Hearing Aerosmith’s Rocks Again at the Listyning Room

Last night, I braved the rain and met my buddy Murph for dinner at Meat Mitch BBQ. It was fantastic, as usual. After dinner, we went to the Center for Recorded Music (C4RM) in Leawood, Kansas, to listen to Aerosmith’s Rocks.

Murph and I have talked about going for a couple of years. My friend KC has attended their listening events in the past, but unfortunately, he was unable to join us.

C4RM is located in a bank building and shares a parking lot with Meat Mitch, so we didn’t have far to go. When we walked in, we were greeted and told it would be a small crowd that evening. There were three other people there for the event.

We wandered around for a few minutes, looking at the music memorabilia and briefly scanning the albums they had for sale. We ordered cocktails and then went into the listening room.

Shelves of albums, CDs, and a few cassettes lined the walls. There was high-end stereo gear throughout the room, much of it with price tags. Some speakers simply said, “Ask for pricing.” I’m thinking those are way out of my price range. It’s both fun and depressing to look at gear that I know I will never be able to own.

We took our seats just before the event started. The host, whose name I can’t seem to recall, walked to the front of the room, gave us the album’s release date, and told us about its influence on Slash and James Hetfield. Then he said, “That’s it,” and started the turntable.

So, not much of an intro.

As soon as the music started, the guy sitting in front of us started banging his head. It was glorious.

Side one opened with “Back in the Saddle.” Murph leaned over and said, “Steven Tyler has one of the great voices in rock.”

He does. It’s iconic.

What struck me immediately was the crisp, driving sound of the guitars. I love the way Joe Perry and Brad Whitford play off one another, and on this system, I could really hear it.

I grew up listening to “Back in the Saddle” and “Last Child” on Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits, so it was interesting to hear them in their original album context. It had been a long time since I’d listened to Rocks straight through.

As we moved into “Last Child,” I noticed how tightly everything fit together compared with what I was used to hearing on Spotify. The sirens at the end were much louder than I remembered, and they bled right into “Rats in the Cellar.” That’s something I’d missed when listening to individual songs on Spotify or one of their many greatest-hits albums.

There was great guitar work throughout “Rats in the Cellar,” along with Steven Tyler’s harmonica. “Combination” finished out the side. The song itself didn’t make much of an impression on me, but again, the guitar work was great.

Our host got up, cleaned side two, and lowered the needle.

Side two started with “Sick as a Dog,” with some really good guitar licks. Next was “Nobody’s Fault,” which had a great guitar solo. I’d heard this track before, but this time it sounded like there was a little wink to Zeppelin in there. That seemed fitting with “Get the Lead Out” coming next.

Then came “Lick and a Promise,” an Aerosmith track through and through.

And finally, “Home Tonight.”

I have to be honest: I didn’t recall this track. The music was good, but I started laughing at the awful lyrics. Murph later said he looked over at me and had to look away so he wouldn’t start laughing, too.

I’m amazed that “Home Tonight” was released as a single.

When it was done, our host lifted the needle and said, “That’s it. Thanks for coming.”

I think we’d been there about 40 minutes.

Murph and I asked if we could look around some more. Behind the stereo was a window that looked like stained glass, with images of album covers. We compared notes until we’d figured out all of them. Then we checked out the other stereo equipment and looked through the shelves of albums.

In the lobby, they had an old jukebox from the 1930s or ’40s that played 78s.

It was becoming obvious that they were ready to leave, so we headed outside into the rain. We stood under the bank’s drive-through overhang, discussed the album some more, and then headed home.

It was a short evening. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I thought there might be more background on the album and perhaps some discussion after we listened. I would have enjoyed hearing what the other people thought, especially the guy who started headbanging as soon as the music began.

Still, I’m willing to go back and give the Listyning Room another shot. It could be that this particular host likes to keep things simple.

Let’s be honest: Rocks isn’t an album I turn to for deep lyrical insights. It’s raw rock ’n’ roll at its finest, from Aerosmith’s heyday. Hearing it on that system reminded me how much there is to appreciate in the playing, even when a song itself doesn’t do much for me.

The album ranked No. 176 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in both 2003 and 2012, then dropped to No. 366 in 2020. They keep revising that list, and in my opinion, they’re diluting its value. But that’s probably a discussion for another article.

C4RM has plenty of albums coming up that interest me, including Neil Young’s Harvest, Paul McCartney’s McCartney, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, the Beatles’ Revolver, and Bob Marley’s Exodus.

I’d recommend going for the listening experience alone. There was a noticeable difference in the sound, and I heard things on an album I thought I knew that I hadn’t noticed before.

That’s a pretty good reason to go back.