Rocks - Aerosmith (CD 1993)

AEROSMITH's second masterpiece in a row is a wonder of pure, massive, carnal, urgent, unadultered solid funky Hard Rock. Literally - this is all about coming. For 34 minutes, that is.

Joe Perry and Brad Whitford rock like their lives depended on it. Still, they display effortless versalitity, which confers Rocks a thrilling set of guitar tricks. Perry reserved some of this best soloing and when Whitford gets there too we have juggernauts like Rats In The Cellar's coda. Whitford unleashes his best-ever composition, the doomy Nobody's Fault, easily AEROSMITH finest moody number - what a violence!

Steven Tyler (where has this voice been since 1982) is raspy, thick and frantic. He struts carelessly like the baddest guy in town. This is the closer Hard Rock gets to the bottom of the Blues. He impersonates decadence and filthy stubborness. Hey, this is 1976 kids.

Joey Kramer pounds tightly and furious, but knows how to work those grooves out too. Tom Hamilton's humongous lines are always prominent and he learns a few tricks alongside the record. The kitchen's sink is a solid foundation for the things to come. Producer JACK DOUGLAS, once again, takes all the sweaty water out of this stones.

Back In The Saddle haunting bassline early on finds the interlocked guitars' marvel - the Mammoth rhythm is only surpassed by tongue-in-cheek Tyler spitting with cool. Reportedly, the band recorded this one after a dead-end druggy night. And the song is about cowboys!

Last Child is a lazy, loose string of consciousness ballad, a relentless experience which Tyler embodies with a host of voices/characters. Perry displays his subtle best and the remainder play safe and tight. This is a showcase for the dramatic singer onboad. Two songs only, two wholeheartdly classics.

Rats in The Cellar picks up the frantic energy of their last album's title track, a quasi-punk offshot. It sounds not that impressive next to the rhythmic and dramatic previous marvels. Still, towards the end the guitar solos become unpredictably interwooven, they coalesce into something HUGE. The guitar's release is something close to a dinosaur falling from the Empire State. AEROSMITH's finest instrumental section, period. It reminds me of JEFF BECK GROUP.

Combination is unambashed vicious, a mid-tempo Hard Rock groove rot to its knees and Perry (!) with his voice on the lower end of the street sturd by deranged harmonies provided, obviously, by his bigmouth fella. AEROSMITH find aesthetic dignity for the sleazy sets they engender. The basic riffing becomes transcendental half the song on.

Sick As A Dog is self-eloquent a title as THE ROLLING STONES would have demanded. It is kinky, sleazy Hard Rock smoothly led by professionals of the kind. Less spectacular then the previous offerings them all, but still surpassing 9/10 of their future work. It sounds not that impressive due to instrument changes: Tyler and Perry alternate bass duties and Hamilton provides the guitar.

After the guitars die down again a sudden silence...And the manic, possessed groove of killing fields arrive. Nobody's Fault bears all the muscular prowess of a great Hard Rock tune but even more scars and loathe of a good, malevolent Blues. Whitford the mood operator in full throttle, Perry unleashing hellish hounds from his loaded six-strings, a demented Tyler which makes me think someone took his place from 1982 on, Kramer bringing down earths and heavens and Hamilton trimmed to a single-note doom-laden barbed wire. It makes you forget ALICIA SILVERSTONE, definitely. The ultimate AEROSMITHsonian experience. Then all legs are open...

Get The Lead Out - hum hum! Another trailblazing knockout of a track, another stellar Hard Rock surging from all pores. It's ironic, it refuses to get cheesily complex, it's a gas.

Lick and a Promise (wow) is a tortured, squeakly power ballad of sorts, which puts to shame Love In An Elevator, What It Takes, Falling In Love etc. It's all sweat and hands-down on your pants. It's early Rock N'Roll fullfiled. They get there.

Home Again presents the reflective Tyler, the survivor that quickly would be reduced to a lascivious rodent. It's as intimate and haunting as any singer-songwriter, but with rousy guitars and thoughtful rhythmic kitchen. It's AEROSMITH, before the flood. Here comes the flood again! See ya.

File under: Sex, Drugs, Rock N'Roll

Related reviews:

http://www.epinions.com/content_98179190404
1975's crowning f*ck Toys In The Attic
http://www.epinions.com/content_152054107780
1997's turbulent survival Nine Lives

Tracklist:

* * * * * Back In The Saddle
* * * * * Last Child
* * * * 1/2 Rats in the Cellar
* * * * Combination
* * * * Sick as a Dog
* * * * * Nobody's Fault
* * * * Get The Lead Out
* * * * 1/2 Lick and a Promise
* * * * 1/2 Home Again