Amazon.com essential recording
Originally released in 1975, this was Aerosmith’s breakout recording. Listeners only familiar with their more recent, post-comeback material may be surprised; like their other albums from the 1970s, Toys has a strong blues inflection, as indicated by their cover of “Big Ten Inch Record,” which also shows that Aerosmith has never lacked raunchiness or innuendo. There’s also the original (pre-Run-D.M.C.) version of “Walk This Way,” and the classic “Sweet Emotion.” This is classic Aerosmith at its gritty, streetwise best; they may have been derivative, but it really doesn’t matter, then or now: it’s all in good fun. –Genevieve Williams

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