Customer Reviews

Draw the Line

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was 16 when this album was originally released in the very cold winter of 1977. At the time there was no MTV, no videos, nothing. If you wanted to see a band you had to go see them live, if you were lucky enough. We didn't know the band was having major drug problems, we didn't care. We were much too caught up in our own adolescent crazyness. It is just too easy to speak in hindsight and criticize this album based on recent magazine articles or VH1 programs. The simple fact is this: This album kicked ass in 1977, and it kicks ass today. We played it to pieces. Instead of rating it on the personal problems that the band was having, rate it against the crap that has come out since.

Coming off their best two albums, "Draw the Line" released in 1977 is not a complete disappointment. As is the case with most recordings, the ones that follow masterpieces tend to be underrated. The lifestyle that Aerosmith had chosen was beginning to show it's effects on the band creatively but by no means were they done yet.

The CD opens with the riff-roaring "Draw the Line" and the rocking "I Wanna Know Why" before slipping into the average "Critical Mass". "Get it Up" may be one of the funkiest tunes they had done up to this point and the punkish Joe Perry sung "Bright Light Fright" is quite interesting.

The second half opens with the classic "Kings and Queens" and along with the title track represents classic Aerosmith in the best sense. A few average rockers follow, "The Hand That Feeds" and "Sight For Sore Eyes" before closing with the Arnold penned blues of "Milk Cow Blues".

Alhough not quite as good as it's two predecessors ("Toys in the Attic", "Rocks") "Draw the Line" finds Aerosmith running out of breath but still in the race. After this it was all downhill. Newcomers may want to avoid this as an introduction but if you're a fan of classic Aerosmith then this CD sounds GREAT turned up!

If only they could rock this hard today.

By the time "Draw The Line" was release in December of 1977, the members of Aerosmith were going thru severe problems in their career mostly due to the alarming rate that their drug addiction was taking. Still compare to the music that the band is doing today this is a pretty good record considering all of the problems that they were going thru at the time. Joe Perry actually call this record their "blackout album" because both he and Steven Tyler were so wasted during the recording sessions that they would literally black out (pass out) in the studio.

This album has a few songs that are worth mentioning I feel. Perhaps my favorite on the album is "Kings and Queens" a medieval ballad with an incredible piano arrangement. Another song that I like is ofcourse the album's title track "Draw The Line" which in reality was the only hit to come out of this record. I have never been able to understand what Steven is saying in the middle of the song because he does nothing but scream to the top of his lungs, I can only hear the beginning before the screaming starts where he says "checkmate don't be late". Even with all that screaming it is still a great classic from Aerosmith.

"Milk Cow Blues" is a remake that they did for this album and it sounds very nice I think. The other songs on the album are just fillers I believe, but as I said before compare this album to the albums that Aerosmith has been doing since about 1990 and "Draw The Line" would be defined as a classic Aerosmith album. I'm sorry but I just can't get into their music now. I don't know why they had to go and change their style. In the 1970's even with all the drugs and all the problems that plauged their career Aerosmith was in my opinion the greatest American rock band in the world. I find it sad that they have never been able to sound as good as they did in the 70's. "Draw The Line" like I said in the title of this review is not a classic but still a good album.

By this time, the chemicals just weren't working so well anymore. The band's well-publicized bouts with drugs were having a noticeably negative effect on the band's songwriting, performances, and no doubt, their judgement.

While this record undoubtedly has strong points (the title cut and "Kings and Queens" are standouts), there's no escaping the fact that this release was a major disappointment after "Rocks". In that context, of course, there's only one way to go after that awesome achievement, and it's not "up".

But, hey, I'll take a mediocre, only occasionally great Aerosmith CD over the best from any of a host of faceless, attitude-driven, mad at the world, low slung pants-wearin', 10-month career arc, youngsters any day. (You'd better believe Kid Rock pays homage at the altar of Aero. This is appropriate.)

So there.

When I hear all of the bad reviews for "Draw the Line" I completely diasagree with them. Sure, it may not be on the same line (no pun intended) with "Toys in the Attic" or "Rocks," but this album doesn't deserve all of this bad hype I hear about it. The title track is pure hard rock with an attitude and great guitar by Perry. "Kings and Queens" is brilliant and is also one of my favorite Aerosmith songs (with a LIMITED FEW songs I like more). Their remake of "Milk Cow Blues" is fantastic and is my favorite cover Aerosmith has ever done ("Walkin' the Dog" and "I'm Down" are close though). Other songs like "Critical Mass" and "Sight for Sore Eyes" are great songs with Steve Tyler's voice screechin' through it all (except for Joe Perry's first vocal appearance in "Bright Light Fright" which isn't bad at all). The only song that sticks out as only "o.k." happens to be "The Hand that Feeds," but 8 out of 9 sure isn't bad. "Draw the Line" might not have been ground-breaking like the two Aerosmith albums before this, but it sure is entertaining!!

When I hear all of the bad reviews for "Draw the Line" I completely diasagree with them. The title track is pure hard rock with an attitude and great guitar by Perry. "Kings and Queens" is brilliant and is also one of my favorite Aerosmith songs .Their remake of "Milk Cow Blues" is fantastic cover. Other songs like "Critical Mass" and "Sight for Sore Eyes" are great songs with Steve Tyler's voice screechin' through it all (except for Joe Perry's first vocal appearance in "Bright Light Fright" which isn't bad at all). The only song that sticks out as only "o.k." happens to be "The Hand that Feeds," but 8 out of 9 sure isn't bad. "Draw the Line" might not have been ground-breaking like the two Aerosmith albums before this, but it sure is entertaining!!

Originally released in 1977,as I remember the very day this lp came out.Not as outstanding as their landmark albums 'Toys In The Attic' or 'Rocks',but STILL a decent effort.Tracks I dug the most were the opening title cut "Draw The Line","Kings And Queens",the blues-like "Milk Cow Blues" and the late night FM radio(at that time anyway)"Sight For Sore Eyes".Nice to pull off the shelf and give a spin every now and again.

This is a difficult album because it follows their two finest studio albums. Still, it's got a lot of good, a little so-so, and no bad. It's head and shoulders above the studio albums to follow, that's for sure. For one thing, it is one of the last to blend Tyler's vocals more solidly in with the rest of the music instead of making his screeches and such so prominent as they do in the decades to follow. It's nice to hear the band playing and not have it drowned out by Tyler.
The first five songs are relentless rock, including Perry's oddity, Bright Light Fright, a rough-edged number that must've left Joey Kramer sweat drenched. He literally pounds his kit from beginning to end. The other four are well done and include some all-time classic Tyler lines (who else incorporates Edgar Allen Poe in a rock number?) that make for great lyric deciphering. When the guy is on, he's damn good.
Kings and Queens is hit and miss for me, they are reaching a bit here, and while it is a noble effort, it doesn't ever work totally. The remaining songs are good efforts, and I think the closing cover of Milk Cow Blues is the gem of the whole album. Careening out of control at the end of the song, before culminating in a crashing finale, this sums up their career trajectory far better than a dozen Behind The Music specials.

...between creampuffs and true rockers!

People are funny. Take Aerosmith's 1977 coked up rockfest DRAW THE LINE. The general consensus is it's where the band lost focus and started to come apart musically. Now REALLY listen to the album without the Behind The Music backstory. What do you hear? A straight up, tightly focused and high energy rock & roll album. In my opinion, only ROCKS edges out this baby. Sure, the song writing is better on TOYS IN THE ATTIC, but this packs a lot more sonic punch: The band rocks a deeper groove, Steven Tyler's singing is on a shrieking other level. If I have to choose between well-crafted songs and a harder, dirtier groove...I'll take the harder, dirtier groove. This is Aerosmith's truncated EXILE ON MAIN ST. It also reminds me of AC/DC's FLICK OF THE SWITCH. These three albums all have something in common besides B & W cover-art: They're all about big time rock acts stripping back all the hoopla and getting down to the rocking basics. With the exception of the dark and majestic "Kings & Queens", DRAW THE LINE exists only to rock and to periodically get funky. What's wrong with that? And who cares that the band was coked out of their gills when they recorded it? Substance abuse is many times the lifeblood of art. You might like the drug-free pop band Aerosmith became in their comeback years, but I'll take this scrappy late 1970s rock band thank you.

THE BAND: Steven Tyler (vocals, piano, harmonica), Joe Perry (guitars), Brad Whitford (guitars), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1977) 9 songs clocking in at approximately 35 minutes. Included with the disc is a 4-page foldout containing band photos/memorabilia, song titles/credits, and thank you's. This is the band's 5th studio album. Recorded at The Cenacle (Armonk, NY) and The Record Plant (NYC). All songs written by band members and producer Jack Douglas (on 4 songs), except "Milk Cow Blues" by author K. Arnold. Cover art by famed New York Times newspaper caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Originally released on Columbia's label, this digitally remastered version released in 1993 on Sony.

COMMENTS: In the scheme of things, this is a decent album. By Aerosmith standards though, it falls to bottom half of their catalog (bottom third?). After their debut (featuring their first big hit "Dream On"), "Get Your Wings", "Toys In The Attic" and "Rocks"... "Draw The Line" is/was a tremendous let down. Overall the sound production is flat (even the digitally remastered version). Tom Hamilton's bass is nonexistent on some tracks. As for the songs themselves... there's one exceptional track in "Kings And Queens" - great melody with cool lyrics, and features extra musicians/instruments with Jack Douglas on mandolin, unknown Paul Prestopino on the banjo, and Steven Tyler on piano. A handful of pretty good tunes with the opening 3 tracks - the title song, "I Wanna Know Why", and "Critical Mass". "Bright Light Fright" is the first song on any Aerosmith studio album to feature guitarist Joe Perry on lead vocals... though short at under two-and-a-half minutes, the song is simply a mess (complete with an annoying saxophone lead). The rest of the album is filler at best. Drugs and alcohol had reportedly run rampant within the band and everything was suffering. "Draw The Line" is essential in the Aerosmith catalog, but it's easily way down on the list (3 stars).