AEROSMITH – Music From Another Dimension (2012)
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Legends AEROSMITH will return on November 6th with their first album in eight years, “Music From Another Dimension”.
The album opens with “LUV XXX” (pronounced ‘Love Three Times’), starting with producer Jack Douglas’ voice doing the spacey introduction that leads into a thick Joe Perry guitar riff. It’s a pretty good jam dominated by the instrumentation, as the vocals of Tyler and backing singer Julian Lennon are quite behind the mix.
Aerosmith have tried hard on this album to revive their classic original sound, and on some tracks they succeeded.
“Out Go the Lights” is one of them. The song centers around a funky drum track married to a blues-funk guitar riff, which definitely sounds old school. Add in some female backing vocalists, horn shots, and lyrics about sex (what else?), and the result is like ’70s Aerosmith meets ‘Love in an Elevator.’
Another one is “Street Jesus”, a song with a ‘Toys in the Attic’ kind of energy. It’s based on a guitar lick that Brad Whitford wrote many years ago and just recently Tyler found a melody to complete the track. Opens a bit bluesy and after the vocal entrance the rocker takes off — and rarely rests, except for maybe a solo towards the end.
We have already heard “Legendary Child” as advanced single. Opening with a Hendrix feedback melodic guitar refrain, Aerosmith quickly jump right into the mud with a trademark down-and-dirty riff that serves as the song’s backbone.
But this is Aerosmith and they need radio hits (read ballads). And this is not a bad thing as we love their lights in the air anthems.
“What Could Have Been Love” is one of those trademark Aerosmith power ballads, and a good one. The track was produced by longtime friend & collaborator legendary AOR producer Marti Frederiksen, who also co-wrote the song along with Steven Tyler and keyboardist Russ Irwin.
Bassist Tom Hamilton makes his lyric-writing debut for the band with “Tell Me”. While he’s offered sporadic song ideas for past recordings, his lyrics never made a finished project.
The track begins with just an acoustic guitar and Tyler’s subdued vocals before quickly soaring into the mode of a classic Aerosmith power-ballad. Thick backing vocals build a roof for the song, but as it reaches a climax the arrangement blows open the emotional heartbreak story. Joe Perry adds a melodic guitar solo before the final chorus.
“Music From Another Dimension” marks the Aerosmith’s 15th studio album and their first studio recordings of all-new material in 11 years.
The rock ‘n roll veterans are in good form still delivering the goods, this time with a stronger songwriting than in the previous albums – in my opinion – their best since Get a Grip.
As usual production is first rate, mostly handled by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, with the exception of three tracks, the more commercial, produced by Marti Frederiksen & Tyler.
It’s Aerosmith. It’s good.
01 – Luv XXX
02 – Oh Yeah
03 – Beautiful
04 – Tell Me
05 – Out Go The Lights
06 – Legendary Child
07 – What Could Have Been Love
08 – Street Jesus
09 – Can’t Stop Lovin’ You (Duet With Carrie Underwood)
10 – Lover Alot
11 – We All Fall Down
12 – Freedom Fighter
13 – Closer
14 – Something
15 – Another Last Goodbye
Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, percussion
Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals
Brad Whitford – guitar
Tom Hamilton – bass, backing vocals
Joey Kramer – drums, percussion
Pre-Order;
www.amazon.com/Music-From-Another-Dimension-Aerosmith/dp/B0085RQLXK
