Done with Mirrors
Done with Mirrors is the eighth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in December 1985. It marked the return to the band of guitarists Joe Perry, who had left in 1979, and Brad Whitford, who had left in 1981. The band's first album on Geffen Records, it was intended as their "comeback". However, despite good reviews, it did not live up to commercial expectations.
Background
"Let the Music Do the Talking" was a rerecording of the title track from first album by the Joe Perry Project, with altered lyrics and melody.Brad Whitford revealed that producer Ted Templeman wanted to capture the band's aggressive, "out of control freight train" sound by removing the red light indicating that recording was underway. Templeman told the band to run through the songs in the studio and recorded them without their knowledge. Whitford referred to the nerves generated when knowingly recording songs as "the red light blues".
"I had a great time making that record," Templeman told The Washington Post's Geoff Edgers, "and Steven was one of the most amazing guys. But we had to do that record in Berkeley because they didn’t want those guys to score. They didn’t want them to be in L.A. or San Francisco. I wasn’t familiar with the board. As a producer, if you know your room and the mic preamps, you know how things are going to sound. I don’t think I made Joey’s drums sound as good as they could have, or Joe’s guitar."
On VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, Joey Kramer expressed his dislike of Done with Mirrors, claiming that the band "never really finished it".
Joe Perry was similarly dismissive: "Done with Mirrors, as far as I'm concerned, is our least inspired record. But I've heard fans really like it, so I'm not gonna stand there and tell 'em, 'No, it sucks.' We had to do that record to get to the next one, so it served its purpose. I just don't think it's up to the standard of some of our others."
Viacom executive Doug Herzog recalled that, after this album, "Aerosmith was done… They were a little bit of a joke." However, they would revive their career in 1986 with a landmark remake of 1975's "Walk This Way" with hip-hop group Run DMC, followed by an album that would eventually go 5× Platinum – Permanent Vacation – in 1987.
Despite the band's views, the album earned mostly positive reviews, and is a cult favorite among fans.
So far, "Done with Mirrors" is the last album the band wrote without the aid of outside songwriters.
Packaging and title
In keeping with the title, all the text on the original releases were written back-to-front – to be read by holding it to a mirror. Rereleases flip the artwork so it can be read without a mirror, and add the band's logo. As a result, the original CD is collectable.The title refers both to illusions that are "done with mirrors", and the laying out of drugs such as cocaine, traditionally snorted off a mirror.
Track listing
Personnel
Aerosmith- Steven Tylerlead vocals, piano, harmonica, percussion
- Joe Perryguitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
- Brad Whitfordguitar, acoustic guitar
- Tom Hamiltonbass guitar
- Joey Kramerdrums, percussion
- Ted Templeman – producer
- Jeff Hendrickson – engineer, mixing
- Tom Size, Gary Rindfuss, Stan Katayama – assistant engineers
- Howie Weinberg – analog mastering engineer at Masterdisk, New York
- Ken Caillat – digital mastering
- Joan Parker – production coordinator
- Kent Ayeroff – album cover concept
- Norman Moore – art direction and design
- Jim Shea – photography
- John Kalodner – A&R
Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
| 1985 | Billboard 200 | 36 |
| 1985 | Japanese Albums Chart | 41 |
Singles
Billboard| Year | Single | US Main Rock |
| 1985 | "Let the Music Do the Talking" | 18 |
| 1986 | "Shela" | 20 |