Aerosmith's fifth album, 'Draw the Line,' suffers from following in the footsteps of the much heavier and better 'Rocks'. Still, it has its highlights. The title track opens things up with a twisting groove that makes one think this might be as good as the last album; too bad it doesn't quite last. Still, a rollicking and heavy song. "Get it Up" has some swift riffage and a good chorus, making this another top highlight. The Joe Perry sung "Bright Light Fright" is fast, but the saxophone solo takes away some of the heaviness, and it's not especially melodic. The sassy and bumping "Sight for Sore Eyes" sounds like a rubbernecking guy strutting down the street. It has one of the most infectious drum-and-bass grooves of any song in Aerosmith's catalog, is criminally overlooked, and was actually the track picked at Andrew's wedding for the "first dance" with his wife! Sassiness indeed!
One of the top songs on the album is "Queens and Kings". It starts out with a dark riff which leads into a haunting verse (is that a banjo under the singing?). Then the dark riff returns with a repeating, kind of creepy, high-pitched guitar yelp (or is it Tyler yelping?). This is stellar until right after the three minute mark when it just stops and the piano kicks in with some mellow soloing over it. Oh, if they had just kept it up, this could have been an absolute classic. Instead, it's just a very good song.
Some filler songs keep 'Draw the Line' from being better than good, but still, not a bad outing for the boys from Boston.

TRACK LIST:
1. Draw the Line
2. I Wanna Know Why
3. Critical Mass
4. Get It Up
5. Bright Light Fright
6. Kings and Queens
7. The Hand That Feeds
8. Sight for Sore Eyes
9. Milk Cow Blues

Review by Jon Paine