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Done with Mirrors is the eighth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on November 4, 1985.[1] It marked the return to the band of guitarists Joe Perry, who left in 1979 and Brad Whitford, who departed in 1981. The band's first album on Geffen Records, it was intended as their ‘comeback’. However, the record didn’t live up to commercial expectations despite positive reviews.

Done with Mirrors
Studio album by Aerosmith
Released	November 4, 1985 (1985-11-04)[1]
Recorded	Early 1985
Studio	Fantasy, Berkeley, California Power Station, New York City Can-Am Recorders, Tarzana, California
Genre	Hard rock
Length	35:42
Label	Geffen
Producer	Ted Templeman
Aerosmith chronology
Rock in a Hard Place (1982) Done with Mirrors (1985) Permanent Vacation (1987)
Singles from Done with Mirrors
"Let the Music Do the Talking" Released: September 16, 1985 "Shela" Released: October 31, 1985

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+[3]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10[4]
Kerrang!	[5]
Rolling Stone	(unfavorable)[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[7]
The Daily Vault	A[8]

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 (a technique he had used to capture Van Halen's sound). 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 (drugs). 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."[9]

On VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, Joey Kramer expressed his dislike of Done with Mirrors, claiming the band "never really finished it".[10]

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."[11][12]

Viacom (MTV & VH1) executive Doug Herzog recalled that, after this album, "Aerosmith was done… They were a little bit of a joke."[9] 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, this album earned mostly positive reviews and is a cult favorite among fans.[13]

To date, Done with Mirrors is the last Aerosmith record written without the aid of outside songwriters.

Packaging and title

In keeping with the title, all the text (bar the catalog number and UPC) 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 (which came in a longbox) is collectable. (All text in the booklet of the first CD pressing is also back-to-front.)

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 Tyler – lead vocals, piano, harmonica, percussion
• Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
• Brad Whitford – guitar, acoustic guitar
• Tom Hamilton – bass guitar
• Joey Kramer – drums, percussion

Production

• 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

Chart (1985)	Peak position
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[14]	72
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[15]	41
US Billboard 200[16]	36

Certification

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[17]	Gold	500,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

• Done with Mirrors Tour

References

Bibliography

• Huxley, Martin (2015). Aerosmith: The Fall and the Rise of Rock's Greatest Band. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1250096531.

Further reading

Templeman, Ted; Renoff, Greg (2020). Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life In Music. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 387–94, 404–6. ISBN 9781770414839. OCLC 1121143123.

На других языках

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- [en] Done with Mirrors

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[es] Done with Mirrors

Done With Mirrors es el octavo álbum de estudio de la banda estadounidense de Hard rock Aerosmith. Por esta producción discográfica, obtienen Disco de Oro, con el Sello Geffen. Cabe destacar además que es un álbum en Estudio y que fue editado el 9 de noviembre del año 1985.

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[ru] Done with Mirrors

Done with Mirrors — восьмой студийный альбом американской рок-группы Aerosmith, был издан в ноябре 1985 года. Диск ознаменовал возвращение в группу гитаристов Джо Перри и Брэда Уитфорда, покинувших коллектив в 1979 и 1981 годах соответственно. Кроме того, это был первый альбом «Смитов» на новом лейбле — Geffen Records.

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