Aerosmith is back - and this time, they don't suck!

[AKA]

That's right. Yesterday, Aerosmith released their latest studio album, Honkin' On Bobo. What makes this different from the throwaway pap they've been putting out for the last ten years?

For starters, they've re-teamed with Jack Douglas, who was Aerosmith's producer from 1974's Get Your Wings through 1982's Perry/Whitford-free Rock In A Hard Place. Back to the basics, baby!

Secondly, there's no teenybopper fodder here. Unlike their last album (the icky Just Push Play) and that damn Armageddon song, the music here has substance. It doesn't exist solely to please the fourteen-year-old "TRL" crowd, most of whom have probably never heard the greatness that is Toys In The Attic or Rocks.

What you hear on Honkin' On Bobo is great American music. Blues covers, to be more specific. And in recording these songs, much to my delight, the band has recaptured that great early '70s Aerosmith sound I yearn for so much.

It's the first consistenly good Aerosmith album since 1989's Pump. Needless to say, I'm pleased.

To put it another way, this album smokes! I recommend it to anyone who has lost their faith in Aerosmith and wants to regain it.

Here's the tracklist:

1. Road Runner (E. McDaniel)
2. Shame, Shame, Shame (R. Fisher/K. Hopkins)
3. Eyesight To The Blind (S.B. Williamson)
4. Baby, Please Don't Go (J.L. Williams)
5. Never Loved A Girl (R. Shannon)
6. Back Back Train (F. McDowell)
7. You Gotta Move (Rev. G. Davis/F. McDowell)
8. The Grind (S. Tyler/J. Perry)
9. I'm Ready (W. Dixon)
10. Temperature (J.M. Cohen/W. Jacobs)
11. Stop Messin' Around (C. Adams/P.A. Green)
12. Jesus Is On The Main Line (Traditional)

What would an AKA review of an album be without citing Steven Thomas Erlewine of the All Music Guide? Steve, what say you?

Aerosmith prove that a band can be inspired by the blues and play the blues without ever feeling like a blues band. Then again, the nature of the blues is that every musician who plays it stamps his or her own identity on a set of familiar chord changes and songs. While it might not feel like the blues, Aerosmith do indeed stamp their identity on each track on their long-promised blues album, the atrociously named Honkin' On Bobo. Other rockers who have cut full-length blues albums have always played the music with a kind of scholarly reverence, taking care to pay tribute to their influences. Not Aerosmith. They turn up the amps and cut loose, playing slick and sleazy blooze-rock that feels indebted to second-generation blues-rock instead of blues forefathers. But that's the nature of the band. Surely, they loved Chess and country blues as much as they loved the Stones, but they are so thoroughly the children of Mick and Keith, they can't help but sound like a rock & roll band no matter what they do, no matter what they play. That might mean that Honkin' On Bobo is something that could be close to anathema to blues purists, since it's a rock album pure and simple, but chances are the bandmembers don't care, since they're just here to have a good time playing songs they love.

Besides, the song selection proves they're no purists. There are some warhorses with "Road Runner," "Baby, Please Don't Go," "I'm Ready," and "Eyesight to the Blind," but there's also a heavy dose of Fred McDowell, a Fleetwood Mac tune, a little-known Little Walter song, an obscure song from the obscure band Freedom, a Smiley Lewis number, and one casual original. While the warhorses are predictable, the rest is not, and the album itself is a bit of a surprise, too. Every indication, from the awful title and silly album art to the notion that the band was going back to its roots, suggests that this is going to be an embarrassment from a band that has been no stranger to embarrassment during the '90s. Instead, it's the best flat-out rock album Aerosmith have made in ages, ever since Joe Perry rejoined the band for Done With Mirrors. Re-teaming with producer Jack Douglas, who helmed all their greatest albums in the '70s, Aerosmith sound reinvigorated, even liberated from the need to have a hit power ballad, and they tear through these 12 songs with an energy they seemed to lose sometime after Pump. Sure, they can still be tasteless and ridiculous, whether in Steven Tyler's vocal affectations or in the band's oversized riffs, but again, that's the nature of the band — no other band does sleaze better. When they do it well, it can be irresistible rock & roll, and it's been a long, long time since they've sounded as good as they do here. Despite that awful title, Honkin' On Bobo is a real surprise and a real return to form for Aerosmith. (Special thanks to legendary pianist Johnnie Johnson, who plays on a couple of cuts here and lends the band just a little genuine blues grit).

[Nighthawk76]

I am glad to hear that this new Aerosmith album is so good. I'm a big fan of Aerosmith, but I've been so disappointed with their last couple of albums (Get A Grip, Nine Lives, Just Push Play) , that I was very seriously considering not buying this new album. I've heard the band say that they were returning to their roots with this one, but they said the same thing about Nine Lives and Just Push Play. Over the past decade or so Aerosmith have just gotten worse and worse, and both Steven Tyler and Joe Perry seem completly oblivious to how bad the band has really gotten. This being said, Aerosmith still remains a great live band. When I saw them on the Just Push Play tour they were amazing! I'll have to pick up Honkin' On Bobo.

[AKA]

Let us know what you think of the album, Dukey.

[Dean Winchester]

blues music just doesn't do it for me at all, but.... I'll take your word for it

Even Aerosmith doing calypso covers of Ricky Martin songs would sound better than the Just Push Play album did.

I will admit to liking Get A Grip tho. Permanent Vacation/Pump/Get A Grip is my fave Aerosmith trilogy. I agree Rocks and Toys are great albums though.

[AKA]

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
blues music just doesn't do it for me at all, but.... I'll take your word for it

When I get a chance, I'll upload some MP3 samples for you. If you like '70s Aerosmith, you'll dig this.

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
Even Aerosmith doing calypso covers of Ricky Martin songs would sound better than the Just Push Play album did.

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
I will admit to liking Get A Grip tho. Permanent Vacation/Pump/Get A Grip is my fave Aerosmith trilogy. I agree Rocks and Toys are great albums though.

I like Get A Grip, too. It's just not consistently good like Pump and Permanent Vacation. Nine Lives (the return to Columbia) is pretty good, too. I actually like it better than its predecessor.

Just Push Play, though? That's their worst album since Night In The Ruts.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by AKA
Just Push Play, though? That's their worst album since Night In The Ruts.

JPP is worse than NITR imo. At least when they did NITR, they were so stoned that they were out of it most of the time. JPP was basically a really bad pop record. Aerosmith have dabbled in pop music for years, but JPP was catering more to an N'Sync audience than an audience that knows Aerosmith were around before Run DMC.

I do think Night In The Ruts has about 3 good songs on it.

[AKA]

Just Push Play has something going for it that Night In The Ruts doesn't: the absence of that ****ty cover of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)". How that song got on Greatest Hits, I'll never know.

Seriously, though, I do dig a few songs on Ruts, namely "No Surprize" and "Mia." And yes, it is a better album than Just Push Play.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by AKA
Just Push Play has something going for it that Night In The Ruts doesn't: the absence of that ****ty cover of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)". How that song got on Greatest Hits, I'll never know.

Seriously, though, I do dig a few songs on Ruts, namely "No Surprize" and "Mia." And yes, it is a better album than Just Push Play.

I agree, how the hell did their Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) make their Greatest Hits cd, yet Mama Kin and Train Kept A Rollin' didn't make it?

I'd say with Aerosmith's albums, I'd rank them this way from #1 to #10

1. Pump
2. Permanant Vacation
3. Toys In The Attic
4. Get Your Wings
5. Rocks
6. Get A Grip
7. Aerosmith
8. Draw The Line
9. Nine Lives
10. Rock And A Hard Place

[AKA]

My list:

1. Rocks
2. Get Your Wings
3. Toys In The Attic
4. Aerosmith
5. Honkin' On Bobo
6. Done With Mirrors
7. Draw The Line
8. Permanent Vacation
9. Pump
10. Nine Lives

[robyrob]

i saw Honkin' On Bobo and the Special Edition version today - i almost bought the SE because it comes with a itty-bitty keychain spy-harmonica !!!

then i remembered that i haven't enjoyed ANYTHING Aerosmith has done in the last couple decades...

[AKA]

Originally posted by robyrob
i saw Honkin' On Bobo and the Special Edition version today - i almost bought the SE because it comes with a itty-bitty keychain spy-harmonica !!!

then i remembered that i haven't enjoyed ANYTHING Aerosmith has done in the last couple decades...

Yeah, I got the one with the harmonica. Pretty cool.

Like I said, if you like the sound of early '70s Aerosmith, buy this album. You won't be disappointed. And if you are, thank God you don't know where I live.

[dr frasier crane]

Aerosmith has always been one of my favorite bands, so I naturally bought the CD and really enjoyed it. I think it's great.

[diezman]

A die hard Aerosmith fan here from back in the 70s!

I really don't have any complaints about ANY of their albums. Each one has a distinctive sound and feel to it for sure! Aerosmith is one of the few bands that could change with current trends yet stay true to their roots

I just picked up Honkin' On Bobo this afternoon. This album freakin' smokes!! The Jack Douglas touch is very prevalent throughout this great album. It really reminds me of their early works such as Get Your Wings and Rocks.

Honkin' is advertised as a "blues" album. Yes, 90% of the album is covers from celebrated blues musicians. I, however do not consider Honkin' a pure blues album. It is a pure Aerosmith album- rock/blues that influenced Aerosmith from the beginning.

If you haven't picked it up yet- what are you waiting for??

Sit back and enjoy! This is what rock is all about!!

[diezman]

Originally posted by AKA
Just Push Play has something going for it that Night In The Ruts doesn't: the absence of that ****ty cover of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)". How that song got on Greatest Hits, I'll never know.

Seriously, though, I do dig a few songs on Ruts, namely "No Surprize" and "Mia." And yes, it is a better album than Just Push Play.

Remember was released as a commercial single back in 1979. This is probably the reason why it was on the original Greatest Hits.

I always thought Night In the Ruts was a very underrated album. There are some great songs on it- glad to hear someone is actually still listening to it!

[AKA]

Originally posted by diezman
Remember was released as a commercial single back in 1979. This is probably the reason why it was on the original Greatest Hits.

I always thought Night In the Ruts was a very underrated album. There are some great songs on it- glad to hear someone is actually still listening to it!

Due to the album's bad reputation, I almost never heard it. I wasn't going to pick it up, but I bought the Box Of Fire box set a few years ago, (the one that has all their Columbia output from 1973-1988, released in conjunction with the band re-signing with the label).

I think what prevents it from being as good as its five predecessors is the turmoil the band was going through during its recording. I believe it was during the sessions that Joe Perry left the band. Brad Whitford followed soon after.

Welcome to the boards, by the way.