Maps of Music

Done with Mirrors (1985)

Where the lyrics of Done with Mirrors take you, and where it was really made.

Intended as the band's comeback, the album was recorded with the red light switched off so the band did not know they were being taped, yet it fell short of commercial expectations despite positive reviews.

Key places

Recorded in Berkeley (1985)

Recording site Fantasy Studios — The album was recorded at Fantasy Recording in Berkeley, California. Templeman said it had to be made there rather than in Los Angeles or San Francisco. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Extra recording and mixing in New York (1985)

Recording site Power Station Studio — Additional recording and mixing for the album took place at The Power Station in New York, according to the album credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Extra recording in Tarzana (1985)

Recording site Can-Am Studios — Additional recording and mixing for the album also took place at Can-Am Recorders in Tarzana, California, according to the album credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Done with Mirrors: eighth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith
• Released 4 November 1985 on Geffen Records, the band's first album on that label
• Marks the return of guitarist Joe Perry, who left in 1979, and guitarist Brad Whitford, who left in 1981
• Intended as the band's 'comeback'
• Fell short of commercial expectations despite mostly positive reviews
• Last Aerosmith record written without outside songwriters, as of Music from Another Dimension!

Background

• Producer Ted Templeman wanted to capture the band's aggressive, 'out of control freight train' sound
• Removed the red light that signals recording, a technique Whitford had seen used to capture Van Halen's sound
• Songs were run through in the studio and recorded without the band's knowledge
• Whitford called the nerves of knowingly recording songs 'the red light blues'
• Templeman said the album had to be made in Berkeley, because the band could not be in L.A. or San Francisco, where they could get drugs
• Joe Perry recalled in a 2022 interview that the songs were raw and dirty, and that the record showed the band what it needed for the next one
• 'Let the Music Do the Talking' is a rerecording of the title track of the first Joe Perry Project album, with altered lyrics and melody

Recording

• Recorded at Fantasy Recording in Berkeley, California
• Additional recording and mixing at The Power Station in New York and Can-Am Recorders in Tarzana, California
• Jeff Hendrickson engineered and mixed, with assistants Tom Size, Gary Rindfuss and Stan Katayama
• Analog mastering by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, New York

Cover

• Kent Ayeroff conceived the album cover, Norman Moore handled art direction and design, and Jim Shea took the photography
• All text on the original releases, including the booklet of the first CD pressing, is written back to front to be read in a mirror
• Re-releases flip the artwork so it reads without a mirror and add the band's logo
• The original CD, which came in a longbox, is a collector's item
• The title refers both to illusions 'done with mirrors' and to drugs laid out on a mirror

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Boston in 1970 by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford after the Jam Band and Chain Reaction merged.
• The name was suggested by Joey Kramer, who had seen the word "aerosmith" in his school notebooks.
• Their first gig was at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts, on November 6, 1970.

Members

• Current lineup: Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry and Brad Whitford (guitars), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums).
• Perry and Whitford left in 1979 and 1981 and returned in 1984; the original five were reunited from 1984 onward.
• Tyler and Perry are the main songwriting team, nicknamed the "Toxic Twins".

Career

• Debut album in 1973 and Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976) established their blues-based hard rock sound.
• The 1986 Run-D.M.C. collaboration on "Walk This Way" revived their career, followed by Permanent Vacation (1987), Pump (1989), and Get a Grip (1993).
• "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (1998) was their only Billboard Hot 100 number one.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; sold more than 150 million records worldwide.
• Retired from touring in 2024 after Tyler's vocal injury; released the EP One More Time with Yungblud in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it the finest Aerosmith album since Rocks (1976)
• Erlewine said that, unlike its immediate predecessors, the album is powered by the same smart-assed lyrics and filthy guitars that formed the core of Aerosmith's best songs
• Erlewine considered it superior to Permanent Vacation (1987), the album that revived the group's commercial and critical fortunes
• Jimmy Guterman in Rolling Stone criticised the songs for their vicious sexism, Perry's rote and lazy guitar leads and Tyler's arena shouts
• Guterman found 'Let the Music Do the Talking' an enjoyable, derivative opening song
• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice praised the record against all odds after the band's preceding bad records

Reappraisal

• Martin C. Strong in The Great Rock Discography (2006) described it as Aerosmith's best effort since the 70's heyday
• Michael Andrews in The Rough Guide to Rock (1999) wrote that it signalled a return to form, highlighting 'Let the Music Do the Talking' as its finest track
• Colin Larkin in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1997) called it a tentative first step for Aerosmith
• Eddy, in his 2011 book on Aerosmith, deemed it the last uncompromisingly hard-rocking album the band made
• Eddy considered it superior to Rock in a Hard Place (1982) and almost entirely the guitarists' and rhythm section's record
• Eddy ranked it at number 409 in his 1991 list of the 500 best heavy metal albums
• Joey Kramer said the band never really finished it, and Joe Perry called it their least inspired record

Records

• Reached number 38 on the Billboard 200
• Certified gold in the United States in 1993
• Reached number 72 on the RPM chart in Canada
• Singles 'Let the Music Do the Talking' and 'Shela' placed 18th and 20th on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Templeman had the band play the songs and then recorded them without telling them, a method that gave the sessions their 'red light blues' nerves.
• After this album, Doug Herzog of Viacom (MTV & VH1) recalled: Aerosmith was done… They were a little bit of a joke.
• Eddy speculated that the album's failure may have been due to the 'kick-the-coke-habit pun' of the title, or to the lead single being a remake of a five-year-old Joe Perry Project song.
• The band revived its career in 1986 with a remake of 'Walk This Way' with Run DMC, followed in 1987 by Permanent Vacation.
• On the vinyl edition the final songs are 'She's on Fire' and 'The Hop'; cassette and CD versions end with 'Darkness'.
• The title track of the Joe Perry Project's first album is reworked as the opening song here.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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