Seeking to monetize its Aerosmith back catalog in the wake of their renewed popularity, Aerosmith's original label, Columbia, compiled this follow-up to their original 1980 Greatest Hits set. It's the kind of compilation I've rarely seen, where few if any of the tracks were hits, and many of them weren't released as singles, but all represent the strength of the band's deep cuts - the "hidden gems" as it were. While songs like "Walk This Way," "Sweet Emotion" and "Dream On" built the band's legend up, the tracks on this album are what solidified them. Every Columbia album, including Rock in a Hard Place, is represented here, as is the non-album single "Chip Away at the Stone" on LP in its studio form for the first time. It's incredibly hard to argue with the quality or consistency of these songs, although perhaps they should be in chronological order... going from "No Surprize" to "Mama Kin" is a bit jarring.
Still, this is 100% pure Aerosmith brand rock & roll, between the thunder of "Nobody's Fault" and "Round and Round," the raunch of "Lick and a Promise" and "Critical Mass," or the inimitable grooves of "Mama Kin" and "Train Kept a-Rollin." It manages to represent what Aerosmith is to a large portion of its fanbase, to create a thorough narrative about what they do. It's still available as a budget disc under the name "Collections," usually for $8-$10, but stymieing many potential buyers who are put off by the lack of name brand recognition.
After Aerosmith moved to Geffen Records, their previous label, Columbia, still wanted to trade in on their back catalog. The immediate result was two live albums released a year apart, one lackluster (recorded in the time Joe Perry was not with the band) and one fairly definitive (recorded just after he rejoined.)
Each is only 8 tracks long. There are only a couple of songs on either album that aren't on Live! Bootleg: "Kings and Queens," a version of "Three Mile Smile" mashed up with "Reefer Headed Woman" from Night in the Ruts (which roars a bit more live.) The most notable inclusion, however, was a studio cut called "Major Barbra," which was left off one of the early albums. I initially thought it was the self-titled debut, but it's got a bit more lush production so it was probably Get Your Wings. It has a loud, ringing, Southern rock feel with glorious slide riff and anthemic ballad chorus. It would've been a very progressive tune for those times, but they were already recording better songs (eg "Seasons of Wither.") Still, it remains a hidden gem. The rest of the album is skippable, but oddly enough, "Kings and Queens" (which I harped about being too ornate for the gritty Draw the Line) sounds great in a live setting. Still, there is absolutely no polish on these records and here it shows.
Classics Live II is actually the live Aerosmith album of choice. Like its predecessor, it's lean at 8 tracks in under 40 minutes but all the duplicates from Live Bootleg are improvements, the performances are energetic and fun and it has a cohesive atmosphere (whereas CL1 was various concerts between 1978 and 1984, CL2 was two specific concerts from 1984.) Among the "new" material is a definitive, bombastic version of the early cut "Movin' Out," a take on "Same Old Song and Dance" that is all fireworks, and a version of the Done With Mirrors single "Let The Music Do The Talking" that is better than the studio one. Conceptually, the album hangs together because it spans from the earliest song to the most recent without ever revealing a crack of daylight between them.
In hindsight, Aerosmith's first Greatest Hits compilation is woefully inadequate. You could fill an entire album with the songs they'd already recorded that weren't there (and later, they did, 1988's Gems.) But since Aerosmith wasn't really a band that lived on the charts, it's hard to argue with what is there. If their 1970's run could only be known for 10 songs, the only one you could argue against is "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" which could be swapped out for "No Surprize" to give the album more consistency. Still, "Remember" is at least a good track to go out on. Even "Kings and Queens," which I said was a bit of an oddity in the context of the Draw the Line album, stands tall here. The only real problem with the album is that the songs are sometimes a bit chopped-up radio edits, with the most glaring loss to me being the intro to "Sweet Emotion," whose existence is exactly what sets Aerosmith apart.
In a way, this album has become outdated, both because the story kept going and because there were new ways of looking at it. There's a few double discs out there that incorporate tracks from both the 1970's era, when they recorded for Columbia, and the 80's/90's, when they were with Geffen, but none of them have enough space to give either era its due. That's sort of why I wanted to do this site. Nothing about this band feels inessential to me, every album is like a chapter in a book, every track either a payoff or a build to one. Even the frustrating, lackluster moments have a character and importance to the story.
But what its ten "greatest hits" show is a confident, competent band writing and performing that great rock and roll story of bravado, energy, youth, desire and need, whether it's yearning for success in "Dream On" or home sweet home on "Last Child..." whether learning how to "Walk This Way" or getting "Back in the Saddle." Most importantly, seeking that "Sweet Emotion" while learning how to "Draw the Line." It's pure and simple and never dull.
Although the main purpose of this album is to chart Aerosmith's existence as a studio recording and songwriting band... it can't be denied that a great deal of their existence was spent as one of the top live acts. They've released a lot of Live albums, and I've always liked them as a way of highlighting their real essence. It's great to see what songs are picked, what gets done with them, and what gets done with them. Note the slow, oozy "Lord of the Thighs," the talkbox on "Walk This Way," the incorporation of "Strangers in the Night" into "Train Kept A Rollin." It's also a testament to the validity of those album tracks like "Sick as a Dog" or "Sight For Sore Eyes" that crop up here and there as vital parts of the show.
Most of the album hails from their late-70's days when they were just sliding off the top of the world. The drugs and tensions seem to make the performances just unpredictable enough to justify paying for them again - no polish here - but fortunately they're not in any way lifeless or otherwise wrong. Taken out of the studio, they don't miss a beat and jettison anything they don't need, while adding a lot of flourishes here and there.
The album also contains some really cool, unique moments. Near the end are two olde-tyme covers from the early days of their act, "I Ain't Got You" (Yardbirds) and "Mother Popcorn," (James Brown) which feature Steven using his weird "first album voice." It also has Aero fans' first glimpse on record of "Chip Away At The Stone" which was released in as a single and would later be on compilations.
Chip Away is a pretty cool song, and I think you could be forgiven for thinking it was either an obscure cover, a la "Big Ten Inch Record," but it was written for them by outside collaborator Richie Supa. Compared to the albums released on either side of it, it feels out of place, more in the mode of their Toys in the Attic days, with its crisp, ringing riff and consistent lyrical theme. It's a level of songwriting the band wasn't getting to anymore, which then allowed them to open up and rock out.
Their cover of "Come Together" is one of those great moments when a rock classic is covered, given new life, but not fundamentally altered. I think it's because Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were pretty much born wrapped inside the late-era Beatles mode, and were thus one of the few bands capable of reaching this mode of funky grit. Steven in particular is one of the few vocalists, like John Lennon, capable of delivering words like "He rollercoaster / He got early warnin / He got muddy water / He got mojo filter... totally naturally like they mean something, and the rest of the band just takes up residence right inside that riff, making it their own without changing the structure. The Beatles are almost never outdone by covers - and this one may not quite outdo the original - but it does what a great cover should, combining the two acts into a seamless blend. It was also pretty much the best thing about the misbegotten Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band movie. Years later, in his book, Steven would bemoan being killed by Peter Frampton.
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