Aerosmith
Just Push Play

THE REVIEW

"Just Push Play" is yet another album from Aerosmith, released in 2001, almost thirty years after their debut. It was also released a couple of years after the success of the commercial ballad "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing". So, the last-minute fans were predicting a commercial album, and so (at least in part) it was. The cover seems to depict some sort of futuristic Marilyn Monroe surrounded by a pink background, very cute.

The album opens with "Beyond Beautiful", which is a nice hard rock track that makes us understand the Aero's intentions; the start is not bad at all, with Joe Perry's guitar weaving some really interesting solos. The second track is indeed "Just Push Play", a track that will make the band's hardcore fans cringe: here we find an electronic piece mixed with a pinch of hard rock, yet the track is really tough and provokes an insane desire to dance following Joe Perry's riffs and Tyler's vocals, which here are mixed and scratched; add not one, but two drums, and you'll get an explosive mix!! I don't know why, but after a couple of listens, I realize that this track seems to have more than one reference to "Walk This Way"... It's time for "Jaded", a piece with a very interesting rhythm and a really fantastic video, the track brings us back to the more classic Aerosmith even though the piece in question can easily be labeled as commercial. Next is the ballad of the moment, "Fly Away From Here", a very interesting track but which at the time had little success as a single, perhaps because it was compared to the extremely famous Armageddon song; however, the lyrics are beautiful, and the first part (voice plus crescendo piano) is truly beautiful and moving. Add a touch of orchestra, and you'll have a catchy and sweet piece at the same time. We return to more rock-like atmospheres with "Trip Hoppin'", where hard rock meets a very interesting brass section, the track is quite nice but maybe could have been better, it's Joe Perry who saves the day with his guitar, offering solos and riffs in industrial quantities. "Sunshine" is also a very "little rock" piece with the presence of acoustic guitars, but unfortunately, this track leaves quite indifferent.
"Under My Skin" has a very electronic intro, an intro then smashed by the entrance of Perry's guitar and its crushing riff, the album recovers a bit thanks to this track and its very catchy refrain and Tyler's accordion, which here mixes with a touch of orchestra and brass section. Another ballad: "Luv Lies", we have here a track a bit more "bare" in arrangements and still emotional: unfortunately, though, we have confirmation that the group has become a bit too fixated on ballads and has set aside the harder side of their musical repertoire. "Outta Your Head", another electronic and hard rock piece, where Tyler... raps!! Damn, I wasn't expecting this!! The experiment can be interesting, although more rock and less rap is expected from Aerosmith. Even "Drop Dead Gorgeous" denotes the presence of synthesizers and so on: the verse is entrusted to Joe Perry's not very effective singing, while in the chorus, Mr. Tyler is heard, as always, in great shape. "Light Inside" is a good hard rock piece that finally raises the album's level: a fast, hard verse, and equally fast singing by Steven, too bad the chorus is something electronic best described as crap... what a pity!! To close the album gorgeously, what's needed?? A ballad, of course!! "Avant Garden" is a very intimate track at least in the first seconds (acoustic guitar and the singer's seductive voice), then it enriches with drums and naturally orchestra... We then have a bonus track that, paradoxically, is perhaps one of the best pieces on the album, also because it is not as pompous as the previous tracks, very interesting.

In the end, this album can be labeled as "experimental," also because here the group comes heavily in contact with electronics, too bad the result is not the best. What is expected from Aerosmith, I repeat, is the good old hard rock they have always delivered, but which, at least for the writer, has never been trivial or repetitive. Two adjectives that characterize this album.