If Steven Tyler is Aerosmith's big mouth, then hawk-nosed guitarist Joe Perry was the band's main muscle. Now, on Perry's first LP since leaving the group last year, he flexes that muscle like a champ. Let the Music Do the Talking overflows with molten riffs and the kind of smoking guitar solos that made Get Your Wings and Toys in the Attic such head-banger delights. The Joe Perry Project delivers all of the rock & roll moxie that Aerosmith couldn't manage on their last album with him, the prophetically titled Night in the Ruts.

At only 2:06, the instrumental "Break Song" is Let the Music Do the Talking's pivotal raver, a microcosmic demonstration of the chops that Perry deploys throughout the record. Against bassist David Hull and drummer Ronnie Stewart's manic rhythms, Perry trots out his entire bag of tricks – feedback, fuzztone harmonics, vibrato wails, hammer-on-anvil power chords–but with a practiced musicianly class that further fuels the guitar-star cool with which he slams on his strings.

The LP's eight other blitzkriegs crackle with similar electricity. Jack Douglas, Perry's coproducer and former Aerosmith mentor, has done a good job. "Shooting Star" and the title track bristle with double-time heavy-metal tension, while "Life at a Glance" kicks to a punkier beat. "Rockin' Train" and "Discount Dogs" are effectively funked-up James Brown-style numbers.

The only weak link in this chain of churning jock-rock is lead singer Ralph Morman, who can howl with the best of the hard-rock hounds but whose voice lacks the cutting edge that would distinguish him from the rest of the pack. Joe Perry takes a few unspectacular turns at the vocal mike, too, but any singer might feel intimidated by the locomotive pace and guitar-army sound of this album. Any singer except maybe one. If Steven Tyler were here, Let the Music Do the Talking would probably be the finest record Aerosmith never made. (RS 318)

DAVID FRICKE