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Aerosmith - Gold

Aerosmith - Aerosmith - Gold Audio CD

A fair review of the Aerosmith "Aerosmith - Gold" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Aerosmith reviews here, or go back to the Aerosmith tabs.

Band: Aerosmith
Title: Aerosmith - Gold
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-01-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Let The Music Do The Talking 2: My Fist Your Face 3: Shame On You 4: Heart's Done Time 5: Rag Doll 6: Dude (Looks Like A Lady) 7: Angel 8: Hangman Jury 9: Permanent Vacation 10: Young Lust 11: The Other Side 12: What It Takes 13: Monkey On My Back 14: Love In An Elevator 15: Janie's Got A Gun 16: Ain't Enough 17: Walk This Way 18: Eat The Rich 19: Love Me Two Times 20: Head First 21: Livin' On The Edge 22: Don't Stop 23: Can't Stop Messin' 24: Amazing 25: Cryin' 26: Crazy 27: Shut Up And Dance 28: Deuces Are Wild 29: Walk On Water 30: Blind Man 31: Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees) 32: Dream On 33: Hole In My Soul 34: Sweet Emotion

All the Aerosmith I needed (and then some)
Sure there are dozens of Aerosmith compilations out there, and I get that Gold is essentially a repackaging of the Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology collection, but nobody is being forced to buy it. I'm not sure why people are so down on the 2-disc Aerosmith Gold collection. People (OK, maybe it's just me) recognize the quality of these Gold collections, and it makes sense that there would be an Aerosmith Gold collection.

For my part, I'm not a big Aerosmith fan, but wanted a collection of the better-known stuff, both pre- and post-Permanent Vacation. Gold provided that quite nicely. It features 34 songs, including a few live tracks, acoustic and orchestral alternate versions, a cover of the Doors hit "Love Me Two Times" and perhaps most importantly the legendary Run DMC collaboration on "Walk This Way". The songs have been digitally remastered for superior sound, and the price was reasonable. What's to complain about?

If you're a serious Aerosmith fan, there's really no need for you to own Gold. Likewise if you have the Young Lust collection, Gold isn't offering anything new. For casual fans like me though, Gold should prove to be all the Aerosmith you need (and then some).

Young Lust re-released
That one was released only 5 years before this and was remastered, so the sound quality is the same. Yes, folks, this is an exact re-release of Young Lust. The reason that only the Geffen stuff is on here is that Young Lust was put out by Geffen. If you have that, skip this. If you don't have that, buy this! This makes a great companion to Pandora's Box, as that set is a 3-CD box covering only their original Columbia years.

Careful with this one!!!!
This one has THE EXACT SAME SONGS as "Young Lust", but with a MAJOR difference (the change in the cover notwithstanding): the price. I don't want to overwhelm anybody with a lot of unnecessary babbling, so please, bear with me: this is a REPACKAGING of a previous compilation called "Young Lust" released in 2001, which focused on the "Geffen Years 1985-1997", meaning by that that the compilation includes songs from "Done with Mirrors" (1985), "Permanent Vacation" (1987), "Pump" (1989), "Get a Grip" (1993), "Big Ones" (1994, Greatest Hits package) and "A little south of sanity" (1997, live album). It's probably half the price of the original. And please, please, bear in mind the following: THIS IS NOT, I REPEAT, NOT A GREATEST HITS PACKAGE!!!

It is an anthology, so it features A LOT of material that NEVER made it to the radio. If you're looking for the "hits" and nothing but the hits of that era, you need to get "Big Ones". But if you're interested in digging deeper into that period of the band's career, AND THAT PERIOD EXCLUSIVELY, then go ahead and get this: my guess is that you'll be pleasantly surprised by some of the songs included here, most of which have been overlooked, such as the material from ". . . Mirrors" (some of my fav overall), some non-album tracks (the cover of The Doors "Love me two times", tracks only previously available on singles and/or imports, such as "Can't stop Messin'", "Head First", etc) and some live tracks (good renditions of "Dream On", "Sweet Emotion").

Bottom Line:
- if you're a die hard, 70's Aerosmith fan: sorry, this compilation is probably not going to cut it for you. Get "O Yeah Ultimate Hits!" instead.
- if you're an Aerosmith completist: by all means, get this!! You'll find all of their latter day hits, and a few nuggets as well.
- if you're a casual fan: avoid this. It is probably a little too "complete" for you, since quite a bit of the material included will not be familiar to you. Get "Big Ones" or "O Yeah Ultimate Hits" instead. .

Overkill for sure, but still a good compilation covering the Geffen years

THE DISC: (2005) 2 discs containing 34 tracks and approximately 158 minutes of music (78:56 on disc-1, 79:48 on disc-2). THE BAND: Steven Tyler (vocals, piano, harmonica), Joe Perry (guitars), Brad Whitford (guitars), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums & percussion). Included with the discs is an 18-page booklet containing some great band photos (studio and concert pictures), a 9-page brief history of the band, song titles & credits and what songs came from which albums. Songs on "Gold" range from material written from 1985 through their live album "A Little South Of Sanity" in 1998. Label - Geffen.

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Done With Mirrors (3), Permanent Vacation (6), Pump (6), Get A Grip (6), Big Ones (2), A Little South Of Sanity (4), B-Sides/Misc (7).

COMMENTS: Like many other reviewers here, I too have to raise the question - how many Aerosmith compilations do we really need? As of 2005, I put Steven Tyler and Joe Perry right up there with Kiss' Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley money hungry mits. . . simply too many (Greatest Hits, Gems, Box Of Fire, Big Ones, O Yeah!, Pandora's Box, Made In America, Young Lust. . . and now Gold). Though many a negative review here, I'll take the opposite route and point out the good. First and foremost is all the B-Sides and rarities all in one place. . . "Ain't Enough" (from "Pump" - Japan only release), the Doors' remake of "Love Me Two Times" (soundtrack of "Air America"), "Head First" ("Eat The Rich" - Germany only release), "Don't Stop" (unreleased B-Side), "Can't Stop Messin' (unreleased B-Side), "Deuces Are Wild (soundtrack of "Beavis & Butt-Head Experience"), as well as the 2 previously unreleased songs from "Big Ones" ("Walk On Water" and "Blind Man"), and acoustic/orchestra versions of "Livin' On The Edge" and "Amazing" respectively. "Gold" runs similar to "Young Lust - The Aerosmith Anthology" (2001), but I'll take this one due to these special hard-to-find tracks. Keep in mind also - this is a GEFFEN release - anything they did with Columbia is not here (which is all their classic 70's material and anything from "Nine Lives" or "Just Push Play"). . . for contractual reasons. I have all of Aerosmith's studio albums on disc, but never took the plunge on a compilation of theirs. . . simply because I loved all their albums so thoroughly. I looked over the other Aero compilations - and went with "Gold" fairly easily. If you want a best of package to compliment this one, go with "Greatest Hits" or "Gems" which is strictly their 70's material. The only thing I disagree with is in the cd booklet where the author writes "Some things get better with age. . . Aerosmith rocks harder after 30 years in the business". . . well, the band certainly still rocks, but I honestly don't think they rock as HARD as they did in the 70's. As far as track selection goes - the songs taken from the above mentioned studio albums are pretty much dead on (in my opinion missing only "Flesh", "Magic Touch" and Hoodoo Voodoo - Medicine Man") . . . overall great track selections (4. 5 stars).

BEST AEROSMITH ALBUM EVER CREATED
Don't listen to those other reviews that say this album sucks. Well, I just got this album today. One really DUMB actually said that there was no walk this way and dream on. ALL OF THEM ARE ON THERE. Yes, some of the older 70's songs are missing, but that doesn't mean this is a bad album. Come on people, you got 24 songs on two CD's. You get love in an elevator, walk this way, dude (looks like a lady), dream on, livin' on the edge and many more. If you dont believe me, LOOK AT THE ITEM DESCRIPTION!!!! This is the one album that you will buy that you will never regret.

You can see a complete list of all Aerosmith discography, or go back to the Aerosmith tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.