“What have you got to lose?”
I remember buying Aerosmith’s Columbia years compilation Box Of Fire back in the mid 90s. I didn’t know a lot of the band’s 70s stuff and I was worried I’d risked too much cash on 13 CDs worth of albums I might not like that much. But the moment I heard the first riff of Make It, the opening song on their 1973 debut album, I knew it was going to be ok. Make It is a great, gutsy opener and a decent song but it’s the guitars that really umm… make it. It’s chock full of dirty drop-D riffing and colourfully wonky soloing. And that intro riff, with its goosebump-inducing suspended chord and mini-gallop, still knocks me out as much today as it did back in 1994. Money well spent.
Part of me wants the Box of Fire box set just to have, but I already have most of it on CD and when you throw in the vinyl, I have it all (I think).
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Yes there’s a bonus CD with about 5 extra tracks on it but I’m not sure if that stuff is available elsewhere or not.
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Probably by now. I’ll look in to it.
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Oh, I never thought of playing this one in Drop D! Maybe that’s why I could never get it to sound right, lol
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Yeah I struggled with this one for ages! Really fun to play once you’ve got the tuning right.
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Yeah, love D tuning. Cinnamon Girl and Unchained are fun ones too.
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I love playing Unchained too! Never tried Cinammon Girl. I use the Drop D more on acoustic than electric though. It’s essential for folk, fingerpicking kinda stuff.
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A great box set for all your one stop Aero shopping up to ’94 that is. Make It is a great track. Need to listen to that one and One Way Street…
Great stuff Sir!
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I had no idea what to expect when I bought Aerosmith’s debut album last year, but as soon as “Make It” came on, I was blown away! Aerosmith sure were a beast in the ’70s.
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Yes they really were!
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Make it, ‘til you fake it: 6 word summary of the band’s whole career?
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Pretty much! I bet you love “I Don’t To Miss A Thing” though. I heard you get all teary.
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Nah, it’s not formulaic and mushy enough for me. I far prefer all the later even shittier ballads; you know the ones that make Miss a Thing sound like Entombed.
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Ever heard the Kiss song “Nothing Can Keep Me From You’? Ooft.
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No but is it one of those ones that makes a good argument for AI taking over all songwriting from humans?
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Definitely
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Desmond Child has a book out that I quite fancy reading. He wrote so many bangers that I love, secretly love in some cases, but do.
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Yes I quite fancy that too. I love a lot of his stuff and he seems like he’s had a bit of a nuts life as well.
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I never liked his work with Slayer much, ‘Dude, Satan Is Behind You (Behind You)’, just wasn’t hooky enough.
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He did better in his black metal era. Burzum’s ‘Dude (Looks Kinda Shady)’ was a masterpiece.
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