Aerosmith "Bacon Biscuit Blues" LIVE Howard Stern Show 22/09/1997 (acoustic)
Channel: OuttakeAero
Date: 2019-05-14

“Bacon Biscuit Blues” is a song left from the 1996 sessions for Nine Lives. It was written by Tyler and Perry with Richie Supa, long-time friend of the band and co-writer of songs like Pink, Chip Away and Lightning Strikes. “Bacon” is believed to have made it all the way to the end of the production process, from the Glen Ballard sessions in South Beach, to the Kevin “Caveman” Shirley sessions in New York.

It’s perhaps most well know for having been played live regularly during the 1997/1998 part of the Nine Lives tour. This partial version, with only 2 verses (no pre-chorus or chorus), worked as an intro to “Monkey on my Back” during much of the Nine Lives tour. It featured the full band jamming on the key of A, and was lead by Joe Perry’s slide slide guitar ending on an extended solo jam. Old time Aerosmith producer, Jack Douglas, who also produced the live album “A Little South of Sanity”, commented to the press in 1998 that “Biscuit Blues” was intended to be included in the live compilation of hits, but remained unreleased. Compared to the studio outtake, the live version is a complete different iteration of the song in terms of chords, rhythm and style. It is still unknown it they were considering the live version or the studio version, much in the style of the Classic Live! albums, containing one previously unreleased studio track at the end. Examples of the partial live versions of the song can be found in popular bootlegs of the following shows: Devore 18/10/97, New Heaven 17/01/97, Philadelphia 15/01/98, Phoenix 13/10/97.

Steven and Joe also performed a full acoustic version at the Howard Stern show on 22/09/1997, which included the pre-chorus and chorus and followed the structure of the studio version. This version was featured in the old AF1 hotline for a few years. During the intro Steven comments "it's going to be in the next record", it's unknown which record he was referring to. This lead to speculation that the song was considered for inclusion in the Armageddon soundtrack, as the band re-entered the studio to record new tracks (I don't Want to Miss a Thing and What Kind of Love Are You On?), but at the time the band was also talking about "doing a blues album" that didn't happen at the time, but eventually came to fruition with Honkin' On Bobo. It's heavy blues influence made it a perfect fit for "Bobo", but it is unknown if it was even considered during the 2003/2004 sessions.

The studio outtake is a largely acoustic playful blues song in the key of Cm. The structure contains 3 verses and 2 choruses. The song stars with a soft harmonica, much ala “Hangman Jury”, followed by an acoustic intro that leads to the first verse. Some great harmonies join during the pre-chorus, where a number of layered low vocals join humming in crescendo. The chorus kicks in as the mandatory rock section of the song with a full band, including distorted guitars and drums. The repetition of “rise up” 4 times every chorus makes it memorable, fun and poppy sounding at times. Back vocals and harmonica fills are present during the second verses. After the 3rd verse its over, the song goes on to an additional instrumental part, over the same verse riff, as a sort of outro featuring acoustic guitars, violins and banjo playing arrangements following melodies reminiscing old classic blues songs.

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