Welcome To The "Let The Music Do The Talking" Section Of The Discography
| Crossfire's Rating | |
| Crossfire's Rating | |
"I had always loved the punk thing. I was the one in the car playing the Sex Pistols. Those were the bands I liked: the Sex Pistols' energy, the pretentious Clash. The Police weren't punk, but their songs were short and punchy and I liked them. The economy of that sound was that I was after (for "Let The Music Do The Talking"). Plus, I was writing lyrics about my life, leaving Aerosmith, taking on anxieties, and the songs reflected this maybe a little more than I was comfortable with."
"We worked on the album for two months that winter, me and Elyssa living in Bob Casper's penthouse on Sutton Place, making the record with Jack. We cut the basic tracks in five days, finished the album is six weeks, and came in under budget. I'd preproduced, arranged everything at the Wherehouse, so we went in the studio and played the tracks live, no bullsh*t. It was like the first Aerosmith album--a soundtrack for the live shows. There was a lot of fun, dealers and friends in and out."
"The songs came really fast. I wrote the riff on "Let the Music Do the Talking" when I was still in Aerosmith. It stuck to me like flypaper. The title of the song had to do with how sick I was of talking about Aerosmith. Let the music do the talking now. "Conflict of Interest" was about Krebs and my whole situation. "Rockin' Train" was the kind of funky, R&B-type song I loved to do and could have done with Aerosmith. Ralph [Mormon] did the lyrics on that one. "Discount Dogs" was originally "Discount Drugs." "Break Song" was a jam we had. David Hull showed me the riff and I arranged it into one minute and fifty seconds of screaming guitar. "Shooting Star" and "Ready on the Firing Line" were just riffs that I liked. "The Mist Is Rising" was written at 4 a.m. at my house in Chestnut Hill. "Life at a Glance" was about my life, pure and simple. That was the record. I sang on four and a half songs, Ralph sang four and a half, and David Hull sang background vocals."
"The album came out on Columbia in March 1980. The cover was a picture of nine suits sitting around a glass boardroom table. I'm standing up holding the master tape to the album. The reviewers were kind [Creem: "This album could boil Iran off the map."], but we didn't get much airplay. The fix was in and it didn't happen. [Let the Music Do the Talking got to #47, selling about a quarter of a million copies.] David Krebs has admitted burying the record on more than one occasion. Years later, Tim Collins heard from Bruce Lundvall that they made every effort to squash it in order to get me back in the band. It was f*cked up."
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JOE PERRY PROJECT
c/o Richard Gersh Associates
290 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
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Crossfire's "Let The Music Do The Talking" Rating
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