Aerosmith will release its earliest band recordings on Record Store Day next November 26th. The new set, titled 1971: The Road Starts Hear, features the pre-fame version of the group in tits Boston rehearsal space tackling eight tunes — including early takes of their signature classics “Dream On” and “Mama Kin.”
1971: The Road Starts Hear will be limited to only 10,000 vinyl copies and 2000 cassettes.
According to the announcement:
A historic early recording of Aerosmith in their rehearsal room — just the band, crew and friends captured on Joe Perry's tape recorder.
This never-before-heard performance showcases the early, raw talent of this future Hall Of Fame band, one year before signing to Columbia Records, and two years before their eponymous debut, which featured many of these songs.
The tracklisting to Aerosmith's '1971: The Road Starts Hear' is:
Side One: “Rehearsal Room,” “Somebody,” and “Reefer Headed Woman / Walkin' The Dog”
Side Two: “Movin' Out,” “Major Barbra,” “Dream On,” and “Mama Kin”
Joe Perry told us that ultimately, the thrill of what Aerosmith accomplished musically trumps all the problems that the band has endured due to drugs, women, management, and ego issues: “It’s really the five of us, y’know, as a band. And it’s still exciting to walk out onstage with these guys. And that, I think, is the glue that keeps us coming back. Sometimes I ask that question myself, y’know, ‘Why am I still doin’ it?’ Well, when I walk out onstage in Moscow and everybody out there is singing words to songs that we wrote in the basement, or, y’know, in some studio somewhere. It’s nothin’ short of a miracle, y’know? And so we kind of have a lot of respect for that.”