I've said it before, and I will say it again, I love a good cover album, and this one delivers with style. With the exception of one track Honkin' On Bobo is Aerosmith doing a Blues cover album, if you use the term Blues a bit loosely, but that's just nit picking.
The music you hear on this album is clearly the music that helped inspire Aerosmith's Rock style, and over all sounds. I would also like to mention that this is a loud album. I mean in a mix of twenty-five discs, it always booms out of the speakers. Everything is just so beautifully pushed forward in the mix. There are some issues I have with this album, which is why when I throw it on I do it more so for Andria. She was always a bigger fan of this album than I was. But I think it's because this album is so danceable.
Road Runner is the perfect boogie woogie track to open up the album. It's got a great hook, allows for some breathing and let's the band showcase themselves in brief bits, while maintaining the whole.
Shame, Shame, Shame is totally Big Band, which will put twice as much step in your foot as the last track. If you are a dancing person, you can totally swing to this baby. The piano on this song is played by Johnnie Johnson, and it's totally bitchin' but I would have rather heard piano parts transposed to guitar. My biggest bitch with Aerosmith is they have a bad habit of using too many outside people.
Eyesight To The Blind Is one of those songs I would skip. It's the kind of Blues I always found generic and bland. This song is basically an excuse for Steven Tyler to be a caricature of himself, which I have no use for.
I absolutely love the song Baby, Please Don't Go. It's simple, basic, has great drive, and is the kind of Blues that I just totally dig. The only problem with the Aerosmith version is Tyler just doesn't shut the fuck up. This is one of those songs where I want to hear Joe Perry open up and let loose and then it dawns on me, not gonna happen. Brad Whitford doesn't get to do it either, and the soloing that is offered is pushed back in the mix. Meanwhile Tyler's ever little vocal utterance is pushed right to the front of the mix.
The version I know best of Never Loved A Girl, was on The Commitments movie soundtrack. I still prefer that one over this one. At this point I have to start being very honest that when I say most of my bitching about this album is going to come from Tyler's vocals.
As a case and point to my last statement Back Back Train features Joe Perry on vocals. While Joe's vocals are pretty generic and basic sounding compaired to Steven's they fit and work this song, and make it work like good blues should work. Tyler does lay down some great harmonica work though. This is the first song where I really hear the Blues I like. It's a very full, thick, rich and dark song. "Well I look way down that lonesome road / Well I look way down that lonesome road / Way way down / Way way down / Way way down that lonesome road / I know that back back train will get'cha home / Back back train will get'cha home / Back back train / Back back train / Back back train will get'cha home... yeah / Well I thought I heard that church bell toll / I thought I heard that church bell toll / Told'chor lie / Told your lie / Told your lie somebody told me so... yeah / Huh hu hu... / Ho oh oh oh... / Well I'm goin' home on mornin' train... yeah / I'm goin' home on mornin' train / I'm goin' home... that's right / Goin' home... woooo / I'm goin' home on mornin' train... woooo / Huh hu hu... / Ho oh oh oh... / Well that back back train will take ya home / Back back train will take ya home / Take me home / Take me home / (Take me home... take me home) / Take me... take... awww... take me take me... / Huh hu hu... Ho oh oh oh... / Take me home / Arrr... take me home... / Take me". You Gotta Move is the first track where I don't want to punch Tyler in the face for being stupid about the vocals, but that's because he's playing the harmonica when he's not actually singing. Someone needs to constantly put one in his mouth. Cut down on his over use of the add lib Scat style he likes to use.
So now it's time for the original track on the album. The Grind is Aerosmith trying to do what they spend an entire album emulating, and if it wasn't for the fact that it's a bit of a slower track, I would totally back this one. Because of the way the track is produced it sounds a bit like the ballads from Get A Grip, especially in the choruses, but if you can ignore that you start to notice how good of a track this song really is. Lyrically it's very Blues, "I never thought a first time love would ever last / How could a kiss like that, knock me flat on my ass / hey ha... / The burning bed / the roses dead / and now i'm dancing with myself / Yeah, i'm missing you / just like you want me too / you made me trip into the grind / now I can't get you off of my mind / Your sweet talkin' hip shakin' walkin' gonna blow a man away / kiss butt, guess what even double crossin' dogs have their day, ha / so forget about, regret about, you're right I ain't afraid to say / yeah, I'm missing you / just like you want me to / you made me trip into the grind / now I can't get you off / And the more I tried / leads to the same old lie / you made me slip into the grind / now I can't get you off of the cloud we was on / and now it's all gone / tell me why, why, why, why / why ain't I getting through / ain't no lie their out of love, love, love / Tell me was it good, for you / tell me what you want / Yeah, 'cause i'm missing you / just like you know I do / you made me trip into the grind / now I can'y get you off, / and you know I tried / leads to the same old why / you made me trip into the grind / now I can't, can't, can't get you / get you / get you / get you / get you / get you / get you / get you / off of my mind...", and musically it has just the right edge to it. I'm Ready is where I'm able to point out exactly what it is about this album I like and don't like. I really dig the tracks that are full, with heavy low end, and a dark sound. This song isn't one of the better songs on the album, but I really dig the sound of it. There's a point in the soloing where I don't care for the way the guitar sounds, but that's no big deal.
Temperature is okay, but personally it's back to that Blues that bores me so, and the song that follows that up isn't much better.
Stop Messin' Around is Joe Perry on vocals again, but I don't care for this one like I did his last track. My problem with this track is that it sounds too Big Band, and over the years I've discovered I don't care for the sound of Big Band, because it's so thin and the high end sounds too pushed forward, the mids are almost always missing, and the low end is pulled back too. I always figured it was a production issue, based on when it was recorded, but it still applies to modern recordings as well, which is really odd considering.
Jesus In On The Main Line is the perfect track to end the album. This the purest Blues on this album as far as I'm concerned. This is how I imagine all the greats would have sounded if they recorded today. It's a simple track that takes you somewhere, and makes you feel good.
I know it sounds like I've ripped on this album a lot, but the truth is it's a very good album, it just needed a producer that was a little more removed from the band, I think. By which I mean that it needed a producer that was willing to tell Steven to shut up, and push Perry and Whitford to let loose a bit more. Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton are the people on this album that I can't complain about because they do what the rhythm section is supposed to do with grace and style. In fact it's those two that hold this whole album together as far as I'm concerned.
The biggest problem with this album, is that no matter what you say, Aerosmith should go back to being a band, and not just musicians that get together to make an album. You can hear it all over this album.
8/10 - content
8/10 - production
7/10 - personal bias
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