While letting my mind wander down memory lane (as it often does of late), I started thinking about upcoming anniversary albums, particularly those that soon might be celebrating 40 years on the collective public turntable. I found three that stood out because they shared something in common: 1) they were all released in 1982 by popular American rock acts; 2) they were all recorded soon after each band experienced personnel changes following a long period of stability, and 3) they aren’t usually remembered as the artists’ best work.
So, before everyone starts falling over themselves next year trumpeting the wonderfulness of the approaching 40th anniversary releases, here’s a rock ‘n’ roll re-evaluation for their 39th. Just have an extinguisher at the ready to deal with all the candles.
AEROSMITH – ‘ROCK IN A HARD PLACE’ (1982): Let’s start with a high-profile change that saw the loss of Aerosmith guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. The changing of the guard was not as clean as it looked, though: Perry had already left the band before completing their previous album Night in the Ruts, and Jimmy Crespo had already begun his short tenure as Perry’s replacement.
By the time of Rock in a Hard Place, it was Whitford’s turn to leave. Crespo got his due credit, but new guitarist Rick Dufay got his picture on the album as well, despite not having the opportunity to contribute to the recording. All things considered, it still functions as a pretty decent Aerosmith album, although it probably isn’t a typical choice for fans when they need a quick dose of that classic Aerosmith sound.
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS – ‘LONG AFTER DARK’ (1982): This album sometimes gets retroactively maligned as sounding formulaic or maybe just plain ol’ tired. Don’t you believe it. Although long-time bassist Ron Blair had been replaced with Howie Epstein, it still sounds very much like the band of rockers that had built their reputations on such classic Tom Petty albums as Damn the Torpedoes and Hard Promises.
The songwriting is strong, but maybe some re-sequencing and different choices for singles would have made a difference to both critical perception and the record-buying public. “Finding Out” would have been a great album opener, and “Straight Into Darkness” would have served nicely in the traditional spot for the big single at the top of Side Two. In any case, this remains another classic album in a long string of them by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
CHEAP TRICK – ‘ONE ON ONE’ (1982): Hmm … OK – full disclosure: someone asked me about this this a couple of months ago and I realized I hadn’t ever heard it. Here’s a case of an album that just fell off my radar altogether. Perhaps (Sir) George Martin’s production of Cheap Trick’s prior effort All Shook Up was my cue to go, as I really didn’t care much for anything related to the Beatles until a few years later, and by then I just forgot to circle back and check this one out. Excuses, excuses.
In any case, I’m happy to say in retrospect One On One is a pretty solid album, produced by Roy Thomas Baker and featuring more of a return to the regular Cheap Trick sound. It also features new bassist Jon Brant on a few cuts, which maybe explains the fact that his face is partially obscured on the front of the album jacket.
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