Pandora’s Box 4 / 5 In a way, scoring this on its own terms, it’s maybe even 5/5, given its mix of album hits, live cuts and unreleased rarities. First off - best sleeve ever for Aerosmith. It’s almost “un-Aerosmith” in its freakin awesomeness and lack of tossed off budget crappiness. Love the title - it’s a cool throwback to a deep cut and ALSO a terrific description for the box of dark goodies contained therein. Unlike most here, I’m not super hyped by multiple live versions, so for me the standouts were the unreleased tracks - “All Your Love” and “Helter Skelter” were my favorites back then. It is a good example and template for what this kind of release should be like. Very cool.
Sorry I am so used to to the Armageddon version that I forgot that the initial release of the remix was edited to the same length as the album version. On the Armageddon soundtrack the remix goes to 5:10 extending the ending of the song.
I love the wealth of commentary from the band about the songs. Almost a template of what the Walk This Way bio would become.
Late on this one, but wanted to touch on Pump. When the videos for these songs hit MTV, there was no escaping them. I bought the tape and really enjoyed it, and I still do. It was a bigger deal though for getting me out and grabbing up all the 70s material I could find. This one is a big improvement over PV, in my opinion. Whatever they were going for with that one, they nailed it perfectly on Pump. There's a coolness on this album that was not as present on PV. And, though I hated "What It Takes" at the time, that is one ballad that has really grown on me over the years. I love it now.
I never knew John Sebastian wrote “On the Road Again” I always thought it was a traditional song. The Grateful Dead covered it on their “Reckoning” album, and it’s always been listed as “traditional”. Grateful Dead - Reckoning
One of those old blues tunes where writing credit gets confused over the years. According to this it's originally by the Memphis Jug Band: Grateful Dead Family Discography: On The Road Again Here's the Discogs entry for the original: Memphis Jug Band - A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake / On The Road Again Keeping track of the these old blues songs over the years in my digital music library is a constant struggle. At least this time the song title stayed the same over the years which isn't always the case. It doesn't help that there's multiple songs with that title including ones by Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Canned Heat all of which are completely different songs
I don't know if this has been mentioned but I have the single CD compilation Pandora's Toys and it's identical to this one but on the CD it's titled Pandora's Best! Perhaps this is rare?
All editions were titled Pandora's Toys (including the one I have). I think I must have a very early edition which might have been pressed before the Toys title had been chosen.
Interesting. I thought it odd that they released both Pandora's Toys and The Big Ten Inch Sampler. Not sure why they didn't just use the same track listings for both as their track listings are similar.
I checked and you are correct. I guess the Hi-Rez downloads are the only versions with the 2012 remasters.
I had Pandora's Box back in the day - cassette, iirc. It's a great comp, for reasons others have already mentioned - nice mix of live cuts, curiosities and hits.
Sorry to go back to Pump for a second more. I just dug my ol’ bootleg from the Pump tour. Switzerland 1990. The band must’ve really liked the album they were touring. The setlist included the WHOLE Pump with only Don’t Get Mad, Get Even missing. And they were right. The set is great since Pump is a true classic.
Ah, I didn't realize Doolittle was from 89 because I was first introduced to it by a roommate in 92. I'd have to put that top 3 for the year. A local station occasionally plays songs from Doolittle and I always turn up the volume because they still sound so good after all these years.
I'd have gone nuts if I were in a show where they played almost the whole album. Even if it was mainly PV and Pump, I'd very satisfied and the band would've put on a great show regardless.
Reminds me of a mate who bought WASP's Live In The Raw and the disc had Live In The Rain on it - very odd!
I'm going to jump in and try to get myself caught up. I was born in 1980 so "eighties" Aerosmith was my introduction to the band. My first memory of the band is the "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" video. I didn't really get into them until the early nineties (Permanent Vacation and Pump were two of my Columbia House selections). Permanent Vacation is still an okay album but, as others have pointed out, it's a little too slick and lacking the crunch of prime Aerosmith. There are some interesting album tracks but it doesn't always sound like an Aerosmith album. Pump, also as pointed out by others, is a fantastic record and stands with Toys in the Attic and Rocks as one of their very best. I'm sure we will get to it when we discuss Get a Grip but I always wondered how they lost their way after Pump. Pump proved that they could be massively successful and still capture at least some of what made them great in the seventies but after that they were much more a ballad band with fewer fast/loud rock songs. There hasn't been much discussion of it but the drum sound on Classics Live is truly abysmal. I rarely listen to it as I find it much too distracting!
Pandora's Box- I wish I could say this summed up the bands pre Geffen years the best and got all the highs in some form or another but I can't. Its missing imo too many essential tunes . Whats here is stellar. I've made a mention of it before but the live "lord of the thighs" here is my favorite official live version the band had released. Having a tune from Tylers pre aerosmith band and hitting on what Perry and Whitford did while they were away from the band is a nice touch. I like the night in the ruts sessions don't get overlooked assuming the liner notes are correct for when and where this stuff was recorded. The liner notes though seem pretty rife with with errors. I still recommend and fan of the band own this. With all that said what do I think is missing thats essential? 1 home tonight 2 sick as a dog (probably the live bootleg version) 3 three mile smile/reefer head woman (from classics live I. dropped the studio three mile smile) 4 remember walking in the sand (it was a single and semi hit) 5 lightning strikes 6 let the music do the talking (joe perry project version or if they really wanted an aerosmith version classic live II version ) my picks of version not on other albums- "lord of the thighs", "when i needed you", "rattlesnake shake", "all your love" and "helter skelter"
I'm still making my way through Pandora's Box. I've never listened to it before, and I'm listening in bits so it doesn't just fade into background music. Right off the bat though, The Chain Reaction's cut is a standout. This stuff is right up my alley, and I love whenever a 65-67 garage single pops up featuring a musician that went on to get huge in their next band.
