Search - Aerosmith :: Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology

Good summary for the budget-minded.

12/17/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is not a bad collection by any means. The remastering is excellent as both discs sound terrific, even better than I remember them sounding on the original albums. One reviewer questioned as to whom this collection was intended for? I have to agree. Die-hard fans will likely have most of this material already. The bulk of the collection is taken from the albums, "Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get A Grip, Big ones" and "A Little South of Sanity." If you already have these albums, then you really don't need this collection. There's a couple of B-sides, rarities and the Run-DMC version of Walk this Way, but not enough to warrant getting this set if you have the above-mentioned albums. If you are new to Aerosmith, or on a budget, then you can't go wrong with this collection. For myself, it was perfect as I did not want to spend the money on all the albums that the tracks in this collection come from. So, if economics are a concern for you, this is the best Aerosmith album to get as it's a nice summary of the band's work from the 80's through the 90's."

Who is this for?

Docendo Discimus | 11/28/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"For whom exactly is this double-disc set intended? Is it a hits compilation for casual fans who don't want to delve into the albums? Well, seeing as Geffen only owned the band during the second stage of their career, it couldn't be definitive, and the single-disc best-of "Big Ones" covered the Geffen years quite nicely already. Is it a rarities collection? There are quite a few b-sides and previously unreleased tunes here, but it's mostly re-packaged material from their Geffen albums. Even the live tunes are straight from their recent live record, A Little South of Sanity. So the hardcore fans will have to have it, even if their paying mostly for material they already own - and a few casual fans might pick it up confusing it for a greatest hits collection. Still, it's little more than another contractual obligation of marginal value."

****1/2 - a really good latter-day overview

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 07/31/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Young Lust - The Aerosmith Anthology" chronicles Aerosmith's Geffen-years from the mid-eighties onward.

Gathering 34 singles, album tracks and live cuts, it offers a fine retrospective, and it manages to include almost all of the best songs from Aerosmith's last six studio albums. This is pretty much all that the casual fan will need.



Having said that, I would have preferred a leaner version of "Amazing" to the orchestrated one included here, but the acoustic rendition of the hit "Livin' On The Edge" is really good, and Run-DMC's take on the sublime hard rock song "Walk This Way" is included, too.

The live versions of "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion" are sort of pointless, though, and those two should have been left off in favour of two or three more songs from the band's Geffen years, but the selection is generally very good, and small flaws like those I just mentioned don't really ruin the overall impression.



The MTV-staples "Dude (looks like a lady)" and "Love In An Elevator" are here, as well as power ballads like "Angel", "Cryin'", and "Crazy", the underrated blues shuffle "Hangman Jury", the melodic (and disturbing) "Janie's Got A Gun", and several other smashes like "The Other Side", "What It Takes", and the hard rockers "Eat The Rich", "Head First", "Let The Music Do The Talking", "Rag Doll", and "My Fist Your Face".

"Young Lust" also includes and excellent version of the Door's "Love Me Two Times", as well as "Deuces Are Wild", "Blind Man" and "Walk On Water", the three previously unreleased songs from Aerosmith's earlier Geffen compilation, "Big Ones".



This well-annotated double disc compilation is the best available overview of Aerosmith's latter-day output. Get this one, and the excellent box set "Pandora's Box" for the 'Smith's seventies classics, and you're set!"