Aerosmith have shared a primitive 1971 recording of ”Movin’ Out” off their upcoming Record Store Day release, 1971: The Road Starts Hear.
The limited-edition release, billed as “a historic early recording of Aerosmith in their rehearsal room,” contains previously unheard renditions of some of the band’s earliest material. Several tracks from Aerosmith’s self-titled 1973 debut album — “Movin’ Out,” “Dream On,” “Somebody” and “Walkin’ the Dog” — appear on the LP, as well as Night in the Ruts cut “Reefer Head Woman” and the lesser-known “Major Barbara,” which first appeared on 1986’s Classics Live.
“Movin’ Out” marked the first songwriting collaboration between Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, who were then living with the rest of the band in a Boston apartment at 1325 Commonwealth Ave. “We had a tour manager named Mark Lehman. He had a waterbed up there,” Tyler explained during a 2012 hometown concert. “Joe and I at night would sneak off into a corner and do something, and wind up on the waterbed. One night he came with this lick.”
The 1971 version of “Movin’ Out” is nearly the same as the version that appeared on Aerosmith two years later. The song’s central, lurching guitar riff and nimble arpeggios are present, anchored by Joey Kramer‘s forceful kick drum and tom fills. Tyler’s voice cracks as he tentatively explores the upper end of his vocal range and details the band’s squalid living conditions: “We all live on the edge of town / Where we all live, ain’t a soul around / People startin’ comin’ / All we do is just a-grin / Said we’ve got to move out / ‘Cause the city’s moving in.“
Aerosmith’s 1971: The Road Starts Hear will hit select stores on Nov. 26. Other RSD 2021 rock releases include a picture disc of Dio’s Holy Diver, a double-LP vinyl release of Alice Cooper’s Brutal Planet and Fleetwood Mac’s Alternate Live. A list of participating stores can be found at the Record Store Day site.