blackleatherbookshelf | Entries tagged with steven tyler

Pump Up The Volume
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Aerosmith continued their unlikely comeback with a second powerful album, "Pump." Working off the momentum supplied by "Permanent Vacation" and still collaborating with a few hired guns (Jim Vallance and Desmond Child snag a few songwriter credits), the Toxic Twins of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were back in a groove that rivaled their heyday. "I'm a .38 Special on a Saturday night," growls Tyler on "F.I.N.E." and he means every word of it.

Not only did they have their groove back, they were also now MTV darlings. It turned "Love In an Elevator," "Jamie's Got a Gone" "The Other Side" and the power ballad "What It Takes" into hit singles. But it's the unlikely turns that made "Pump" into a little extra. There's a Sgt Pepperish middle section on "Elevator" that comes from outside the band's usual meat grinder. And would you have ever expected Aerosmith to pick up a Dulcimer and rock out with it (as does the "Dulcimer Stomp" that precedes "The Other Side." Despite "Pump" being a through-and-through Aerosmith album, they were stepping outside their box.

"Pump" was the peak of Aerosmith's second act. The outside influences began to overrun the band come "Get a Grip" and soon after that, the usual rock and roll demons took control. However, for sheer song for song bang, "Pump" offered conclusive proof that Aerosmith were one of America's classic rock bands that had the goods to outlast many of their 70's peers.

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Love In An Elevator" Aerosmith

Aerosmith 2012
3 Out Of 5 Stars

The newest incarnation of Aerosmith (it's been a decade since "Just Push Play") finds them almost in a parallel universe with the Rolling Stones. "Music From Another Dimension" is a confident and competent album, but no great shakes in the pantheon of Aerosmith. Like the Stones, they seem incapable of cutting a truly bad album in their golden years, but anyone expecting "Rocks" is stuck in a dimension all their own.

You're also stuck with the outside songwriter syndrome, with Desmond Child, Jim Vallance, Diane Warren and M. Moir (is that Monte Moir of The Time?) all sharing credits with the Aerosmith members. As usual, the Warren ballad "We All Fall Down" is commercial knockout (I'm going to bet on this as the single), while the Jim Vallance number "Legendary Child" is actually one of the better cuts. However, it's the Tyler/Perry songs that are the meat of "Dimension." The opener "Love XXX" is better than anything on "Just Push Play," and Tom Hamilton's "Tell Me" is an acoustic standout.

The lone curveball is the duet with country superstar Carrie Underwood. "Can't Stop Loving You" sounds like a song from the "Pump" period, even with Underwood's considerable pipes chiming in. It doesn't necessarily 'rock,' but it's no Nashville weeper, either. Add a bonus song from Joe Perry singing "Freedom Fighter" and you round out a decent Aerosmith album. "Music From Another Dimension" isn't going to convert any old fans, but at least it's not "Done With Mirrors."

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Current Mood: crazy
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Love XXX" Aerosmith

A Calling Card for early Aerosmith
4 Out Of 5 Stars

When this came out in 1980, Aerosmith were still one of the hottest rock bands in the world. The slippage of "Night In The Ruts" had just been released and the backlash (or the public breakup between the band and Joe Perry) hadn't happened yet. That meant the public's appetite for a Greatest Hits was still hot, and this ten song package filled in nicely. It collects songs from the debut to "Ruts," skips the "Live Bootleg" and adds one soundtrack single Beatles Cover from the camp classic movie "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (in which Aerosmith played the villains!).

The main reason to own this is the 1978 version of "Come Together" from Sgt Pepper. This has been the only CD you can find it on (unless you want the SPLHCB soundtrack, and you probably don't). It also doesn't bother with the Run-DMC version of "Walk This Way" which tends to show up on other discs. The two best songs from "Draw The Line" are here and the goofy cover of "Remember Walking In The Sand" are included. The down side is that several of the tracks are single edits ("Same Old Song and Dance," "Sweet Emotion" and "Draw The Line," to name three) and "Train Kept a Rollin'" could have easily been included among the single releases.

Other than "Oh Yeah," which culls both the CBS and Geffen years onto two discs, "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits" is about as good a bang for the buck as you'll get from this band.

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Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Come Together" Aerosmith

8 Down and 1 to Go
4 Out of 5 Stars

Of the two studio albums Aerosmith put out in the 90's, "Nine Lives" was the superior of the two. It was the follow-up to "Get A Grip" and a return to their original home label, Columbia. They gave their old/new home a vibrant and exciting album, the way "Get a Grip" sounded calculated and atypical of an Aerosmtih album. The title track opens as a statement of purpose; as Joe Perry's guitar twangs from below, Steven Tyler lets loose with a batch of cat-calls before caterwauling into a major rock and roll scream. Aerosmith isn't just letting you know they were back, but they were ready for a fight.

"Nine Lives" put out. The initial single, "Falling In Love Is Hard On The Knees" kicked with a catty sense of humor (Tyler singing "don't give me lip, I've got enough of my own"), punchy horns, and Perry's lick-happy solo. Just what you'd want in an Aerosmith single. Same with "Pink," which needs no explanation to it's catchy double entendre. "Hole In My Soul" (co-written with hit-miester Desmond Child) continued Aerosmith's string of power ballads, but even with the expected, the band was willing to play around with the typical sounds.

"Taste of India" takes on a cool middle eastern vibe, and gives Tyler a chance to stretch out vocally. I also loved the drum line from Joey Kramer in this particular song. Nor was the band adverse to pointing out the way their own past had battered them, like the rehab diary of "The Farm," followed intentionally by a punky "Crash." Obviously, Aerosmith was - despite the internal battles going on at the time, this was one of those periods where the band was on the brink of breaking up - wanting to prove they could conquer without dividing. Tyler liked the album so much as to steal the line "Does The Noise in my Head Bother You" for the title to his book (from the song "Something's Gotta Give"). "Nine Lives" remains the last peak in Aerosmith's long career, and certainly out-classes the 2001 follow-up, "Just Push Play."

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Current Mood: satisfied
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Taste of India" Aerosmith

One Sober Comeback
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Despite the fact that the newly sobered Aerosmith released "Done With Mirrors" to a collective yawn, the band knew they were on to something when their guest appearance on Run DMC's cover of "Walk This Way" got the band back on the radio and MTV. In fact, if you read Steven Tyler's biography "Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir," he barely even mentions "Mirrors." The reason might just be that "Permanent Vacation" both buried "Mirrors" in its wake and took advantage of nostalgia the Run DMC turn had ginned up for the group.

"Permanent Vacation" pulled all the stops: hot producer Bruce Fairbairn came into the studio to slicken the band up, hired gun songwriters Desmond Child and Jim Vallance (who usually wrote for/with Bryan Adams) churned up the hooks, and both Tyler and Joe Perry were in top form. They also entered the world of 80's power ballads with "Angel," which put them back into the top ten for the first time in over a decade. The band had sharpened up considerably since going sober, with songs like "Hangman's Jury" and the cover of The Beatles' "I'm Down" taking the band back to their roots.

More to the point, Aerosmith was no longer afraid of an obvious hit single. Both "Rag Doll" and "Dude Looks Like a Lady" kicked out of any radio station with ear-shattering force. Their willingness to also embrace some fresh quirks (the Caribbean goofiness of the title track or the slick horns and strings that pop up throughout the disc) made clear that Aerosmith was both back and hungry to establish themselves back at the top of the American Rock Heap. "Permanent Vacation" was the first half of a mammoth one-two punch that "Pump" completed the clobbering (and became their first top ten album since the classic "Rocks").