Nine Lives [ECD] [PA] - Aerosmith

...broke up. The making of Nine Lives probably would have destroyed a lesser band. And all the while, they were in the studio with Kevin Shirley painstakingly re-recording every track until they were as close to perfection as could be

After hearing many Aerosmith songs on the radio, and knowing pretty much most of them anyway I thought it was time to purchase an album. After all, every Aerosmith fan has to have at least one. I went to ...
...different an I think suceeded. Nine Lives has a spiritual life/death feel to it. But the actual tracks are far from depressing, in fact it is quite uplifting.

Although there are a large portion of ballards present on this album it is equally evened out by the fast and furious tracks, such 'Nine Lives', 'Crash' and 'Taste of India' and 'Somethings Gotta Give'

Tracks on this Album Include:

Nine Lives, ... more

Album originally released: March 1997.

The name of the album is quite ironic, as Aerosmith almost broke up various times during the making of it!

Due to failing to meet the label's standards this album was pushed back time and time again.

Then, the band switched producers mid-album, replacing Glen Ballard with Kevin Shirley. In mid recording of the album, the band asked manager Tim Collins to step down because they were upset with him for invading their private lives contantly, in an effort to keep them sober. This prompted Collins to go to the press with allegations that certain Aerosmith members were using drugs again. Members of the band stopped speaking to each other; they nearly broke up. The making of Nine Lives probably would have destroyed a lesser band. And all the while, they were in the studio with Kevin Shirley painstakingly re-recording every track until they were as close to perfection as could be

After hearing many Aerosmith songs on the radio, and knowing pretty much most of them anyway I thought it was time to purchase an album. After all, every Aerosmith fan has to have at least one. I went to my local store and had a look at what CDs were for sale. I have to say, the strange packaging attracted me to this CD, I looked at the tracks listed on the back and purchased it.

I judge Aerosmith by the actual songs, rather than if they live up to their past or not I must add.

Aerosmith have tried to make this album different an I think suceeded. Nine Lives has a spiritual life/death feel to it. But the actual tracks are far from depressing, in fact it is quite uplifting.

Although there are a large portion of ballards present on this album it is equally evened out by the fast and furious tracks, such 'Nine Lives', 'Crash' and 'Taste of India' and 'Somethings Gotta Give'

Tracks on this Album Include:

Nine Lives, Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees), Hole In My Soul, Taste Of India, Full Circle, Something's Gotta Give, Ain't That A B*tch, The Farm, Crash, Kiss Your Past Goodbye, Pink, Attitude Adjustment, Fallen Angels.

Now, I do believe there are a couple of versions of the Nine Lives CD, one which has altered art work on the CD casing and actual CD. Also another version (The one I actually have) which has a couple of bonus tracks added to it, I Don't Want To Miss A Thing and Falling Off. The version I posses has art work of a cat on a pin wheel. (If you get a chance, try and listen to "Falling Off" it's a good song.)

This version here actually being reviewed here only has the 13 tracks, where as the other version has 15 in total. So The major con is if you get this version, you are minus 2 songs, not a major loss but seeing as you are paying about the same amount of money for both CDs, you may as well by the one with the bonus tracks. Unless of course you prefer the art work on the casing and the CD over the actual tracks.

Since purchasing this album, I have had no problems with it, nor grown tired with it. Alternating from one CD to another with this in between makes great listening. I personally find this a great CD to listen to with my personal cd player while on the move.

Nine Lives: Starting with angry sounding cat scowls, closely followed by Steven giving a loud scream and hard sounding guitars and bass, we are placed straight in to some great rock music. I find this song very catchy and can't help but play it over and over again. "Nine Lives - Feelin' lucky, Nine Lives - Live again, Nine Lives - It ain't over, Nine Lives - Live for ten!"

Falling In love -(Is Hard On The Knees) :To be honest when I first heard this song I was not really too keen on it. I suppose I just over looked it. Perry's guitar work is great and the song is over all very catchy. "'Cause falling in love is so hard on the knees."

Hole In My Soul: One of my all time favourite Aerosmith songs. Starting with a melody, and building up to one of the greatest choruses in any song, accompanied by great bass and yet again more great guitar playing.
There’s a hole in my soul that’s been killing me forever,It’s a place where a garden never grows,There’s a hole in my soul, yeah I should have known better,’cause your love’s like a thorn without a rose.'

Tatse Of India :"Gotta love the sweet taste of India..." This Eastern sounding melody that plays through out this track suits the guitars aswell as the bass perfectly. Extremely catchy lyrics. The first time I heard this song I played it over and over. One of the best parts of the song being: This time I’m gonna get it right, To think of what I’ll get tonight,Just lookin’ for a little taste, She’ll steal the smile right off your face!

Full Cicrle Another song I liked as soon as I heard it for the first time (In fact I had not heard this untill I purchased the album). It has a blues feel to it and is generally a good ballard to listen to, and easy lyrics to remember. The bass and guitar alone would make this track great however Steven's singing (As always) is a bonus on this song. "Time don't let it slip away, raise your drinking glass, here's to yesterday, in time we're all gonna trip away, don't let it slip away, don't p*ss heaven off we've got hell to pay - Come Full Circle!"

Something's Gotta Give For some reason this track reminds me of Nine Lives, which I personally think is great. A good rock song along with good lyrics. There isn't enough time to get bored with this song.

Ain't That A B*itch This song starts slow and rather jazzy but soon becomes full of bass and guitar string sounds. Steven does an excellent job again with the screaming. There is also hand clapping in this song. Has a great chorus and one of the best lines has to be:"Then you fall so far from grace ,You wouldn’t know a kiss,If it was on your face,You can tell it to the jury,But you ain’t got no case!"

The Farm Staring off sounding like a fairy tale, soon sounds like Steven Tyler screaming - and that is because that exactly what it is, Steven screaming. Heavy bass and guitar makes up most of the song. The "Wizard of Oz" like sound samples could have been left out, however I guess that is part of the song and adds to the uniqueness...Somebody take me to the farm....

Crash: This used to be my least favourite, but now it is a favourite! A fast hard rock song! The song is quite crazy lyrically.."Sitting on a castle, on the floor with Esmeralda, Waiting for the geezer Captain Crunch to come around.' Tyler's screams of 'Losin ma mind!' towards the end are fantastic.

Kiss Your Past Goodbye: Joe Perry and Brad Whitford's guitar playing makes up for alot of this song. A nice mid - tempo through out the song. A simple yet effective song. This song has a nice solid chorus. The build uptowards the end with all sound effects is amazing.

Pink Starting off with drums and an harmonica and then in to a steady pop type of song. No hard rock here, however the catchy lyrics and nice beat makes up for that. "Pink it was love at first sight,Pink when I turn out the light,Pink it's like red but not quite, And I think everything is going to be all right,No matter what we do tonight" There is a remix of this I prefer to the original. I also have to add the guitar solo is splendid.

Attitude Adjustment Starting with the song its self rewining, it then transforms in to a pounding catchy riff, mainly thanks to Perry's guitar playing. Not the best lyrics, but deffinetly a good song.

Fallen Angels is one of my favourite song on the album, along side Hole In My Soul. A fantastic power ballard, lasting almost 8 and an half minutes, with the chorus being the best bit, however, all the rest of song is still top notch. Great sounds all way through. Starting off with a kind of soft tribal feel, and building up in to a climatic chorus: "Where do fallen angels go!? I just don't know! Where do fallen angel's go!? They keep fallin'....". Very emotional and greatly written and performed. Nice guitar and bass aswell as background vocals.There is so many great lines and peices to this song, you would be better off just going off and listening to it rather than reading the lyrics as it just doesn't do the song justice.

High points of this CD would be "Nine Lives", "Hole In My Soul", "Full Circle" and "Fallen Angels", "Crash".

In fact - I like them all!

"Falling Off" The bonus track is an outtake song which they created for this album but left out, although it was added as a bonus to European relseases. It's a great song with lead vocals by Joe Perry.

Fall Together is another bonus track - that was added to the Japanese tracks in order to stop them purchasing import Cds before it was released there. It's another good track which I was lucky enough to get a hold of.

Buying this album is no mistake and worth buying purely for the "High points" stated above.  

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