Search - Aerosmith :: Nine Lives (Arg)

Aerosmith suck-punches back into the scene . . .

09/24/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just when the music climate started to become a conglomerate of intangible tunes of gloom, Aersomith breezes back to Earth, sucker-punching the world with their newest release, Nine Lives. It's been four long years since the public has heard some new noise from the Boston Bad Boys. The wait may have been a long one, but the rewarding end result has been sweet.Nine Lives begins it's musical journey with a meow (literally). The heavy-hitting, ***-kicking, Aerosmith-licking title track sets the stage for what's left to come. The first single, Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees), a rocking number jammed packed with plenty of amusing, tongue-in-cheek lip, follows. Things slow down a pace with Hole In My Soul, an aesthetically written ballad with a haunting, splendid melody, hearkening to the more classical-sounding Aero ballads of yesteryear.Next up at the plate is the rhythm-grooving tune, Taste of India (and Mr. Tyler ain't talking about the country, folks). With it's funky, driving beat and hypnotic lyrics, this one proves to be a unique gem. Full Circle, a swing ballad-type, is brimming with clever sing-along lyrics that you can easily sing to while sitting around a campfire, chugging a brew. A cool-sounding drum beat opens Something's Gotta Give, a hard-rocking tune that jams ("Does the noise in my head bother you?"). Ain't That A Bitch starts out slow and mellow, kicking into a straight ahead upbeat song, full of clever hooks ("Love is like the right dress on the wrong girl").A bit of experimenting on the next two songs, The Farm and Crash, end in pleasing results. The Farm starts out with bits of dialog from The Wizard of Oz, providing a whimsical touch, telling a tale of jest (and it's not Kansas). A bit different, but easily likable. Crash is a furious-sounding, fast-paced rocker with an awesome harmonica and drum solo that totally jams. Two more ballads, Kiss Your Past Good-bye and Fallen Angels, add to the collection of ballads on this album. Kiss Your Past Good-bye has some well-penned prose, making it one of the most meaningful songs on the album. The song starts with simple vocals and guitar, and the melody builds with euphonious keyboards and some beautiful guitar work. Fallen Angels, the finale, sounds much like the ballads from Get A Grip, with the exception of the instrumentation at the beginning and end of the song. Tin-sounding drums, tambourines, a flute, and some other horns supply a vastly cultural sound to the song. Lyrically, it's one of the deepest songs on the album, which makes up for a drawn-out ending that could have been a tad shorter. Pink and Attitude Adjustment are sandwiched between the last two ballads, continuing the well-planned song placement on the album. Pink is extremely sexy, with it's playfully seductive lyrics. It has an almost country-rock flavor to it, peppered with some mean harmonics and acoustics, and complimented with a steady drum beat. Attitude Adjustment is an upbeat, fast-paced, in-your-face, guitar-laden rocker with inventive lyrics. Not able to take Nine Lives out of my CD player, the wait seems well worth it. Nine Lives should not disappoint fans, old or new. The album flows from one song to the other, providing a nice mix between ballads and rockers. The lyrics are so cleverly penned: From the songs that go straight-for-the-heart, to the ones that go straight-to-the-groin, to the ones that make you chuckle, to the ones make you think. Musically, the band has never sounded better. You can hear tones of classic Aerosmith, mixed with the modern sound they have adopted in recent years. All the same -- it's still Aerosmith. It's easy to see why the band has lived within the hearts of their fans. Aerosmith, after all of these years, can still rock your bootie off or touch your soul with their own brand of hard-hitting, funky-rhythm, blues-flavored music that's exciting, sexy, sincere, and full of balls. As an added bonus, for the computer-geek generation, there's a free Music Media game that can have even the most intelligent scratching their head with frustration. Nine Lives will disappoint very few who still believe in the power of real rock n' roll. Nine lives and twenty-plus years later, the Boston Bad Boys can still kick the spunk out of the younger, trendier bands of today. Thank God for Aerosmith -- someone needs to show `em how it's really done."

Rockin' it as hard as usual

Brett Scheuermann | NJ | 03/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Aerosmith seems to be the infallible band. No matter what they try, it always ends up sounding good. This is shown by the absolutely incredible Nine Lives CD. Here's my song-by-song review:



Nine Lives 5/5 - Very catchy (and by very, I mean as catchy as a cold). The only thing that may have dropped the score here is the creepy cats meowing in the beginning. A little wierd.



Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees) 5/5 - This song gets two names. It is that incredible. I mean, this is hardcore Aerosmith at their best. Awesomely clever lyrics as well as a great beat.



Hole In My Soul 5/5 - Very beautiful ballad. Not quite up to bar with the haunting "Seasons Of Wither" or the breathtaking "What It Takes", but still very good.



Taste Of India 3/5 - Not as great as some of the other songs on this CD. Alright though. Only slightly memorable.



Full Circle 6/5 - Yes, that's a six out of five. This song kicks major arse. I listened to it on an average of four or five times a day back when I first got this CD. Still #1 on my top 25 list on iTunes.



Something's Gotta Give 4/5 - Pretty awesome song, but again, not as strong as others on the album. Some weird lyrics ("comic books are coming through"), but some cool ones too ("does the noise in my head bother you?").



Ain't That A Bitch 6/5 - Another six out of five. Absolutely unveleivable. Incredible song, to say the least. I mean, nothing but compliments here. Perfection. Actually, one minor complaint. This in the uncensored version of the CD, yet Tyler refrains from dropping the f-bomb at the beginning where it fits perfectly, and instead says "huh" in it's place. What is that about? Aerosmith never holds back with that stuff. Otherwise, perfect.



The Farm 4/5 - Pretty weird/cool/catchy song. I dig it.



Crash 5/5 - What is he saying? Yeah, the lyrics make zero sense, and some lines are dubbed over the ends of other lines, so it's like a crazy mishmash of nonsense. That works incredibly well here. #2 on my iTunes playlist, next to Full Circle.



Kiss Your Past Good-bye 3/5 - One of the weaker songs on the CD, but still good. Not as catchy or anything as some of the others.



Pink 4/5 - Not bad. Why does everyone think the lyrics to this song are dirty? I mean, they are, very much so, but these people have obviously never listened to much of the old Aerosmith.



Attitude Adjustment 4/5 - Pretty good song to start to wrap things up towards the end of the album. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, it's the last song on the album (see below).



Fallen Angels 0/5 - Complete and utter crap. Suckage to the max. Horrendous. This song is about honoring dead children, or something like that. COMPLETELY out of place in this album. I mean, the actual song itself is alright, but the lyrics are absolutely dreadful.



IMPORT TRACK: Falling Off 4/5 - Pretty cool song, featuring Joe Perry as the lead singer. I've always liked his voice. I mean, he's no Steven Tyler, but he works really well in this song, as well as the others he's in.



Summary: Awesome CD. Provides some of my favorite Aerosmith tunes, along with Just Push Play and their honorable older CDs, such as Rocks and Get Your Wings. Pick it up. You won't be sorry"

OVERLOOKED POWERHOUSE OF AN ALBUM!

Boss Fan | Take a Right at the Light, Keep Going Straight Unt | 07/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What an album!



This is an underrated masterpiece that no one would call one of Aerosmith's best albums when compared to hit-laden fare like "Pump" and "Toys in the Attic," but that's only because it never got the attention it deserved. In a perfect world this album would have been embraced as every previous Aerosmith album was (it is far better and more eclectic than it's predecessor, "Get a Grip," which was a monster smash, their last as of this writing); but thanks to a relative lack of anthems, as well as radio and record companies moving away from pushing new music from classic artists, this artistic firecracker was virtually ignored.



Seriously, some 30-plus-year-old acts have put out some of their best, most critically albums in the twilight of their careers, but radio and their record companies would rather push the latest pseudo-rock trend band or slut-turned-singer than give this music a chance. You can't blame them when even their own fans constantly say stupid stuff like, "I like their old stuff," but never give the new stuff a chance. Why? Cuz they didn't hear the latest hit on the radio. A vicious cycle. If their was any justice Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" would have had as many radio singles and sold as many copies now as "Born In the USA" did in 1984. And that's just one, big example (also see every album from Tom Petty in the last 10 years - just dumped into the market place with no support from the record company, or at least nothing close to the support they once gave).



But I digress. It didn't help Aerosmith that, like a lot of great albums, this came out a time when teen-pop, boybands, rap-rock, the Latin invasion, and every other gimmick of a music style was being force-fed to the public. There was just no room for good old rock `n roll. It's amazing how much the musical landscape changed in the 3 years between this release and "Get a Grip," and what an effect it had on Aerosmith's, not just sales, but PR. They were the toast of the town and sold a bazillion records; 3 years later they were brushed off.



But the music certainly stands on its own. "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" and "Pink," the two, albeit minor, singles are great, typical Aerosmith rockers that were probably as good a choice as any to represent this album to the fans. Again, it would have been great if the record company and radio pushed them enough to allow them to be heard. (Not too many probably remember that "Hole in My Soul" was also a single, but faded fast, even by the short-shelf-life standards of the other tracks.)



As good - and Aerosmith-ish - as these two songs are, there are deeper cuts. "Taste of India" maybe the best Aerosmith song you have never heard. And like "Taste," "The Farm" takes a straight-forward rocker and pumps it up with experimentation, overdubs and different musical styles all ricocheting off each other. The result is an exhilarating, original, and artistic blend that is as experimental as anything Aerosmith has ever done, yet as undeniably Aerosmith as anything they have ever done. The boys really took the phrase "everything but the kitchen sink" to heart on this one. The "Wall of Sound" approach is not just implemented here; the thing is climbed, conquered and blown up. Phil Spector would be proud. See the two aforementioned songs, the title track, "Falling in Love...," "Something's Gotta Give," and "Attitude Adjustment" for proof. These songs make for a sonic boom of an album.



Electric guitars are all over the place on these tried-and-true Aerosmith rockers, but for an album that is so diverse within individual songs, the tracks themselves are a diverse collection of tunes. There is also a handful of standard ballads (what we get for making "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" their first and, so far only #1 single) and then there are songs like "Ain't That a Bitch," "Fallen Angels," "Kiss Your Past Goodbye," and "Full Circle," that fall somewhere in between. They are technically "power ballads," I guess, but to label them just that is to do them a grave injustice. Aerosmith's biggest strength as writers has always been their ability to cleverly turn standard phrases and clichés on their ear. They can craft a whole song out of cleverly stitched together double entandres. It's a shame that few have heard some of the terrifically cynical, self-depreciating, sarcastic, sly and defiant lyrics that are peppered throughout this whole album. "Don't give me no lip I got enough of my own," Steven Tyler deadpans on "Falling in Love..." "Nine Lives, puss and booty," he sings on the title track (hint: it's less about a cat than, well, you know). And "The Farm," "Fallen Angels," and "Pink" are all, unto themselves, full songs of this kind of thing. Even if you disagree this album is an ultimate effort by Aerosmith in its entirety, do yourself a favor and just listen to the lyrics and appreciate all the lyrical poetry and prose they drop here. As written, this album might make for the best rap album that ended up a rock record.



I love this alum!



This is an album that, with maybe just two or three others in my CD collection, slips into the back of mind for a while and then one day I'm scanning my collection for something great I haven't heard in a while and it always jumps out at me. Then it fades back into my collection to wait until it is needed again (it's the Batman of my CD collection). Every time I put it in again it's like discovering it for the first time. In a way, maybe that is reason enough to be okay with the fact this album was not over exposed.



Maybe.

"