AEROSMITH’S JOE PERRY SAYS THE BAND MAY NO LONGER RELEASE ALBUMS
Andy Greene of Rolling Stone reports:
Aerosmith started a tour in Bulgaria last week that will take them throughout Europe and North America over the next four months, but don’t expect to hear another new album anytime soon. “Our contract to Sony is fulfilled and we’re free agents right now,” guitarist Joe Perry tells Rolling Stone. “We’re trying to figure out what that means. I don’t even know if making new albums makes sense anymore. Maybe we’ll just release an EP every six months. I don’t know what the future looks like.”
Part of the group’s reluctance to commit to a new album comes from the tepid response to their 2012 LP Music From Another Dimension!, which was their first collection of original songs in over a decade. It debuted at #5 on the charts before disappearing without a trace. None of the four singles even scraped the Billboard Hot 100. “I’m obviously disappointed it didn’t work out the way it was supposed to,” says Perry. “But on the other hand, once a record is out, it’s out forever. Maybe in two years someone might hear a song off it and go, ‘What was that song? It should have been on the radio.’ And it might hit a wave again.”
Read more at Rolling Stone.
source: rollingstone.com
No new album by any of these bands is going to be as “good” as their classic albums. It’s not because the new material is necessarily inferior to the classics, it’s just that the audience has had 30+ years to develop attachments and meanings to those songs. The new songs will never have that advantage.
That said, the last two Aerosmith albums have been boring at best and horrible at worst. They suffer from a problem that KISS (and say what you will about their last two albums) finally recognized and rectified: They stopped writing with outside contributors and stopped trying to manufacture what they thought would be hits.
Aerosmith is still chasing after that “hit” and are left with nothing to show for it but disappointment.
Sad to say but Aerosmith hasn’t made a solid album since that Sony contract was signed. 30 million is a lot of money but was it really worth it? You can’t go back and redo the first six albums. There plenty of bands that do write music that sounds like Aerosmith, but, Aerosmith can’t anymore. Too many greatest hits packages, live albums and ballads sunk them for me. Yes, all Aerosmith albums had one ballad but they were good (prior to Permanent vacation). Their set lists became the same old thing every tour as did KISS’ setlists. They did have three number one albums after PV but that doesn’t mean they were great, I am glad for the good stuff they did do which will last forever, thank God!
Music From Another Dimension was light years beyond ‘Just Push Play’ (yikes!!). It is a solid effort with some nods to their old school style of rock (especially Street Jesus, Lover Alot) complete with stripped down production values on the rockers. What hurt this album for me was the amount of syrupy ballads. While a couple of them are well produced and well done, I’ve had my fill of Aerosmith ballads.
What people are forgetting is that these guys can’t sit together and write an album together anymore. They’ve had enough of each other and are doing it solely for the pay day (like Motley Crue). It’s a miracle they completed this album (which had a big delay). I know people prefer the 70’s drugged out Aerosmith, but for me, Pump is the greatest album ever recorded. It’s a great party album with catchy tunes, nice variety of rockers, their best harmonies ever recorded, oh, and only one ballad (like the great albums they put out in the 70’s).
Regardless of the inner turmoil of the Aerosmith, they can still tear it up live. They do a great job of playing their obscure stuff in their setlist (Walkin’ the Dog, Combination, Somebody, etc) it will bring a smile to hardcore fans faces. It did for me.
Jimi Hendrix Jr.,
Dimension is a decent album, but compared to the previous five (Permanent Vacation through Just Push Play), it was–well, on a scale of one to ten with those albums at 10 (a perfect score for each in my opinion), Dimension scores about a six and a half. Again, that’s just my opinion. Nevertheless, they have not shaken my faith in them in the least. The next album–I hope they put out another full length album–will be better and I will buy it without even listening to a track beforehand. They are one of the best rock bands in history.
Whatever. I loved MFAD. Still do.