Aerosmith - 1974 [1993] "Get Your Wings"

Get Your Wings is the second studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released March 1, 1974. The album is the first to feature production from Jack Douglas, who would go on to produce the band's next four albums. Three singles were released from the album, but none of them made the pop charts.
The album has been released in stereo and quadraphonic, and certified triple platinum by the RIAA.^[7] The original cover art featured gold winged insignia.

Often overshadowed by the subsequent twin highlights of Toys in the Attic and Rocks, Aerosmith's 1974 second album, Get Your Wings, is where Aerosmith became Aerosmith -- it's where they teamed up with producer Jack Douglas, it's where they shed much of their influences and developed their own trademark sound, it's where they turned into songwriters, it's where Steven Tyler unveiled his signature obsessions with sex and sleaze. Chief among these attributes may be Douglas, who either helped the band ease into the studio or captured their sound in a way their debut never did. This is a leaner, harder album, bathed in grease and layered in grit, but it's not just down to Douglas. The band itself sounds more distinctive. There are blues in Joe Perry and Joey Kramer's interplay, but this leapfrogs over blues-rock; it turns into slippery hard rock. To be sure, it's still easy to hear the Stones here, but they never really sound Stonesy; there's almost more of the Yardbirds to the way the group works the riffs, particularly evident on the cover of the early 'Birds classic "The Train Kept a Rollin'." But if the Yardbirds were tight and nervy, Aerosmith is blown out and loose, the sound of excess incarnate -- that is, in every way but the writing itself, which is confident and strong, fueled by Tyler's gonzo sex drive. He is the "Lord of the Thighs," playing that "Same Old Song and Dance," but he also slows down enough for the eerie "Seasons of Wither," a powerful slow-churning ballad whose mastery of atmosphere is a good indication of how far the band has grown. They never attempted anything quite so creepy on their debut, but it isn't just that Aerosmith is trying newer things on Get Your Wings, it's that they're doing their bloozy bluster better and bolder, which is what turns this sophomore effort into their first classic.

These days, anyone even remotely hip to pop culture knows of Aerosmith. But at the time the Boston, Massachusetts band’s second album slipped into in the stores, they were still struggling to reach a wider audience.
Although the band’s first album Aerosmith, which was released in 1973, received mostly positive reviews, sales were initially on the thin side. It wasn’t until a couple of years later, after the band zoomed to greater than great heights with their third album, Toys In The Attic, that the disc garnered renewed interest — thanks to one of the tracks, “Dream On,” that rose from the dead and turned into a ginormous hit single.
On all accounts, Get Your Wings (Columbia Records) should have been the album that zapped Aerosmith into a star-studded stratosphere. A vast improvement over Aerosmith, which was good but not terribly unique as it basically consisted of standard hard-rocking boogie beats, this 1974 record blazes with intensity through and through. Every song is sharp and detailed, there’s an increased confidence in the band’s performances, the sound is thick and robust, and the energy is so surplus that it’s enough to light up Disneyland.
Teeming with menace and muscle, tunes such as the whiplash-inducing “S.O.S. (Too Bad),” the crunchy “Woman Of The World” and the sizzling and swaggering “Same Old Song And Dance,” which proposes a blast of cool saxophone work, rank as true blue hard-rock masterpieces. Mean, lean and burning with hunger, these cuts capture the spot-on chemistry and coordination of Aerosmith in full flight.
On a bit of a gentler note, but no less powerful, is the moody and spellbinding “Seasons Of Wither,” while “Pandora’s Box” dispenses a funky signal, and “Spaced,” with its airy and progressive hues, really does produce a spacey feel. A fiery cover of the Johnny Burnett Trio’s “Train Kept A Rollin,'” which was popularized by the Yardbirds in the ’60s, is also included on the album.
Shaped of ripping riffs, zinging and stinging with life, arresting vocals dripping with charisma and personality, wickedly hot drumming, deep and deadly bass lines, and ripe and fresh hooks and melodies, Get Your Wings struts with purpose and direction.
Aerosmith’s debut album may have been riddled with comparisons to the Rolling Stones, but Get Your Wings favors a different approach, as it bears slight resemblance to the London lads. If references are to be named, the heavy rock of Led Zeppelin and Montrose come to mind. But there’s no doubt originality prevails, making this the album Aerosmith actually got their wings …

Personnel

Aerosmith

    Steven Tyler – lead vocals, acoustic guitar on "Seasons of Wither", piano on "Lord of the Thighs" and "Pandora's Box"
    Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals
    Brad Whitford – guitar
    Tom Hamilton – bass
    Joey Kramer – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

    Steve Hunter – lead guitar on "Train Kept a Rollin'" (studio half)
    Dick Wagner – lead guitar on "Train Kept a Rollin'" (live half) and "Same Old Song and Dance"[8]
    Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone on "Same Old Song and Dance" and "Pandora's Box"
    Randy Brecker – trumpet on "Same Old Song and Dance"
    Stan Bronstein – baritone saxophone on "Same Old Song and Dance" and "Pandora's Box"
    Jon Pearson – trombone on "Same Old Song and Dance"
    Ray Colcord – keyboards on "Spaced"