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Jun 11, 2024 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Get Your Wings isn’t the first Aerosmith record. But it’s the first truly great one. Sure, the band’s debut from the previous year featured “Dream On” and “Mama Kin,” but it simply doesn’t fit together as much of an overall statement as does Get Your Wings. With its sophomore 1974 release, Aerosmith catapulted itself into rock and roll stratosphere.

Reissued on vinyl for its 50th anniversary, with beautiful embossed cover and a nice retro sticker and magazine promo ad to boot, Get Your Wings proves to be Aerosmith’s first defining work. Opening with the classic “Same Old Song and Dance” and featuring the staple “Train Kept A Rollin’,” it’s the album’s totality more than its hits that makes Get Your Wings what it is.

“Lord of the Thighs” distills all the blues-based riffage and rock ‘n’ roll swagger of the band’s debut, with the wink-and-a-promise suggestiveness that soon became another hallmark of the classic Aerosmith sound. “Woman of the World” is prime deep cut Aerosmith, led by a killer riff, ballsy Steven Tyler vocal, and the singer’s underrated harmonica work.

Side 2 kicks off with “S.O.S. (Too Bad),” another prime cut that gets overlooked in the morass of the band’s more played out tracks, before moving into the aforementioned “Train Kept A Rollin’.”

“Seasons of Wither” essentially sets the template for what would later become the power ballad. Yeah, I know, Aerosmith’s debut has “Dream On,” but “Seasons of Wither” better fits the definition, its hazy, wind-swept atmospherics laying the foundation for the the arpeggiated guitar work and yearning Tyler vocal before the crescendo reminds the listener that this is still a rock and roll band at heart.

The album ends then with the horn-inflected boogie rock of “Pandora’s Box,” another track that tends to get lost in the band’s hits-filled catalog. And with that, in a slight eight songs, Aerosmith defined ‘70s rock and itself, only one short year after its debut. Each song is essential. And with Get Your Wings, Aerosmith flew into the stratosphere. (www.aerosmith.com)

Author rating: 8/10