' "Love Stinks" and the rest of the Dianne Warren-esqu horribilty reminds me of Cheap Trick's The Flame. Pandering balladeering at it's worst. And The Movie. Really. The world doesn't need instrumental music from Aersomith. Really.