Gems - Aerosmith (CD 1993)

INTRODUCTION
Hello, everybody. This is John Bishop typing, the DeadMilkboy of Epinions.com. Before I launch into the following review, I d like to mention that this is part of a series of reviews I m writing based on one of the greatest American rock n roll bands in history, AEROSMITH! I d like to thank Aerocat (another Arizona native, bless her soul) for giving me the chance to do something other than write reviews of classic B-movies and current CD/DVD releases, and besides AEROSMITH F*CKING ROCKS! Posted here is the URL to Aerocat s official Epinions.com Aerosmith Write-Off page, and a list of names of other hopeful Aero Force fellas and freaks joining me in the write-off. For reference purposes, I got the lyrics and and quotations/information from www.rockthisway.de and aerosmithlyrics.homestead.com.

URL: http://aerowriteoff.bravepages.com/index.html
MEMBERS: Aerocat, hipyx, matta75, thevoid99, deaser26, netnut746, pt-paratroopa, pmills1210, pearl-drum-man, jeff_wilder78, kcfoxy, fartzarellah, sparkospunky, joubert, mattbjorke, shilmafone, donignacio, ned1, fuche_bu, and frostiepekkle.

GEMS
"That was a non-hits album, which we thought was pretty cool. That is one of the Aerosmith records that I listen to." - Aeosmith guitarist Joe Perry on GEMS.

In 1987, sales of Aerosmith s GREATEST HITS package had already reached a surprising peak point, and mainstream audiences finally re-embraced the rock legends on the heels of Run DMC s version of Walk This Way and the band s second release on Geffen Records, PERMANENT VACATION. But the new Aerosmith (reuniting Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer) seemed tailor made for the eighties music crowd, employing a grandiose power ballad and outside songwriters. Columbia Records decided to release a follow-up to GREATEST HITS as a cash-in, only this time the songs picked were ones that were classics, but don t qualify as real hits. They were Aerosmith s album cuts, the GEMS.

For every hit single Aerosmith had under their belt, there was one dormant song on their LPs which was either better or bigger than their most popular counterparts. And the GEMS package makes up for any loss on the GREATEST HITS LP. A lot of people ragged on Columbia for not putting Train Kept A Rollin or Mama Kin on their first compilation, but those weren t hits. Thus, they were saved for this 1987 release, which is more of a companion piece to GREATEST HITS (with a low price too) and necessary for the Aerosmith fan with no plans to buy separate albums.

GEMS spans from 1973 to 1982, whereas Columbia stopped in 1980, for fear the new reinvention of Aerosmith would be lauded commercially and critically. The first song on this collection of 12 (2 more songs than on that hits album) harkens back to Aerosmith s seminal release, 1976 s ROCKS. Rats In The Cellar was a reinvention of the title track from Aerosmith s previous album, TOYS IN THE ATTIC, and was the third in a crunching opening set of songs on ROCKS which also included Back In The Saddle and Last Child. Like an electric blues number at 78 rpm, this song speeds along with the kind of fiery sharpness lacking in Toys In The Attic. There s also a harmonica riff by Steven Tyler mid-song just as unbelievably fast and a**-kickin as the band s delivery throughout. For an opening song, this song demands your attention, and holds it for a great amount of time. And the lyrics are suiting to the mad delivery: I ain't complainin' 'cause everything's rotten/Go insane an anything's forgotten/Feelin' cozy rats are in the cellar/Cheeks are rosy skin's turning yellar/Loose and soggy lookin' rather lazy/Soon my body pushin' up the daisies/New York City's dues, East side West side news/Throw me in the slam, catch me if you can/I believe that'chor wearin', tearin' me apart.

ROCKS also gives us another song on the compilation (God, what an album that was!), Lick And A Promise. A Johnny Come Lately rock star s wild life is the metaphor for the band s desire for going out and winning an audience. It's tough thing to do. (quote by Steven Tyler). He gets his woman every night for free/He's out there rockin' like you wouldn't believe /He gave the ladies a...lick and a promise. All the while, a rockin blues groove updates Johnny B. Goode to the Aerosmith style, with an excellent drum introduction, fluid guiitar licks, and a na na na na chorus.

Chip Away The Stone is an exclusive to this compilation, a song recorded for the LIVE BOOTLEG release in but now here in its studio conception. Written by Richie Supa, who plays piano on this number, a slow blues rising from a stop-start drum beat shuffle laced by Joe Perry s excellent riff. The rhythm is steady and solid, as Tyler wraps his voice around lyrics like Even a rock will crumble/If you strike it night and day/If hammer I must, I'm gonna get through your crust/Gonna chip that stone away.

No Surprize was the best track on the 1980 release, A NIGHT IN THE RUTS. This really great rocker is a trip through time to tell the Aerosmith story from their discovery at Max s Kansas City by Clive Davis to their dissatisfaction with the music biz merry-go-round. So what with all our style/You could see in our eyes/That we is still on trial/Baby, it s no surprize. The song also spawned a catchphrase Steven Tyler would reprise when inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. However, No Surprize was a precursor to Aerosmith s worst days.

However, Aerosmith s earliest days not only spawned Dream On, but also Mama Kin, a Steven Tyler song written before Aerosmith. This hard rockin classic benefits from Joe Perry s excellent guitar work and the rhythmic shifts, as well a surprising sax performance. The song is also a great early vocal showcase for Steven Tyler, who did a great job on their debut as a whole. Lyrically, the character is spiraling out of control, dreamin', floatin' down the stream/And losin' touch with all that's real. So this advice is proffered: Keep in touch with Mama Kin/Tell her where you ve gone and been/Living out your fantasy/Sleepin late and smokin tea. Although later covered by Guns N Roses, Aerosmith s version is a real GEM.

Adam s Apple is culled from TOYS IN THE ATTIC, the 1975 classic album. The sound of the album is of the incredible electric blues that became the basis for dozens of pre-comeback Aerosmith songs, with Joe Perry and Brad Whitford smoking like always, especially mid-song. As written by Steven Tyler himself, based upon the Adam and Eve story, he explains, One of the greatest put together songs that Aerosmith ever did. Those were my thoughts on UFOs, the theory of evolution, the monkey, and Adam and Eve. How incredibly naive to think that there were just those two people just buzzing around the woods naked, having a blast. However, the song looks at the tale in favor of Eve: Even Eve in Eden/Voices tried deceiving/With lies that showed the lady the way/At first she stopped and turned and tried to walk away/Man he was believer/Lady was deceiver/So the story goes but you see/The snake was he and she just climbed right up his tree.

Nobody s Fault is the last featured selection from ROCKS, and like the songs before it, that s faithfully describing the feel of the song. The song is a stomping, venomous rocker with Joe Perry s guitar milking distortion every chance, and songwriter Brad Whit ford (as well as Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton) pounding out apocalyptic rhythm. And screamin Steven delivers, as usual, a loud and impressive vocal that fits the chaos of the song. Although it s called Nobody s Fault, the song kind of means the contrary: Eyes are full of desire/Mind is so ill at ease/Everything is on fire/Sh*t piled up to the knees/Out of rhyme or reason/Everyone's to blame /Sorry, we're so sorry/Don t be sorry/Man has known, and now he's blown it/Upside down and hell's the only sound/We did an awful job/And now they say it's nobody's fault.

Round And Round takes us back to TOYS IN THE ATTIC one last time. This song, however, wouldn t have sounded out of place on ROCKS, because this one chugs and screams like the best songs from ROCKS. This sounds grim, discordant, and brilliant, using a neat little spiral of round and round and round and round by the end of the song. It takes a while for it to go out, being 5 minutes long, but this is a nice inclusion, despite the fact that the other most memorable TOYS song, Big Ten Inch Record, fails to make the grade.

Critical Mass is the lone selection from 1977 and DRAW THE LINE. The things I like about this song are the thick bass lines by Tom Hamilton, Steve Tyler s skilled harmonica riffs, and the overall shuffling rhythm of the song itself. Of course, Joe Perry sizzles on the coda, and Tyler dishes out great vocal work. A strange case lyric-wise, this looks like the ultimate stab back at critics, as a group of abusers in black coats kidnap the narrator, and subject him to artistic judgment. Now the tallest of two with a brush full of blue/Paints surrealist scenes on the wall/So I tell her for fun that they're really well done/But he just ain't listenin' at all Celebrate, celebrate, cele-break it/We are critical mass.

Lord Of The Thighs hails from GET YOUR WINGS, which is built upon a meaty bass-and-piano instrumental melody, which gives into Joe Perry s licks and Steven Tyler s yowls. A proudly lewd rocker about getting some flesh, it makes its claim on these lines: You're the bait and you're the hook/Someone bound to take a look/I'm your man, child I am the lord of your thighs. This is a flawless GEM, funky and able to rock well; not only that, it s one of the best songs in Aerosmith s classic canon.

Jailbat was perhaps the lone solid number from ROCK IN A HARD PLACE, the 1982 release which lost Perry and Whitford, yet gained Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. It didn t prove to be a successful line-up, but Jailbat and Lightning Strikes were the true highlights. Jailbat, however, was a song Joe Perry even admitted was good: "Even though I wasn't around for that song, I think it's pretty hot. I would have done it a little differently, but if anything I'm a little jealous that I didn't get to play on it." It does rock, and both guitarists do a good job of beefing up the arrangement, even if Perry and Whitford were gone and Tyler was mired in heavy substance abuse. Tyler gives it up for the hot young girls here: Hello baby yeah it's me/Don't be no judge no third degree, oh jailbait/Play the fool and you play the pawn/When you wake up babe I'll be gone, oh jailbait.

But they saved the best for last: Train Kept A Rollin , the truly seminal cut from GET YOUR WINGS. Written by Tiny Bradshaw in 1940, covered first and foremost by The Yardbirds, and recorded using a neat live production trick by producer du jour Jack Douglas, the track became a legendary closing song in Aerosmith s early heyday. The first part of the song resembles that old Aerosmith shuffle: a groovy melody peppered by sharp guitar and fluid rhythm. When the guitar stops, the concert atmosphere flows, and Joey Kramer s rapid introduction kicks into a straightforward rocker with no time to stop, and the rawness of the band is thoroughly displayed, proving that Aerosmith are the original and only bad boys from Boston.

In the end, these songs are truly works of art, and the album cover shows that these songs are diamonds in the rough. And even though Aerosmith have dozens of truly memorable songs under their belt, there are always dozens of album cuts that are as indispensable as their most revered hits. GEMS is a single CD testament to that truth.