Search - Aerosmith :: Honkin' On Bobo

+ 1/2 stars...Ranks Among the Band's Best Albums

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 04/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While this is not a blues album in the traditional sense (like Clapton's ME AND MR JOHNSON, which was released the same day), HONKIN' ON BOBO is Aerosmith's hardest rockin' album since such mid-Seventies' classics as TOYS IN THE ATTIC and ROCKS.The album kicks off with the Bo Diddley classic "Roadrunner" and doesn't look back. The heavy riffs, snarling guitars and larger-than-life vocals grab the listener and don't let go for the next 44 minutes. Of the more familiar covers, Aerosmith turn in a rendition of "Baby, Please Don't Go" that rivals Them's British top 10 version of Joe Williams' "Baby, Please Don't Go." And as they tear through a rousing version of Mississippi Fred McDowells' "You Gotta Move," you're left puzzled that this is the same song the Stones covered on STICKY FINGERS. Things slow down a bit on the cover of Aretha Franklin's "Never Loved a Girl" and the Joe Perry vocal on "Back Back Train" (Perry also does lead vocals on the Peter Green original "Stop Messin' Around," an obscure song from Fleetwood Mac's second album from 1968). The album closer is the traditional "Jesus Is on the Main Line." Throughout, there is plenty of harmonica, Dobro and slide guitar, and Chuck Berry sideman Johnnie Johnson shows up on piano for a couple songs ("Shame, Shame, Shame" and "Temperature") to remind listeners that this is, after all, a blues album--at least Aerosmith's version of the blues. And you know what? It works. It's one of the strongest albums of their career. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"

God, I've been waiting for this

V. Shekinah | 10/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Back in the day, I was a humongous Aerosmith fan. Around the time that Pump and Get A Grip came out, they were my favorite band. I loved all their old records. Yeah, I also loved the Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam and all, but there was just something so great about Steven Tyler's voice, and Joe Perry's guitar style, that was and is still unique. Unfortunately, starting with that terrible "Armaggeddon" song, their music became buried in overproduction, overdone vocals, flat lyrics, pop cheese. They just weren't the same band--they just didn't have the same magic, the same glorious immediacy and mischievous fun. I don't know what they were thinking, and I feel sorry for people who only really know them from thin, pop-innuendo songs like "Jaded".



I'm not sure if this album is just a fun side project for them, or if it represents a return to their original energy. If this is the direction they're going in, it's been a long time coming. They really needed to stop being a tame old amusement, and get up and start kicking some s--t around again. Sounds like they have. I personally love this record, especially "Road Runner" and "Grind". It has the old Aerosmith touch, but is really creative and different, in comparison both ot their old work and what they've been putting out in the last decade.



Finally, I can start listening to the Bad Boys again.



And for everyone out there dissing the recent music as "crappy chick ballads", you can stop now! Chicks like rock too. ;)"

True spirit of Blues

Guy Gillor | Be'er Sheva, Israel | 03/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a long-time Aerosmith fan, and I'm also a big fan of american root music, especially blues. I don't throw my hat in the "reviewing ring" often, but some of the reviews saying "this is not blues" made me write.



This is the greatest tribute Aerosmith can do for their influences. It is amazing to listen to it, and to re-discover all those great styles.



The blues is defined as a musical framework in which every musicial develop his own style. this is precisely what Aerosmith are doing. Roadrunner, Shame Shame Shame, Baby Please Don't Go, Back Back Train, Stop Messin' Around, I'm Ready, Temprature, You Gotta Move, Jesus Is On The Mainline are all 12-bar blues form. The album is so versatile that it features songs of electric-blues inspired by the great Muddy Waters (such as I'm Ready), Country-blues spiritual (the wonderful Jesus Is On The Mainline, Back Back Train), soul (Tyler's vocals on the cover of Aretha Franklin's Never Loved A Man/Girl is crossing him over as a truly amazing soul singer), early rock'n'roll (Shame Shame Shame)and even a stint with British Blues (Stop Messin' Around).



All of these songs are done in the Aerosmith style, and that's the beauty of it. This is what blues is all about: the ability to invent yourself and create a whole new thing in 12-bars. And Aerosmith are doing it in style.



As a blues fan, this album goes together with great electric blues records and Muddy Water's "Hard Again" and SRV's "Texas Flood". ...and I still said nothing about Tyler's mezmorizing Harmonica playing, Joey Kramer's best drum works since the 70's, Tom Hamilton's fat backbone, and... well, what can you say about a guitar duo as Whitford/Perry? Just listen to them throwing licks and trading solos on Stop Messin' Around. In terms of Dynamincs and co-operation, I believe they are the best guitar duo I have ever heard.



The funny thing about blues purists is that they forget that the artists they admire weren't purists. Robert Johnson made a mayhem with his stories about the devil. Sonny-Boy Whilliamson (I) shocked many people as he played harmonica with the blues for the first time, and T-bone Walker didn't know what's going to happen when he first plugged-in his electric guitar in the 30's. Blues is about progression in a given framework, and that is exactly what Aerosmith are doing on this extraudinarre record."