Joe Perry in action “I’m excited to hear what people think about this record,” says Joe Perry about his new solo effort, Sweetzerland Manifesto....
Joe Perry in action
“I’m excited to hear what people think about this record,” says Joe Perry about his new solo effort, Sweetzerland Manifesto. “Because it’s not like every song is just a slammin’ rock song. It’s more spread across the board.”
Indeed, though Sweetzerland Manifesto is the 67-year-old Aerosmith guitarist’s sixth solo album overall, it’s unlike anything he’s done previously. Whereas his past records featured either Perry or another singer as the primary voice, on Sweetzerland he’s joined by a variety of vocalists, and they’re some of rock’s best and most distinctive, from legendary New York Dolls man David Johansen (who appears on “Haberdasher Blues,” “I Wanna Roll” and “I’m Going Crazy”), to Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander (“Aye, Aye, Aye”), to Terry Reid (“I’ll Do Happiness,” “Sick & Tired,” “Won’t Let Me Go”), who, as legend has it, was offered—and turned down—the frontman slot in Led Zeppelin prior to Robert Plant. The guitarist received further assistance from his Hollywood Vampires bandmate Johnny Depp, who served as executive producer alongside Perry and producer Bruce Witkin, as well as drummer Zak Starkey, longtime Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas and Joe’s sons, Tony and Roman.
As far as the music is concerned, the songs on Sweetzerland Manifesto run the gamut from swaggering rock rave-ups (“Aye, Aye, Aye,” “I’m Going Crazy”) to exotica-tinged instrumentals (“Rumble in the Jungle,” “Spanish Sushi”) to darker, more R&B-influenced fare (“I Wanna Roll,” “Sick & Tired”), to a cover of P.F. Sloan’s protest anthem, “Eve of Destruction,” made famous by Barry McGuire in 1965 and here sung by Perry himself, with Depp on drums. At the heart of it all, however, is the blues, which has always been Perry’s musical foundation. “Well, I only know a couple of chords,