Night in the Ruts
	Produced by Gary Lyons and Aerosmith
	Released on November 1979
	US CHART POSITION #14
	Find it at GEMM
FC 36050 cover [high resolution scan]

A t least they didn’t go gentle into that good night. Ruts is their raunchiest record yet: dirty double-entendres and great greasy chunks of rock and roll. What it lacked was a standout single like “Sweet Emotion.” That and a band to promote it. Joe Perry announced he was leaving Aerosmith after the record’s release. So what have we got here: the last nail in the coffin or the end of a golden era? Without having heard the last two Ozzy-era Sabbath albums, I imagine Ruts is right in line with them. It sounds like vintage Aerosmith but underscores the fact that the band needed to fire on all cylinders to make a great record. Night in the Ruts is certainly not a great record. “Reefer Head Woman,” “Cheese Cake,” I’m looking at you. But a lot of this record rocks: “No Surprize,” “Chiquita,” “Three Mile Smile,” “Bone To Bone.” That’s half a good Aerosmith record right there. Subtract Tyler’s terrible lyrics (when I do understand them I’m sorry I paid attention), the noisy production from Gary Lyons and the band, and what you’re left with is an album with all of the bragadoccio of their best work but little of its brilliance. While critics cooled on Aerosmith circa Sgt. Peppers (no one escaped that debacle unharmed), time has a funny way of changing how we see things. These days you’re more likely to read a critical defense of Night in the Ruts. After two decades of product (albeit often good product), rock fans are nostalgic for the original, answerable-to-no-one Aerosmith. And enough of that original magic remains on Ruts. If you’re going to carry a candle for Aerosmith, I’d hold onto it until the end of this Night. Despite its flaws, it rocks.

TRACK LISTING

1. NO SURPRIZE    (Steven Tyler/Joe Perry)    4:26
2. CHIQUITA    (Steven Tyler/Joe Perry)    4:25
3. REMEMBER (WALKING IN THE SAND)    (George Morton)    4:05
4. CHEESE CAKE    (Steven Tyler/Joe Perry)    4:16
5. THREE MILE SMILE    (Steven Tyler/Joe Perry)    3:43
6. REEFER HEAD WOMAN    (uncredited on elpee)    4:03
7. BONE TO BONE (CONEY ISLAND WHITE FISH BOY)    (Steven Tyler/Joe Perry)    3:00
8. THINK ABOUT IT    (Keith Relf/Jim McCarty/Jimmy Page)    3:35
9. MIA    (Steven Tyler)    4:13

CREDITS

TOM HAMILTON --
JOEY KRAMER --
JOE PERRY --
STEVEN TYLER -- cover concept
BRAD WHITFORD --
Lou Delgotto -- baritone sax (2)
Lou Marini -- tenor sax (2)
Barry Rogers -- trombone (2)
Richard Supa -- guitar work (1,9)
Neil Thompson -- electric guitar (9)
George Young -- alto sax (2)
David Krebs and Steve Leber -- executive producers
Gary Lyons -- engineer
Rod O'Brien -- additional engineering
Peter Thea -- additional engineering
Berg/Kosh -- art direction and design
Jim Shea -- photography

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