Aerosmith – Legendary Edition

What does it sound like?:

Aerosmith are an enormously successful business. They have achieved 25 gold, 18 platinum, and 12 multi-platinum album certifications, in addition to one diamond album, four gold singles, and one platinum digital single. Having sold more than 69.5 million albums in the United States and 150 million worldwide, they are the best-selling American rock band. They have a nice little side line in video games. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is considered to be the best-selling band-centric video game across both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band platforms. They formed in 1970, broke through with their third album, Toys In The Attic, but temporarily lost their twin guitarists to drugs and rehab during a fallow ten years until a mid-eighties resurgence turbocharged by teaming up with Run-DMC on Walk With This Way. Since then, alongside the cash registers ringing, they have enjoyed critical acclaim and multiple awards. They were inducted to The Rock And Roll Of Fame in 2001.

This debut album was released in 1973. It wasn’t well received at the time and the staunchest of Aerosmith fan is unlikely to rate it as one of their best. It is meat and and potatoes, Stones cos-play, minus the swing and swagger. Perry’s lead guitar is spectacularly attention-seeking without enough quality riffs. Tyler has Jagger’s phrasing with a much wider range, but is yet to adopt his transatlantic accent. The rhythm section is solid, nothing fancy. They only experienced Blues and R & B secondhand. They don’t hide their inspiration, concluding the album with a charmless cover of Rufus Thomas’s Walking The Dog, a song they learned from The Stones’ debut. Mercifully, the album only lasts 36 minutes. However, it does include Dream On, a blatant attempt to mimic Stairway To Heaven. When edited down and released as a single six months later, it caused a bit of a stir, especially in their hometown of Boston, and peaked at 59 in the Billboard Top 100. The full album version was issued on 45rpm in 1975 and reached the giddy heights of number 8. If you ask an everyday punter to name three Aerosmith songs, they are likely to say Walk This Way, Toys In The Attic and Dream On.

The Toxic Twins, Tyler and Perry natch, blamed the dull plodding sound on the producer, Adrian Barber. This Legendary Edition remaster and especially the remix give credence to that claim. Suddenly, sparks fly, vocals soar, bass and drums thunder. The adrenaline quotient is turned up to eleven. Walking The Dog is unsalvageable but the rest become thrilling Hard Rock and tracks like One Way Street and Movin’ Out make Dream On seem pallid. Credit to master remixer Zakk Cervini who assisted Tyler and Perry to realise their “unfiltered vision”.

Aerosmith built their following based on their visceral gigs. The radio broadcast concert from March 1973 at Paul’s Mall, Boston, features the band already comfortable with their signature sound, performing to a small, devoted audience. An eight minute cover of James Brown’s Mother Popcorn, with guest saxophonist Michael Woodward, has Tyler throwing some fancy vocal shapes. The band can’t get on the one but they give the beat every ounce of energy they’ve got. From that point on, their performance is stoked, including an aggressive Walking The Dog. They have also found six studio outtakes, mostly practice runs and jams, that are unlikely to shift the dial of opinion on the album. Train Kept A Rollin’, though, is a blistering cover riding roughshod over its Boogie Woogie original. Its exclusion from the original album is baffling. Nevertheless, there can be no complaints about the musical content of this box: the remastered album, a refreshing remix, an excellent gig and some outtakes.

The construction of the packages is another matter. You can buy single LP or CD of the remix. The Legendary Expanded Edition consists of 3CDs in cardboard with a booklet for about £30. All the material could technically fit on two CDs. The Legendary Deluxe Edition is 4LPs and a book, costing around £130. LP1 is the remaster, LP2 the remix and LP3 and 4 the rest. The Legendary Collector’s Edition is ridiculous and will set you back £240. In addition to the 4LPs of the Deluxe, there is a 12″ single of the remaster and remix of Dream On, which are already on LP1 and LP2 respectively. It is a clear vinyl UV effect set on a slipmat of clouds. You get a hardback version of the book, a foldout poster, stickers and a “diorama”, which is essentially a cardboard 3D of the album cover, a cut-out of the photo of the five band members staged against those blasted clouds.

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What does it all *mean*?

Just another fourteen Legendary studio albums to go.

Goes well with…

A certain age range and nationality

Release Date:

20th March 2026

Might suit people who like…

Rock music. If you aren’t already a fan of Aerosmith, the remix is worth a spin.

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