Aerosmith, O Yeah! Ultimate Hits

Aerosmith, O Yeah! Ultimate Hit - It's tough to do a review of a band with one of the lowest street credibilities around. These days the very name Aerosmith will get the average rock fan groaning. The general consensus amongst the few who will go further than saying "Aerosmith s***" is that Aerosmith was a good 70s rock band who made a couple of good albums, then got addled on drugs, and then made no worthwhile material at all after that. And that they went from playing hard rock to doing nothing but sappy ballads and wimpy pop!

It's a nice crutch for those who hate thinking and like to jump on bandwagons. But it is, in my opinon, not true.

Firstly I will be the first to say that Aerosmith are not the greatest band in rock history, and I'm a big fan. I would climb to the top of the Gherkin with a loudspeaker and shout it out if you would like. What they are to me is however is a very good hard rock & roll band, Usually. I agree that after Rocks, their output was uneven in quality. But the idea that it's all rubbish is laughably misguided. For me, every Aerosmith album has some great songs on it. And it's also false to think that they've gone completely mainstream and churned out nothing but "glossy pop". Nine Lives is definitely mellower than previous albums, but that's no bad thing IMO. After playing pummeling rockers for 27 years what's wrong with diversifying a bit? Nine Lives actually remains my favourite Aerosmith album. I even played it to my cynical brother and he seeemd to like it. (And that ladies and gentlemen is the highest praise possible.) But even so, it's very much the old dynamic Aerosmith of old between the softer tracks.

Now the good points. All members are very good at what they do. Joe Perry is a great guitarist and if you need convincing try listening to Think About It on Night In The Ruts. Joey Kramer is one of the most underrated drummers ever. John Bonham is usually considered the ultimate powerhouse drummer, but I'll give Kramer that distinction. Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford don't sound exceptional to me but more than adequate for the task. Which leaves Steven Tyler, IMO the most dynamic vocalist ever. His style is reminiscent of Freddie Mercury's rock voice mode, but with an added depth in the lower registers. Listening to him sing is as compelling as listening to Jimi Hendrix play the guitar. Both sound completely at ease with what they're doing. The downside is that he can be annoying at times, but then all virtuosos can annoy at times!

I don't believe that what they were doing was very original. I once read someone say that they were "metal-fortifed funk" and hopefully not getting sued for plagiarism, I would say that's pretty accurate. So they never pushed the boundaries of rock music. So what? If you want finely crafted, late-night headphone music try King Crimson. If you want dynamic rock & roll to wear out your speakers then Aerosmith fit the bill nicely. To me they pass the test of time much better than many other 70s era rock bands in a similar vein. And I personally liked the Eastern sounding influneces of Nine Lives. I would never have thought that the normally very down-to-earth Aerosmtih would experiment with something like that but it works well.

The thing that strikes me more than anything else about Aerosmith is their enthusiasm. Everything they do crackles with energy. Sometimes it's in a slightly silly way like an overactive puppy dog, e.g., Dude Looks A Lady, but with the right frame of mind and a couple of beers I don't complain. Being somewhat introverted it's fun to hear Tyler's salacious cackle. It's a fact of music that downbeat music is more highly regarded than upbeat music, so Aerosmith are never going to the favourite band of people who believe that the purpose of art is to make a statement. That's fine with me. I listen to Aersomtih and just accept them for what they are, a band who rarely think otherwise that the point of rock & roll is to have fun.

Overall this is a pretty good representation of their career. Given that Aerosmtih are currently unfashionable I'm not sure of the market for this album, but for those willing to break free from the herd mentality, you might be surprised that Aerosmith aren't quite as horrible as some people pretend!