Yet they were soon to be brought crashing back down to earth. Wellsprings of inspiration for everyone from Axl Rose and Slash to Kurt Cobain, on the back of them Aerosmith sashayed into being a stadium-filling act in their homeland. Undisputed classics, these were albums with a knowing, cocksure swagger. Done With Mirrors arrived on the Billboard chart at a lowly 36 with an anchor attached to it and sank fast.ġ975’s Toys In the Attic, home to Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion, and after it Rocks, had seen Aerosmith assume the mantle of America’s greatest living rock band. The Rolling Stone writer’s judgement, for example, amounted to this withering sentence: “The work of burnt-out lug-heads whose lack of musical imagination rivals their repugnant lyrics.” Nor could it be said to have won favour with the greater body of Aerosmith’s fans. And yes, when it was released back in 1985, critics set upon it like a pack of wild dogs. More than once, Perry himself has listed Done With Mirrors as his least favourite Aerosmith album – which, considering the dubious merits of, say, 2001’s Just Push Play, is going some. After wandering up several grammatical blind alleys, with much huffing, puffing and sighing, Perry eventually settles upon a question: “Um, whatever possessed you guys to pick that one?” At the time it was also a contender for their least well-regarded, an ignominy it then shared with its immediate predecessor, Rock In A Hard Place, made without Perry and when the great Boston band were at their lowest ebb. From when he first begins speaking today at his home in Florida, the now 66-year-old guitarist can barely form a coherent sentence to encapsulate his thoughts on Aerosmith’s eighth studio album. Or perhaps outright disbelief would be a more accurate description. Upon hearing that Done With Mirrors is being reclaimed as one of the great lost albums of the 1980s, Joe Perry’s reaction is one of surprise.
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