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JUST PUSH PLAY
Aerosmith
(Columbia/Sony)
Just Push Play makes us feel old. Not because it's retro-nostalgia, which it ain't. And not because it's challenging, because it ain't that either.
No, Just Push Play makes us feel ancient because it reminds us that we're old enough to remember when Aerosmith were a rock band. Swear on a stack of KISS records, it's true.
Way back in the misty mid-'70s, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry lived -- hell, defined -- the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll life. Especially the drugs. But in the early '90s -- after they broke up and reformed (in every sense) and began churning out Top 10 power ballads -- they stopped being a band and became a brand. Aerosmith(TM)(c)(R). Just like Tide, Coke and KFC.
And like those products, Aerosmith is produced under strict formula -- take one arena-sized guitar riff, add one set of double entendre lyrics, slather with plenty of studio gloss and voila! Another hit single that sounds almost exactly like the last one. The rock equivalent of comfort food. But, hey, even fast-food junkies get tired of Big Macs every day.
So every now and then, they "relaunch the product" -- make some meaningless change in the formula, redo the package, slap a New & Improved sticker on it and sell the same junk all over again.
That's what the boys are up to again on the predictable Just Push Play, the Boston quintet's 13th studio album and the followup to 1997's bland Nine Lives. The sales pitch this time: Joe and Steve back in the saddle and taking the reins. No more Glen Ballard production. No more Diane Warren power ballads. Just the Toxic Twins up to their old tricks, rocking like they used to and producing themselves.
Like any marketing strategy, there's a hint of truth but not much more.
Yes, Tyler and Perry produced -- along with Mark Hudson and Marti Fredriksen, both of whom had a hand in Nine Lives. No, there's no Warren cut -- but Tyler and Perry co-wrote these tracks with Hudson and/or Fredriksen, and there's no lack of power-ballad dreck like Fly Away From Here and Luv Lies. Even so, we have to admit Just Push Play does rock like Aerosmith of old. Of course, it depends which era you're talking about.
If you think Rag Doll, Love in an Elevator, Dude Looks Like a Lady and Livin' on the Edge constitute rockin' Aerosmith, well, you won't mind Just Push Play. Most of its dozen cuts -- the shinily funky title track, the jangly single Jaded, the Rubber Soul-ish Trip Hoppin', the Middle Eastern Bo Diddley bounce of Beyond Beautiful, the slowly percolating Under My Skin -- mine the same slick modern-rock vein. If, however, your idea of good Aerosmith is Sweet Emotion, Toys in the Attic, Last Child and Mama Kin, there's nothing for you here. Just the frustration and sadness of hearing Tyler plagiarizing himself, name-dropping Walk This Way into Just Push Play. Presumably, he's trying to remind us of their track record; really, he just reminds us how long it's been since they wrote a great song.
And considering how old these guys are, you'd think they could make a decent-sounding album. But despite all Perry and Tyler's crowing, Just Push Play's production is remarkably lame. Obviously, they blew most of their time and money stacking these tracks with strings and harmonies and scratching and beatboxes and loops and samples and every effect they could rent. Too bad they didn't spend as much time mixing the actual band -- the bass and drums have no oomph, Perry's guitar attack is neutralized by the waves of glop and Tyler's voice sounds thin and compressed. It's as if the whole album is coming through an AM car radio. Which, come to think of it, is probably the point.
Bottom line: Just Push Play claims to be Original Recipe but, really, it's just leftovers in a new wrapper.
Just push Stop, boys.
Track Listing
1. Beyond Beautiful
2. Just Push Play
3. Jaded
4. Fly Away From Here
5. Trip Hoppin'
6. Sunshine
7. Under My Skin
8. Luv Lies
9. Outta Your Head
10. Drop Dead Gorgeous
11. Light Inside
12. Avant Garden