I'm looking forward to " Just Push Play". I know it's not highly regarded, but I personally think it was an extremely creative album. Very original & new style at the time unlike anything they'd done before. In the sense that it is very much a studio album. Many of the tunes kinda run together connected by cool little background interludes. Very much a studio project type of album. Not necessarily many raw live concert type of songs. But I dig the overall vibe.
We did have a page or so of discussion on the Greatest Hits. Aerosmith Album By Album Thread I know folks were interested in discussing Gems. I will probably only do Pandora's Box in detail. The other ones I will post the unreleased and bonus stuff.
It's a good thing I clicked back a few pages to double-check & see before making a comment because Classics Live II came out in 1987 after Permanent Vacation, & before Gems in 1988. I see now it was included. Classics Live II for me is far superior to the first one. I love Movin' Out & Draw The Line. Both sensational live renditions. But not only that. Around the same time they released the VHS Video Scrapbook. Which I absolutely love to death. Dynamite stuff. Later on they put out Live At Texas Jam VHS. Neither released on DVD so far as I know. These are both important.
Aerosmith - Live Texxas Jam '78 Aerosmith - Video Scrapbook Not exactly official, but both excellent quality (probably laser-disc transfers). A few bonus promo videos on Video Scrapbook also.
Wow, I totally missed that. I never understood why Chip Away The Stone wasn't included. I much prefer it to Remember (Walking In The Sand) even if it didn't chart quite as high. Here is the Allmusic Review - The give it 4.5 stars. Aerosmith's Greatest Hits remains one of the most popular and enduring best-of collections by any rock band, selling nearly ten million copies in the U.S. alone since its release. But when it was issued in 1980, the band had just about reached its nadir. With original guitarist Joe Perry gone (and Brad Whitford soon to follow), Aerosmith had turned into a directionless, time-consuming ghost of its former self. Since there would be a three-year gap between 1979's Night in the Ruts and 1982's Rock in a Hard Place, Greatest Hits was assembled, more or less, to fill the void and buy the band some time. With the album clocking in at only 37 and a half minutes, many Aerosmith classics are not included, such as what many consider the band's quintessential track, their cover of "Train Kept a Rollin'." The only poor selection is the forgettable "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," but nine out of ten are bona fide classics -- "Dream On," "Same Old Song and Dance," "Sweet Emotion," "Walk this Way," "Last Child," "Back in the Saddle," and "Draw the Line." Also featured is their venomous cover of the Beatles' "Come Together," previously only available as a single and on the soundtrack to the 1978 movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For the casual fan, Greatest Hits will do the job, as well as its sister album, 1988's Gems. It was reissued in 1997 with these bonus tracks. Mama Kin Seasons Of Wither. Big Ten Inch Record Lightning Strikes Chip Away The Stone Sweet Emotion (remix) One Way Street (Live in 1994)
Interesting. This is one of albums I’ve tried and dismissed (I think I have 2 used cd copies!) But your comment wants me to take another listen. That’s the cool thing about these forums, getting different takes from others rather than swimming in your own head
I remember one of the rock magazine reviews ended their review of Just Push Play with the sentence "just push eject and buy the new Buckcherry". Referring to the first Buckcherry album.
That got me thinking, how crazy is it that there are now whole generations of kids and music fans who have probably never actually hit an eject button?
Can’t figure out why AMG withhold half a star … “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” isn’t ‘forgettable’ to me {and, yes, I see what they did there} but even if it were, surely it’s still a straight 5 stars for this collection of songs.
My guess is a aside from Remember (Walking In The Sand) they also mention that it omitted Train Kept A Rollin'. Personally as I mentioned I always skip Remember and would have preferred the also charting Chip Away The Stone.
But many of those "live" albums by other bands are studio enhanced. Aero's pre-PV era live stuff is (for the most part) really live.
I guess the venue acoustics has a lot to do with it as well. The thing is, I don't know too much about what they do in the studio to get a better sound. I always thought they just try to fix up goofs and transitions....stuff like that. For instance, how could you fix the sound of the drums on Classics Live I in the studio? I thought there would be no way they could without it sounding very obvious.
Rewinding to Greatest Hits If you are going by their true greatest hits- highest US chart toppers it would go like this. Dream On # 6 Walk This Way #10 Sweet Emotion #36 Last Child #21 Home Tonight # 71 Back In The Saddle #38 Draw The Line #42 Kings # 70 Come Together #23 Remember #67 ---- Chip Away At The Stone #77 is the 11th single that made the charts and lowest charting. The rest of the singles missed (i.e. Same Old Song And Dance, Train). I'm shocked Come Together went all the way to # 23 so it truly was a hit. I thought Columbia just threw it on there as a bonus for fans. I think if you are going to pick 10 songs representing all albums they did a great job picking the best songs as well as including as many hits they could keeping it at 10. I agree with them taking out Home Tonight in place of Same Old Song. Also, with Chip Away maybe because they included a version on Live Bootleg to just leave it alone. I would not change a thing about the track listing if it were to stay limited to 10. It's a pretty perfect Greatest Hits album like Eagles Vol ! was. 5 stars Gems At the point when this comp came out I had all of the studio albums but I loved Chip Away That so I had to grab this. I believe they were only charging like $7 for the tape as it was a mid-line release from the start. I had to look up the track list on this as I always go for the studio albums and never this comp. It's a good deep cuts comp but it doesn't get a lot of listens from me. 4 stars
However, Chip Away The Stone, Same Old Song And Dance, Train Kept A Rollin' and S.O.S. (Too Bad) are all better than Remember and Home Tonight in my opinion. S.O.S (Too Bad), You See Me Crying and Get It Up were also non-charting singles. I'm not sure if they ever even played Remember or Home Tonight live. The interesting thing is they also omitted the singles Home Tonight, S.O.S. (Too Bad), You See Me Crying and Get It Up from Gems as well.
Even though ‘Greatest Hits’ is rife with edited versions, it’s kinda cool to have an alternate lyric on ‘Same Old Song And Dance, with the cocaine line removed. But really that album should’ve been reissued with the full versions of the tracks years ago. I know it got expanded/rebranded ‘Greatest Hits 1973-1988’, but the edits remained, and I don’t like the same song twice on any comp so the remixed ‘Sweet Emotion’ did nothing for me. I prefer the original album cover too.
Gems Released November 15, 1988 Label Columbia Gems is a compilation album released by Aerosmith in 1988 under the label Columbia. It was the first compilation of studio material since 1980's Greatest Hits. Concentrating mainly on heavier material than the radio-friendly singles output on Greatest Hits, the album is noted for the inclusion of the 1978 studio version of "Chip Away The Stone" – previously released as a single from 1978's Live! Bootleg, only a live rendition of the song was released at the time. Originally scheduled for release on November 8, 1988, the album was delayed one week and issued on November 15, 1988. In 2007 The album was released by Sony BMG as part of their 'Collections' series entitled 'Greatest Hits' and reissued the following year by Sony in their 'Steel Box' series. Track listing No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Rats in the Cellar" (from Rocks, 1976)) Steven Tyler, Joe Perry 4:06 2. "Lick and a Promise" (from Rocks) Tyler, Perry 3:05 3. "Chip Away the Stone" (previously unreleased studio version, live version released previously on Live! Bootleg, 1978) Richard Supa 4:01 4. "No Surprize" (from Night in the Ruts, 1979) Tyler, Perry 4:26 5. "Mama Kin" (from Aerosmith, 1973) Tyler 4:27 6. "Adam's Apple" (from Toys in the Attic, 1975) Tyler 4:34 7. "Nobody's Fault" (from Rocks) Brad Whitford, Tyler 4:18 8. "Round and Round" (from Toys in the Attic) Tyler, Whitford 5:03 9. "Critical Mass" (from Draw the Line, 1977) Tyler, Tom Hamilton, Jack Douglas 4:52 10. "Lord of the Thighs" (from Get Your Wings, 1974) Tyler 4:14 11. "Jailbait" (from Rock in a Hard Place, 1982) Tyler, Jimmy Crespo 4:39 12. "Train Kept A-Rollin'" (from Get Your Wings) Tiny Bradshaw, Howard Kay, Lois Mann 5:41 Personnel Aerosmith Steven Tyler – lead vocals, harmonica, piano, producer Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Joe Perry – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – rhythm and lead guitar Additional musicians Jimmy Crespo – lead guitar on "Jailbait" Rick Dufay – rhythm guitar on "Jailbait" David Woodford – Saxophone Richard Supa – Piano Scott Cushnie – Piano Mark Radice - Piano on "Chip Away The Stone" Uncredited guitarist on some songs. Production David Krebs – Executive Producer Steve Leber – Executive Producer Gary Lyons – Producer Adrian Barber – Producer Tony Bongiovi – Producer Jack Douglas – Producer Ray Colcord – Producer Don DeVito – Digital Producer John Ingrassia – Project Administrator James Diener – Project Director Mark Wilder – Assembly, Engineer, Digital Mastering Keith Garde – Creative Supervision Caroline Greyshock – Photography Jimmy Ienner Jr. – Photography Darren S. Winston – Creative Consultant Joel Zimmerman – Art Supervisor Lisa Sparagano – Design Ken Fredette – Design Vic Anesini – Digital Mastering
I found it interesting that only 2 of the bonus tracks on the revamped Greatest Hits 1973-1988 Mama Kin and Chip Away The Stone ended up being included on Gems. The songs One Way Street, Seasons of Wither, Big Ten Inch Record and Lighting Strikes all ended up being omitted from the Gems release.
Here is the Allmusic review for Gems. - They give it 4.5 stars With 1987's Permanent Vacation successfully restoring Aerosmith's reputation as one of hard rock's finest, Columbia Records (their first record company) decided the time was right to issue a follow-up of sorts to their 1980 compilation, Greatest Hits. The result, 1988's Gems, features almost all the tracks that were missing from the first collection, focusing more on their harder-rocking album cuts instead of the hits. Such favorites as their superb cover of "Train Kept a Rollin'" (a perennial concert showstopper) and the early classic "Mama Kin" are included, as well as tracks unfamiliar to the casual fan. Three selections are featured from their definitive album, Rocks ("Rats in the Cellar," "Lick and a Promise," and "Nobody's Fault"), plus other '70s highlights: "No Surprize," "Adam's Apple," "Round and Round," "Critical Mass," and "Lord of the Thighs." And a previously unreleased studio version of "Chip Away the Stone" will undoubtedly interest hardcore fans (only a live version from Live Bootleg had been issued before). Like the Stones and Zeppelin, Aerosmith's album cuts often eclipsed their more renowned material, making Gems an indispensable collection.
If you haven't already, you can vote in my poll about the best 5 tracks omitted from the Gems compilation. Poll: Which 5 tracks from 1973-1982 would you add to the Aerosmith Gems compilation? It is curious to me that tracks like Seasons of Wither, Lightning Strikes, Toys In The Attic, No More, No More and Sick As A Dog were not included on Gems. For starters I would make these changes to the track listing if I did not add any extra tracks. I would swap Jailbait out for Lightning Strikes Round And Round for No More More or Toys In The Attic. Nobody's Fault or Lick And A Promise for Sick As A Dog
Gems Not much to say about this compilation other than I like it for the choices....some of the more heavy sounding songs from the band. As far as Chip Away the Stone goes, yeah its a real stone....cliche and burdensome sounding. Uses that old 4ths riff that has been done to death in so many rock songs. Blame the Stones I guess but how would Keith have ever guessed it would be used in such an unoriginal way? I must admit that even one of my favorite bands, Humble Pie could not turn it into an interesting song for me. Sorry but it is an amateurish sounding boogie song IMO. The chorus is not bad but the rest of the song is boring.
I’d have to agree with you here. The dirty little secret is that drug use was still going on. Templeton probably knew this and went to getting takes down quickly. On the fade-out of Fist you can hear I think Joe saying something to some in the studio. So production wise…..what production? It sound like a band rehearsal tape. Compare that to the stellar production Jack gave Wings, Toys and Rocks. You listen to those on headphones and it’s amazing the production Jack did on those with cross fades, effects and so on. Nothing like that here at all. But some good songs though. Overall for me though a 4/10.
