The Aerosmith reunion album - preceded by tour the year before - was an underwhelming affair, mainly because Tyler and Perry's drug problems had not been resolved, the band was emotionally running on something less than fumes, and every move they made - including the new title of the album - indicated things were not changing.
Personally, I vaguely recall "Shela" from that time, but until "Walk This Way" really broke on the level that it did, Aerosmith was not just considered washed up to industry insiders.
But there were moves made behind the scenes to make this album a big deal. Ted Templeman, Van Halen's guy, was the producer. They were on a new label (Geffen). The sessions were done in Berkeley, California, away from the bigger drug scenes - although, as we know, you can score drugs anywhere, if you have enough disposable income and connections.
The reformed band is doing everything the same way as before, but I will not spent a lot of time on this album, either, because they sound plain worn out and used. For real, any talk of comeback as it relates to Aerosmith starts and ends with the remake of "Walk This Way", if we want to get serious.
If we don't want to do that, then Done With Mirrors is a decent hard rock album for a heck of a lot of other lesser bands in this world. For Aerosmith, who once scaled the highest of the highs (both literal and figurative), this is what it had come to - a struggle to hang on for relevancy. Throw out a dark, grumbly throwback which scrapes the nether regions of FM rock radio ("Shela") that pleases the old-time fans, re-use some old Joe Perry stuff ("Let the Music Do the Talking"), and everywhere else do just enough to keep everyone wondering - is the revival still within reach? Or was this on life support, and was it time to pull the plug?
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