Four-time Grammy Award-winning rock icons Aerosmith will release 1971: The Road Starts Hear on CD and all streaming platforms this April 8th. This new release will come in celebration of the group’s 50th anniversary.
In 1971, a year before Aerosmith signed a deal with Columbia Records worth $125,000, the band tracked a seven-song record using guitarist Joe Perry‘s reel-to-reel tape machine. Mark Lehman, Aerosmith’s one and only road-crew member at the time, handled the recording process which took place either at the quintet’s Boston, MA rehearsal space or during a soundcheck at an early show.
The album would lay dormant in the Vindaloo Vaults for nearly 50 years before seeing a release on cassette and vinyl for Record Store Day in 2021. Now for the first time ever, The Road Starts Hear will arrive on CD and streaming platforms. The album features the original (and current) members, Steven Tyler (vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums), and Brad Whitford (guitar) playing through the earliest versions of songs that would later become worldwide hits. 1971: The Road Starts Hear includes “Dream On”, “Reefer Head Woman”—which would later appear on 1979’s Night In The Ruts—”Somebody”, “Movin’ Out”, “Walkin’ The Dog”, “Mama Kin”, and “Major Barbara”.
Fans can pre-order/pre-save The Road Starts Hear on the official Aerosmith website. Furthermore, the band has also unveiled a collection of exclusive merchandise available here.
Commemorating this momentous announcement, the five-piece has shared the early recording of “Somebody”. The recording features a young and hungry Aerosmith delivering a raw telling of a song that would later appear on the band’s 1973 debut, self-titled album. Listen to “Somebody” via the player below and scroll down for a full tracklist of the album.
Aerosmith – “Somebody”
