Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology (The Very Best Of Aerosmith) - Aerosmith > Reviews > Learn How to Undo Bras Super-Fast

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	All of their biggest songs are on there (IMO), double album
Disadvantages:	A few tracks that aren't that great, might be too Eighties - style for some !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Christmas 2001 was a record year for me. Normally every year I receive CDs or videos from a few people. Then last year I acquired a DVD player, thus adding one more type of entertainment gift to my list. At the end of Christmas Day, I had received two CDs and three DVDs from one person alone!

Then I was presented with some vouchers for HMV and during the early days of the January Sales, I treated myself to two more DVDs and three more CDs.

One of said purchases was Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology, by – shocker – Aerosmith. I’d seen the adverts on TV in the run-up to Christmas and added the album to my Amazon Wish List, in the hope that anyone who had yet to purchase a gift for moi might go for the newest addition at the top of the list. But I was not given it (hear those violins) and upon my descent into HMV for the sales, I noticed with glee that the CD had a CLEAROUT! sticker slapped on it and was selling for a rather reasonable £9.99. And this is a double CD, in case you didn’t know! Out whipped my little hand and I joined the queue which began, in true January-Sale-stylee, at the very back of the store. A good thing for HMV, because people (including myself) were picking up additional purchases as they stood between the aisles waiting for service.

Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology (henceforth known as YL) is, predictably, a greatest hits compilation. Or as the sticker on the front says, ‘The Very Best of Aerosmith’. Or an anthology, as it states in the title of the album. To-may-toes, to-mar-toes.

As some of you men out there may have noticed, the front cover is a picture of a guy undoing a girl’s bra. The girl has the Aerosmith logo (you know, with the wing bits) tattooed on her shoulderblade. The whole album has a bra theme to it – the back cover shows another bra and the discs are called ‘Left Disc’ and ‘Right Disc’ with the track listings for each disc matching up to both the left and right cups of the illustrated bra. The discs themselves look plain white, but if you tip them under the light slightly, you’ll see that there are actually lacy cups over the disc with the, er, disc spindle hole right in the middle.

Track listing is as follows:

LEFT DISC:
1 – Let the Music Do the Talking (1985)
2 – My Fist Your Face (1985)
3 – Shame On You (1985)
4 – Heart’s Done Time (1987)
5 – Rag Doll (1987)
6 – Dude Looks Like a Lady (1987)
7 – Angel (1987)
8 – Hangman Jury (1987)
9 – Permanent Vacation (1987)
10 – Young Lust (1989)
11 – The Other Side (1989)
12 – What it Takes (1989)
13 – Monkey On My Back (1989)
14 – Love in an Elevator (1989)
15 – Janie’s Got a Gun (1989)
16 – Ain’t Enough (1989)
17 – Walk This Way, with Run DMC (1986)

RIGHT DISC:

1 – Eat the Rich (1993)
2 – Love Me Two Times (1990)
3 – Head First (1993)
4 – Livin’ On The Edge (1993)
5 – Don’t Stop (1993)
6 – Can’t Stop Messin’ (1993)
7 – Amazing (1993)
8 – Cryin’ (1993)
9 – Crazy (1993)
10 – Shut Up and Dance (1993)
11 – Deuces Are Wild (1989)
12 – Walk on Water (1994)
13 – Blind Man (1994)
14 – Falling in Love is Hard on the Knees (1998)
15 – Dream On (1998)
16 – Hole in My Soul (1998)
17 – Sweet Emotion (1998)

Fairly comprehensive, wouldn’t you say? Now these compilation albums are always a bit tricky, I find. If you are already a big fan of a particular band or singer, then one would assume you already had all the previous albums, so why would you buy a compilation CD of tracks you already have on other albums? Well, I only own one other Aerosmith album and it’s only on tape, so I was more than happy to buy YL.

The tape I have is Big Ones, a previous greatest hits album that Aerosmith released in 1994. If you also own this and are wondering whether it’s worth getting YL, I can tell you that *all* of the tracks featured on Big Ones are also on YL. But then again, YL also pads out the earlier years of Aerosmith as well as adding quite a few post-1994 releases.

The track consistency on this album is fairly good. I find there are a few tracks that pass me by - they're good as background music but don’t make me stop what I’m doing to listen to them. But, with the exception of one or two (see below), I would say with confidence that a great deal of Aerosmith’s most famous and biggest selling tracks are on this CD.

Left Disc features most of the earlier Aerosmith tracks, so I didn’t really know them apart from the popular ones. Anyone who likes to play a little air drums will love Rag Doll and we all know Dude Looks Like a Lady, a great song that was also a soundtrack contribution (answers on a postcard please!). Angel is a classic rock ballad in a big way – a premiere lighter song with some great, clear vocals from Steve Tyler. Though it may well be too Eighties for some! Then there’s the wonderfully (again) Eighties-style Love in An Elevator, full of double entendres and a pure rock rhythm. Janie’s Got a Gun was one of my favourites from the Big Ones album – a really good piece of music even though the topic is not what you would term 'merry'.

Right Disc kicks off with the anthemic and frankly spectacular Eat the Rich. I really love this track. Yes, it is a little bit ‘Eighties Rock’ (there we go again!) but in a good way! Not long after that is a little cluster of the tracks that were coupled with videos starring Alicia Silverstone and lead singer Steve Tyler’s daughter Liv (who?) – Amazing, Cryin’ and Crazy (too.. many.. one.. word.. titles..). Shut Up and Dance was featured in Wayne’s World 2 – right at the end where Aerosmith finally arrive at Waynestock to play their gig (‘If you book them, they will come…’). The last four tracks on Right Disc are all live versions, including the wonderful Hole in My Soul, which I am fast falling in love with. Right Disc finishes up with a live version of Sweet Emotion (featured on the Armageddon soundtrack) which has some great guitar riffs and is quite laidback and summery.

Some people have disputed the absence of a couple of Aerosmith’s most recent tracks from YL – notably I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing, also from the Armageddon soundtrack, and two very recent releases, Pink and Jaded. I’m not sure why these tracks weren’t included on the album. In the case of I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing, it can’t be to do with a ban on soundtrack songs appearing on the album, as two of the tracks are credited as being from soundtracks, and though Shut Up and Dance isn’t, I know it was included in Wayne’s World 2. Curiouser and curiouser!

In conclusion, I would recommend this album to people who like the well-known songs of Aerosmith. You might find there are a few tracks on there that don’t really interest you, but equally you might find that there are some tracks that are completely new to you, and you’ll wonder how you lived without them. If you are a true Aerosmith fan you will probably buy this album anyway, even if you have all the original albums, but that’s your call!

AEROSMITH…

- Have been making music for over thirty years
- Have sold over 100 million albums around the world
- Came extremely close to splitting in 1980
- Made the *very first* rock/rap collaboration when they recorded Walk This Way with Run DMC in 1986
- Have appeared in The Simpsons
- Have currently had 22 album releases

Steven Tyler: Lead Vocals, Harmonica, Mandolin, Piano
Joe Perry: Lead Guitar
Tom Hamilton: Bass Guitar, Keyboards
Brad Whitford: Guitars
Joey Kramer: Drums, Percussion

www.aerosmith.com