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| Walhello -> Knowledge Base -> CDs -> A -> Aerosmith Rock In A Hard Place |
| Aerosmith - Rock in a Hard Place Band: Aerosmith Tracks: - Jailbait - Lightning Strikes - Bitch's Brew - Bolivian Ragamuffin - Cry Me a River - Prelude to Joanie - Joanie's Butterfly - Rock in a Hard Place (Cheshire Cat) - Jig Is Up - Push Comes to Shove Criminally Overlooked "Done With Mirrors" is downright weak and "Draw the Line" is too uneven. "Night in the Ruts" is full of great material but marred by poor delivery. But there is at least one underrated gem from Aerosmith's lackluster post-Rocks, pre-Permanent Vacation period. Yes, "Rock in a Hard Place" is a good album. It's missing a couple of elements - Toxic Twin Joe Perry & "Mr. Whitford" - that make it more of a Steven Tyler solo project, but it's a good effort nonetheless. Not without a couple of weak spots and nothing smooth enough to be a radio hit, but 90% of the album is highly enjoyable and it rocks hard. Crespo Brings a unique style to The Band and plays nothing like Perry, but it's refreshing. Tyler's voice is surprisingly Strong given it's condition on surrounding albums. Seriously, check it out. It's not as bad as it's made out to be and you're likely to come away with some favorites. Mine are "Jailbait" and "Joanie's Butterfly". WAAAAAAY Better Than Its Reputation Would Suggest This gets my vote for Second Best Album Ever Made By A Big-Name Band Without Some Of Its Key Members (the first being AC/DC's "Back In Black", but then Brian Johnson pretty much established himself as a new "key member" of that group from day one). In that regard, it's much better than most anything Kiss or Van Halen did in their latter-day incarnations. No one can fault Crespo for ruining this album, other than he has the misfortune of not being Joe Perry, and dammit (sniff), he'll never BE Joe Perry (sob)! As for Dufay, news flash, folks - he barely PLAYED on this album. The "Walk This Way" biography claims he only played on "Lightning Strikes" (the liner notes also credit Brad Whitford playing on this song before he bailed from the group comepletely). As for the songs, there's not a bad one on here. "Jailbait" and "Lightning Strikes" are killer tunes that deserve to be Aero-classics but unfortunately suffer from the stigma of having been on this album. "Bolivian Ragamuffin", "Bitches Brew", "Rock In A Hard Place (Cheshire Cat)" (any reason why this song wasn't simply called "Cheshire Cat"?), and "Jig Is Up" are all great blooze-boogie rockers done in the classic Aerosmith mold, very well-produced. "Joanie's Butterfly" is a nice acoustic rocker that serves to Change the overall mood nicely, The cover of "Cry Me A River" features an excellent Steven Tyler vocal, and "Push Comes To Shove" features some nice piano work. A great Aerosmith album in its own right, noteworthy for more than just being the infamous "middle album"! AEROSMITH'S WORST ALBUM? I DON'T THINK SO! It is obvious that Mr. Cavanaugh didn't really give this album a listen. Okay, I know. So Joe Perry and Brad Whitford aren't on this one. I give a lot of credit to Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, and the rest of the Aerosmith crew. This one is worth the money and a listen. My faves are "Jailbait", "Lightning Strikes", and "Cry Me A River". I also enjoy the rest of this album as well. After listening to this for yourself, I think you might agree that Aerosmith can still rock no matter what. ROCK ON AEROSMITH!!! Buy Aerosmith Rock In A Hard Place at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.comJamster - the latest ringtones for your phone! |
