This revisit is due to your Heavy Metal Overlord, who told me that Permanent Vacation is his favourite go-to album for reunited Aerosmith. Due to the tremendous respect (and fear) I have for HMO, I decided that I needed to give it another listen.
My conclusion after hearing it again is that I had it dead wrong in my album review. Yes, there are a couple filler songs. “St. John” and “Girl Keeps Coming Apart” still don’t resonate with me. But, man, there are some bangers on Permanent Vacation. I didn’t remember how awesome “Heart’s Done Time” really is. I forgot about the cool Beatles cover “I’m Down”. I didn’t give due credit to the terrific title track. But most important of all is “Magic Touch”. Is Joe Perry playing a whammy bar in the beginning? What a song. Could it be the best song on the album? It certainly has a chorus that goes on for miles.
Permanent Vacation, as an album, might be overshadowed by its own singles “Dude”, “Angel” and “Rag Doll”. But I’ll be damned if “Angel” doesn’t still make the hair on my arms stand up to this day.
I’ve been unfair to Permanent Vacation. It’s far better than I thought it was.
Revisits? Unfairness? Time for the review that will never die- Virtual Lights Strikes Over France. Due for a revisit, I think.
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I agree with LeBrain, there’s something off about that show. I don’t think Blaze was the right guy for Maiden. Nothing tops Di’Anno-Murray-Smith-Harris-Burr though, but Dickinson-Murray-Smith-Harris-Burr matches it in a different way.
You should write a guest review for Virtual Lights Strikes Over France. I’m sure LeBrain would post it. I’ve thrown a couple of reviews at him that he’s yet to use, he could take a few days off and post our crap. LeBrain’s reader content week.
Harrison still #1.
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I don’t want to guest review it. that’s cheating, and defeats the point. I want LeBrain to recognise its awesomeness.
(Blindly delusional as I am, I will still criticise the muffed lyrics on the album. That does bother me)
Also, spoiler alert, I have a mega review about to be finished, but I think I’ll hold it back for a bit until yours have been posted
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Sorry but Holen is right. There is no point in me revisiting that bootleg. It’s never going to sound better. There is something wrong with Blaze’s voice on it, and he can’t hit and sustain the right notes. That alone means I have nothing new to add. If you want to do a guest shot that would be far more effective.
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I want Harrison to review it as well. I have nothing new to add.
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Nope. I’ll review many things, but not that (not that you’re complaining about it). I’d always prefer to review things that Lebrain hasn’t reviewed, nor is he going to. Plus it has to be appropriate for me to review it instead of him
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I like this one, but I prefer the sloppy haze of Done With Mirrors by some distance as far as their reunion stuff goes, and I think Pump bests both of ’em. I do like “Angel” a lot, the Beatles cover “Magic Touch” is great, and “Hangman Jury” rules. It is way overproduced though.
However, “Man (Looks Like a Woman)” is one of the worst songs ever written, and that pejorative nickname I have for it is inexplicably funny, at least in my opinion. Still, the laughs don’t make up for the utter horror that is having to listen to that awful awful song. “Male (Looks Like a Female)” is just the lowest caliber crap with the stupid percussive vocals to open up the turgid peppy excuse for a song with cheesy horns and Steven Tyler’s embarrassing dance moves. “XY (Looks Like a XX)” should go down as one of the worst songs ever written.
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Hey man, I’m cool with songs that make fun of Motley Crue!
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Wow! That is great that you see it differently now. I have albums that pop up like that every now and again. Some sound better today and some don’t hold up well. I think it all depends on the mood as to when you revisit it. It will be curious to see if it changes back over time.
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Well, Harrison.
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Indeed we have. I’m practiced with it though, that review and I go way back
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You know when this first dropped back in August of 1987 me and T-bone bought it at the exact same time as Hold Your Fire by Rush!
We were at A&A records here and they robbed us on the price but we were psyched to see new Aero and Rush right before our eyes!
Aero got the first order of business in the tape deck in Tbones car..
Man we cranked it..the title track was brilliant as was Hangman/St John.. it knocked us on our ass it was so good and the sound..
Wowzers..
Thanks for bringing back a cool memory ….
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Glad you enjoyed the revisit. Done With Mirrors is the one I need to revisit, never got into that one at all.
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That’s a Deke album. I can’t say I ever got into it much.
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Aerosmith album tracks > Aerosmith singles.
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100%
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