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Aerosmith fans may have tricked themselves into thinking the return of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford to the band meant this comeback album was good, but the truth is this is as bad as Aerosmith ever got. Completely blowing their big return, the members of Aerosmith rushed to get an album out in order to capitalize on the publicity releasing single after single (four in total, which is half of the album), but try as they might no amount of trickery could turn Done With Mirrors into anything other than it was: a lame parlor trick that listeners could hear right through.
The first couple of songs blare through with excitement; Joe Perry’s “Let the Music Do the Talking” was a great return to form and “My Fist Your Face” continued that tradition. But the novelty quickly wears off with the realization that not only is this not as good as the band’s releases in their ’70s heyday, it isn’t even as good as Rock in a Hard Place which didn’t even feature almost half of the band! Even Aerosmith’s members have admitted their displeasure with Done With Mirrors when viewing it through the rear-view; Joey Kramer even said that when it was released it wasn’t even finished. Reunited but worse than ever, things were looking pretty bad for Aerosmith, but luckily for them there was a new music trend emerging that was about to pull their asses right out of the fire and send them back on the track of superstardom.