Get A Grip

As an Aero-accolyte, I thought Pump was a great album. All killer no filler, just like they made in the 70's. Permanent Vacation, while laden with great hits, had a lot of filler. I think Get A Grip falls somewhere between those two albums. It's better than Vacation, but suffers from filler syndrome.

Witness: "Gotta Love It". "Shut Up And Dance". "Boogie Man". Crap, crap, and crap!

I think Get A Grip has some of the best Aerosmith tunage of the past 20 years though: "Eat The Rich" is absolutely brilliant. "Fever" as well, musically and lyrically: "The high you be gettin' from the crack don't last, I'd rather be OD'ing on the crack of her ***." That is vintage Tyler! I could do without two of the ballads: "Cryin'" which maybe is more of a blues, and "Crazy" I could do without. Even if I liked those two songs, they've been so overplayed. "Amazing" on the other hand is string-laden Aero-brilliance, a worthy successor to tracks like "Angel" or even dare-I-say-it, "Dream On". I also enjoyed "Line Up", with Lenny Kravitz' cameo. "Come on, Joe!"

The crown jewel of this album is the lengthy "Living On The Edge". What a great song, and adventurous too. It wasn't commercial but became a massive hit. Maybe the last time Aerosmith did a really adventurous single that really wasn't very single-like.

I think recording wise, the guitars don't come across as strongly as they did on Pump. To me they sound a little buried, a little muddy. However there is good separation between Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, so you can really hear them playing and meshing. Same with Tom Hamilton's rolling bass, you can pick it out and listen to the notes rather than the groove. And, of course, Joey -- Joey Kramer is one of the most underrated drummers in rock. His thrift is Bonham-esque and his groove is legendary.

I hate the album cover, it's dated and stupid. It was even stupid in 1993, let alone now. Much better is the "cowhide" cover. There are no bonus tracks on that version, but it looks cool sitting in my collection (right next to my faux-leather edition of Pump).

There were numerous notable B-sides and other tracks available elsewhere, now all very easy to get on assorted Geffen compilations. Noteworthy, and worth tracking down, are "Deuces Are Wild", and the two bonus tracks from the "Living on the Edge" single ("Don't Stop" and "Can't Stop Messin'"). There was also a good song called "Head First" that was an early attempt at digital distribution and song downloading!

I have to give this album 3.5 stars. I wish it were better, but I think it's too long and loaded with filler. I think it could have been 10 songs, like the Aero-classics of old.

I've been a fan of Aerosmith for about four years now, and this is the fourth album by them that I've heard. Amazing or not, I like them all. The band is a legend already, and I believe that they'll be remembered as one of the greatest bands. The have their own unique sound, which you either like or not. I like it.
The album starts with Intro, a nice little piece of music. From thet we can smoothly move to Eat the Rich. The lyrics are fun, and this is a true Aerosmith rock song. After that comes the title song, Get A Grip. I have to warn you; someone burps loud at the very beginning of the song! Grip is another rock song, and Tyler's voice raises and raises in the "I get so excited" -part so that you'd think he'd explode any time. Fever comes after that; at first I didn't like the song, but then I got excited about it. Sounds to me a bit like Rolling Stones, and I also love Tyler's harmonica. Livin' On the Edge is probably the most famous song from this album, but it just doesn't chill me that much. Flesh is a bit like Fever, and once again we can hear the Demon Of Screaming at his best. This is a very energetic song. Walk On Down is Joe Perry saying "Hey I have a good song too, let's put it on the album!" I'm glad they listened to Joe as Walk On Down is easy-going but full of rock. Shut Up And Dance is one of my favorites, a rock song that makes you want to dance as they tell you to. And when you are tired after hard dancing, you can relax by listening to Cryin'. I like the song, but the live version on Little South Of Sanity is much better, it's a gem while this version sounds like a bad recording of a song that could have been better. The next song, Gotta Love It is my favourite. It rocks, has depth and power. It reminds me of Michael Jackson's Give In To Me (Dangerous, 1991), and if you like Give In... because of the song, not just because of Michael Jackson, you gotta love this song too (or other way round; if you like this you'll like Give In To Me). Crazy follows this song, another ballad which is pretty good. I'm just sad that they picked the ballads for singles, why not Flesh for example. But Aerosmith makes great ballads, so... you'll probably go crazy for this song. Line Up features Lenny Kravitz, but it's not the most interesting song in this album. Can't Stop Messin' became one of my favorites; at first I thought the beginning was too sudden, but now I can't get enough of it. Amazing, amazingly another famous slow ballad... good but don't listen to it too often so you won't get bored. Boogie Man comes silently from nowhere, stops by to float in your mind and after it has faded away it'll still float in your brain. Spooky.
I don't want to say anything stupid like "buy this cd" or "this is the best" or "vote for my review" but I don't actually know what to say. Boogie Man is still filling my mind.