Aerosmith ~ Honkin' On Bobo (album review) ... Blues on speed!

Style: blues-rock, cover, tribute
Label: Columbia
Year: 2004
Home: n/a

Members: Steven Tyler ~ lead vocals/harmonica/piano/percussion
Joe Perry ~ lead guitar/vocals
Brad Whitford ~ guitars
Tom Hamilton ~ bass
Joey Kramer ~ drums

Additional: Tracy Bonham ~ b. vocals
Johnnie Johnson ~ piano
The Memphis Horns ~ brass
Paul Santo ~ piano/electric piano/organ

Aerosmith turns in a balls to the wall blues album covering classic blues cuts ... which ends up sounding like a rock band that knows the blues, but hasn't played the real blues & in turn creates a train wreck that succeeds in a few places almost by accident.  They have one foot in the blues, but Aerosmith is firmly a rock band. Its honorable that they want to recognize their roots by making a blues album with classic songs, versus writing a bluesy rock album like Merzy or Cinderella, but what was their goal? Was it to play great blistering blues? Was it to interpret old songs? Was it to give a rock feel to blues songs? Was it to have fun? I think they did have fun, but as for the other questions I can't give much answer. I heard this when it came out & never wanted to hear any more from them. Listening to it years later I still don't like it for the same reasons, & I say this having changed my listening interests over this time. I found & now find again this album to not be bluesy, but just noisy. It wasn't particularly great rock, but filler songs on the B-side. This is farther away from the blues than they've ever made. Its blues for people who don't know the blues, thus they won't know how bad it is. While its an example of a bad blues album by a great rock band. While this album is full of wonderful blues classics, but I doubt anyone will walk away knowing this. I doubt anyone will hum "You Gotta Move" or want to hear the original. I hope they don't want to hear the original, as they'll realize how Aerosmith jettisoned everything great about the song & turned it into rock filler fluff. For example, "Road Runner" is a classic song with a great memorable riff. The riff is completely drowned out here & doubtful anyone will come away humming it. While, is that an excess of cymbals in the song, as the rhythm section just feels like a wash of indistinct sound ... or was this album poorly mixed? Likely a bit of both, as what blues song has a drum solo? This sounds like a no talent bar band trying to play a song one drunken night. I feel bad that Aerosmith likely worked hard to sound this bad. The Jeff Beck-esque guitar solo that uses all the foot pedals to create lots of sounds just demonstrates what a mess this is. We know its a mess, but thanks for driving the point home. Whose idea was it to break the solo up into numerous sounds? Is this an attempt to have emotion knowing the blues is all about feeling? Complete failure to do anything but twist knobs in the studio & make the biggest wall of sound ever. Every instrument in this bad bar band is trying to play over each other. Nobody is listening to each other. No instrument stands out. Its amateur blues hour. The fact is, "Dream On" had more feeling than this entire record, so there's no need for this to be a train wreck or a show off situation of how many sounds your instrument can make. "Shame, Shame, Shame" features wild guitar playing that might be interesting if the rest of the band was giving it a platform that was interesting. Not a mess of everyone trying to play the blues as fast as possible with no groove, not letting any instrument breathe, not giving any hook a moment to shine, not caring about any sense of melody. Were they on speed when they recorded this? What drugs were they on? I can just imagine Willy Dixon with his big upright bass telling his band to play as fast as possible. Actually, no, I can't, as it defies reality. When jazz pianist Bill Evans started playing fast near the end of his career it was because he thought that's what people wanted in jazz - flash over substance. Only before he died did he slow down again & realize he had it wrong, & that playing fast isn't better. The album ends with "Jesus Is On The Mainline", which attempts to be Delaney & Bonnie's Motel Shot in a big rollicking gospel choir with acoustic guitar, but it couldn't sound more out of place, not to mention contrived. There's nothing gospel or choir-like about Aerosmith, & having a female lead the group made it more out of place. Its like if the next AC/DC album was promoted as retro & closed with an all female a cappella doo-wop outing. If this is an experiment in music making, than I'll give it some points, as it has more in common with drugged out albums of the '60's & '70's for me than anything remotely like the blues. I should say, in high school & college I was a super jazz and blues fan. My life changed the day I heard Robert Johnson & I started learning guitar to play him. I love the blues. I can't get into this. I've seen reviews praise this album, but after a couple listens both at the time of release & over a decade later I don't believe the reviewers are listening to the same album. Maybe they just refuse to acknowledge the fact Aerosmith made a stinker after two decades of great albums. They are a great band & it hurts to confess they failed, but confess it. There are a few decent moments. Two, to be precise. "Never Loved A Girl" has the music is slowed down, the Hammond organ is given space, the guitars subtle, the drums laid back, the band knows when to play & when not, Tyler sings his heart out as one of rock's most iconic singers, & there's even a horn line. If the entire album was like this than it would be one of their greatest albums ever, hands-down. This song was crafted & is wonderful blues. The song is golden & worth including on hits compilations by them. For Joe, who sings, it might be one of his greatest songs on record. "Back Back Train" is an interesting moment with Joe & Tracy Bonham on backing vocals. It is sincerely haunting & raw. Though, I begin to think maybe Joe should have been in charge & not Stephen. But, that's it. Nothing else on this album I found anything but disturbingly bad & embarrassing. Though, points to Stephen singing his heart out in wonderful form. He's one of our most emotive singers, but the material doesn't do him any justice.

Aerosmith ~ A Little South Of Sanity (live) (album review) ... Doing what they insanely do best!

Style: hard rock
Label: Geffen
Year: 1998
Home: Boston, Massachusetts

Members: Steven Tyler ~ lead vocals/harmonica/percussion
Joe Perry ~ guitar/pedal steel/b. vocals
Brad Whitford ~ guitar
Tom Hamilton ~ bass
Joey Kramer ~ drums

Additional: Russ Irwin, Thom Gimbel ~ keyboards/b. vocals

From the Get A Grip & Nine Lives tours comes this two disc live set to fulfill contractual obligations. They could have done something interesting with their Geffen swan song. I'm thinking of Billy Joel's live Songs In The Attic that culled lesser known earlier hits that his newer fans wouldn't know. But, it's doubtful Aerosmith were thinking creatively. They were probably just counting the days until the contract was up. So, what we get is a straight ahead live show with great production values. It's actually far more enjoyable than I expected. Probably because when they stick to the hits it's hard to fail & when you have a majority of songs be said hits from the 70's & 80's it's nearly impossible to fail. There's only two songs from Nine Lives & six from Get A Grip, but the later might be their last good album. It also helps that this is just the band in their basic form where they're not able to overdub to death a song with too many layers, there's not even any anonymous backing musicians except for a keyboardist. This is Aerosmith the way they should sound & the way we want them to sound. The boys are as on top of things energy-wise as ever, making for an enjoyable concert. The songs sometimes get a few extra shots for a longer guitar solo or there's a variation with the arrangement on a verse or bridge, but not to any real detriment & it's not always so noticeable. The newer songs stick pretty closely to their studio counterparts, but the older ones do tend to vary. The only song that doesn't do too well is "Janie's Got A Gun" with some odd guitar parts. Steven Tyler limits his audience banter. There's also a lack of audience noise. At times it might sound like a studio album because it's all too perfect sounding, but there's a bit of an echo now & then & a warmth that comes out that a studio album lacks. While a later day Aerosmith live album might seem like a waste, if you've seen them live recently this will be a good souvenir. Also of note ... remember, Joe Perry might be the lead guitarist we know, but he's really not. Brad Whitford takes lead duties on: "Love In An Elevator", "Same Old Song & Dance", "Back In The Saddle", "Last Child", "Walk On Down", "Dream On", "Mama Kin" & "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)".

Alice Cooper ~ Classicks (live, hits comp) (album review) ... Star studded & not quite classics as you know them!

Style: shock rock, heavy metal, hard rock, greatest hits, live
Label: Epic
Year: 1995
Home: Arizona

Members: Al Pitrelli, Stef Burns ~ guitar/b. vocals
John McCurry, Pete Freezin' ~ guitar
Hugh McDonald, T-Bone Caradonna ~ bass
Derek Sherinian ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Greg Smith ~ bass/b. vocals
Jonathan Mover, Bobby Chouinard, Mickey Currey, David Uosikkinen ~ drums
Robert Bailey, Alan St. John, John Webster, Steve Croes ~ keyboards

Additional: Dan Wexler ~ guitar
Zachary Nevel, Vic Pepe, Tony Palmucci, Scott Bender, Corkey McClennan, Lance Bulen, Terry Wood, Shaun Murphy, Sherwood Ball, Cali, Gary Falcone, Ian Richardson, Nick Coler, Mick Wilson, Mike Finnigan, Stan Bush ~ b. vocals

Guests: Slash, Steve Vai, Joe Perry ~ guitar
Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Kelly Keeling, Jack Ponti ~ b. vocals
Joe Satriani ~ guitar/b. vocals
Nikki Sixx ~ bass

Before reviewing this compilation/live album let me note that this was released by the label after Alice had left & thus his involvement was minimal, so the outcome may not be exactly what he'd release if given full creative control. Like the Megadeth greatest hits albums released by Capitol Records after the band moved to Sanctuary Records in 2000 ... it's all about a label continuing to make money on an artist now making money for someone else. That being said ... how do you get fans to buy a greatest hits package that has tracks probably everyone already has in their collection? Well, you can focus the greatest hits collection on a particular theme, here being the leather era look of a now sober Alice. Next, you record a new track or two that you set beside both classic tracks & some lesser known more recent tracks. But, what do you do when your musician has left your label & thus there's no new tracks forthcoming? Of the 15 songs on Classicks, a name suggested by Alice himself, one track is a new song, albeit it's actually an underheard B-side, eight tracks are recent while six are classic tracks from the 70's but performed live by the 1989/1990 touring band. The idea is that all the tracks have the same 80's hard rock sound & not reflect the eclectic musical changes that have highlighted Alice's career. This album was looking for new generation of fans who liked one style of music & it was loud, bombastic & full of guitar. When it comes to greatest hits compilations this is one of the more unique approaches I've seen. It's right up there with Asia re-recording all their old songs for Anthology, albeit this is far more successful & enjoyable as the touring band isn't trying to duplicate which was Asia's goal. Classicks is supposed to be a greatest hits collection but the recent tracks are culled only from the then most recent Trash from 1989, Hey Stoopid & The Last Temptation, while the classic tracks are all from the Alice Cooper Band & 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare. Thus, besides lacking quite a few classic hits, there's a near fifteen year gap of recordings missing from this album making its status as a true greatest hits albums weak. Albeit, no hits really came from the ten albums released in that time, but there's a few gems such as "You & Me" that keep them from being completely forgettable though they largely are according to both fans & Alice himself in his autobiography. But, the MTV era hits are here that culled a new generation of fans, though only Trash really scored any real hits. But, though Trash spun off four videos & the most commercial success its strangely represented by the single track "Poison" while the other two albums, that might have spurred less hits but have stronger songs, are given more than their fare share of attention considering their minor commercial impact. It's almost as if Trash had gotten enough success & now the label wanted some attention on the other lesser selling albums. Alice of the late 80's/90's was a heavy metal guy, far different than his 70's/early 80's persona, brought home by the live versions on Classicks of classic Alice Cooper Band hits that are far different & more wild than their 15-20 year old studio counterparts. Taken directly from the Trashes The World video they are raw two guitar onslaughts with a high energy band including future Savatage/Megadeth/Asia/Trans-Siberian guitarist Al Pitrelli, future Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, under-rated drummer Jonathan Mover of GTR with Steve Howe, guitarist Pete Freezin' & bassist T-Bone Caradonna. It's the band that would set the sound & look for Alice through the present day with current shows being a development of the Trash look. Eric Singer, famous for his future tenure with Kiss, would replaced Mover soon after filming the video but no official recordings of his time with the tour exist. This tour line-up, supporting the release of Trash, on this compilation only feature the band playing the classic songs. At first the live tracks sound messy & cluttered with guitars roaring in a way not heard before, though they are a perfect reflection of how Alice updated his sound for the 80's, putting aside the more prog elements of the songs for a more headbanging sound. The songs might be re-arranged but remain untouchable classics. Anyone who doesn't know the contemporary music by Alice is missing an important chunk of his career. This is a good starting point for someone unsure of if they might like his current sound, plus as a bonus it features numerous guest musicians. Personally, I'd buy The Last Temptation first, then consider this compilation or the other two studio releases if I liked what I heard. The Last Temptation has some of the most heart-breaking songs Alice ever recorded, telling the story of a boy lost in the world & eventually discovering God as this album marked Alice's Christian conversion. In many ways this is a lopsided compilation as it's featuring a studio band then a completely different live band & thus sounds like two albums. But, to hear 80's Alice one could do a lot worse. The albums on the new record label that would follow this compilation would see Alice going even heavier & into industrial & bringing the character to its scariest thus Classicks ends up the end of an era & a photograph of past glories.