MattA75's Full Review: O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits by Aerosmith
With rampant rumors of a band breakup coming soon, a summer tour that outside of their home Boston market is underperforming with regards to ticket sales, and some longtime fans still stung from last year's fan club ticket debacle, you might think it a bad time for Aerosmith to release a new greatest hits disc, especially given the collections released in the last few years. Big Ones, the live hits collection A Little South of Sanity, and the recent Young Lust anthology have all been released in order to make some quick cash off of Aerosmith's poor diehard fans.
But let's face it. There really hasn't been a true collection of all of Aerosmith's hits in one collection. The same problem faced the Who. Hell, the same problem faced Led Zeppelin until 2 years ago. O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits solves that problem, at least for the most part. It's the first collection to snag tracks from not only the early and new Columbia years, but also the band's Geffen comeback years in the late 80s and early 90s.
The Geffen songs are by far the most important inclusion, as most younger fans know those songs much better than the old classics like Back in the Saddle or even Mama Kin (I think it's safe to say everyone knows Sweet Emotion or Walk This Way). The Geffen songs also were the band's biggest hits since their comeback.
Disc one focuses mostly on the band's first decade. Unfortunately, two of the band's best known songs do not make the cut. Their cover of Train Kept a Rollin, nor Toys in the Attic, did not make the final cut.
However, there are some great songs on that first disc, megahits aside. The epic like Dream On, the rollicking Same Old Song and Dance, and the groove heavy Back in the Saddle make you remember that Aerosmith once didn't need Marti Frederiksen to make a catchy song, catchy songs that had some frickin balls to them by the way.
One of their two best comeback period ballads appears as well in Angel, a song that I still remember loving back when I was seven years old. The extremely over-rated Dude Looks Like a Lady is here as well, and the band's best song ever, Janie's Got a Gun is on disc one too.
Disc two focuses on the poppier songcraft that the band has decided to take on over the past decade or so. Granted, the first two tracks, The Other Side and Livin on the Edge are great rock songs, but that's not what made Aerosmith superstars all over again.
The soundalike songs Cryin and Crazy are here, as well as the other best comeback period ballad, Amazing, which has one of the best guitar solos of the last decade in it.
I don't understand the inclusion of Deuces are Wild, given the fact that Blind Man was a bigger hit from the Big Ones album, not to mention a better song. I still love Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees) thanks to the horns, and I love Pink just because it had 13 year old girls singing about p*ssy.
Then there's the band's only number one hit, the Diane "I can't write a decent song to save my life" Warren penned I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. And even though it doesn't really belong, I much prefer the radio remix of Just Push Play, although given the original, that's not saying a whole lot.
Now, the two new songs, Girls of Summer and Lay It Down, are total and complete crap. No other description is needed. If Steven Tyler wants to honestly wonder why some of his bandmates aren't happy with this type of direction, maybe he should listen to disc one of this collection a few times.
All in all, if you're poor like me and can't afford all of the band's albums from the 70s, this isn't a bad alternative. And despite the omission of Train and Toys, it is pretty comprehensive of all of the periods of the band's career. So in short, they accomplished what needed to be done for the casual fan, as well as for the poor fan, like me.
Now, boys, how's about that blues record you keep on mentioning in interviews?
This is the first-ever Aerosmith hits collection to include the absolute best from America s Greatest Rock & Roll Band s Columbia Records and Geffen R...More at Buy.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.