Aerosmith was a great 70's band with albums like Toys In The Attic and hits like "Dream On" and "Walk This Way." They made their huge comeback in 1987 with Permanent Vacation. The album is loaded with the hits "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," "Rag Doll," and "Angel." Those are not the only good songs on Permanent Vacation though. The title track, "Simoriah," "Girl Keeps Coming Apart" and the rest of the songs are almost as good. In my opinon, Aerosmith couldn't have made a comeback in the 80's with a much better album.

If you're an Aerosmith fan or if you like hard rock, I recommend getting Permanent Vacation. It might stay permanently as one of your favorites.

Aerosmith's career renaissance began in earnest with this August of 1987 release. 'Permanent Vacation' was exactly what Geffen Records threatened the band with after the lukewarm reception of 'Done with Mirrors'. The notoriously substance abusive quintet finally sobered up to make their true comeback...and what a comeback! Bruce Fairbairn and John Kalodner of Geffen A&R callled in noted song doctors Desmond Child and Jim Vallance to help Steven and Joe get their creative juices flowing and now over twenty years later, three hit singles and five million US units sold...the results were in, Aerosmith was a superstar band again..and would remain so to the present day. The hits speak for themselves: "Dude", "Rag Doll" (both featuring the classic Aerosmith sass and sleaze) and "Angel" (groan...). Beyond the hits favs include opener "Heart's Done Time" (very appropriate), "Hangman Jury", the title track and "I'm Down" (like it better than "Come Together", maybe cuz it wasn't overplayed). Yes the hits are old, "Angel" bugs the crap out of me and 'Pump' would be better, but Aerosmith had to start over again and the comekids brought themselves back from the dead....the hangman jury let them off the long hook.

Driving Aerosmith into their second career this hard rock thirst quencher spurts out a couple of instant classics of the genre. Rag Doll and Dude (Looks Like A Lady) are pretty much spot on the way they encapsulate the musical definition of a good time. Elsewhere we get the band really entertaining their love of the blues - a love they took to it's logical conclusion approximately 20 years later with Honkin' On Bobo. The band also dishes up some ballads and while that probably makes many fans cringe as they think of the heritage ruining ballads of the 90's lets be fair about it, Angel from this album may stink but Tyler does have a great plaintive tone to his voice and not all ballads are evil.

The rest of the band sound on song too and the production is pretty much perfect for the time and the genre. Tunes can breath and the simple knob job allows the music to shine through. I have to subtract a star as not all of this hits the spot such as some of the lengthier blues/weird stuff sections in songs like the title track. Also the cover of The Beatles I'm Down is neither great nor a great choice. Still beats U2's Helter Skelter! And what's goin' on with the final track `The Movie'? But these issues are forgivable given the song writing and musical talents of the band. And as stated above, this thing hatched at least two juke box necessities. So four stars IMHO.

I've come to like all the tracks on this album. The album isn't amazing, but it is definitely good enough, and probably one of their more under-appreciated ones, though, truthfully. Almost all of the songs are likable I've found, and there are some that are way too under-appreciated like:
Permanant Vacation
I'm Down (The Beatles Cover)

And then there are:
Heart's Done Time
Magic Touch (I like this one)
Simoriah (nice chorus)
Girl Keeps Coming Apart (I like this one quite a bit too, actually)
These are all songs you'll like if you're a semi-hardcore Aerosmith fan.

Of course, there are the hit songs as well:
Rag Doll
Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
Angel

Then there are these:
St. John (bluesy, heavy bass use)
Hangman Jury (funny lyrics, quite a slow song comparatively)
The Movie (instrumental, a bit psychedelic)
These are not your typical Aerosmith songs, but aren't that bad, especially The Movie. You just have to listen to them with an open mind.

"Permanent vacation" is one of the better, if not the best Aerosmith album ever. The previous "Done with mirrors" wasn't all bad but it sure wasn't very exciting. This time Aerosmith had a lot of better songs and the whole album gives a sense that the band had decided to do things properly. With the help from songwriters like Desmond Child (was there any hair metal band that he didn't wrote songs for?) and Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams' co-writer), "Permanent vacation" turned out to be a solid rock album. There's a lot of enjoyable tunes like the melodic "Magic touch", the groovy "Rag doll", and the catchy "Dude (looks like a lady)". "Hangman jury" and the title track "Permanent vacation" are also highlights, and those of you who think a good hard rock album needs a ballad - you get that in "Angel". Even `tho Aerosmith usually have a rather rattling approach they manage to keep that under control on this release.

After this, Aerosmith went on and recorded "Pump" which also is a solid effort, maybe a little uneven in comparison to "Permanent vacation". Next it was time for the more commercial "Get a grip", which included hit singles like "Living on the edge", "Crying" and "Crazy". These three albums are all worth having, but I'd start with "Permanent vacation".