By STEVE MASCORD
LET’S make something clear to start with — this album is even better than Permanent Vacation.
Aerosmith are a testament to our now-deceased musical isolation here in Australia. In the seventies, they became perhaps THE seminal American hard rock band and were subsequently ripped off by anyone with long hair and a guitar. Yet, somewhat oddly, they are more well-known here now than they were then.
Permanent Vacation, coming as it did after their colaboration with Run DMC (“Walk This Way”), signalled a return to their vitality but was somehow still mature, grown-up.
Which was all well and good, but cop the following lyrics off Pump:
“My love is getting longer”
“Better keep your daughter inside or I’ll give her a dose of my pride’
“Wanna get my tongue between your cheeks.”
“Chase you up the stairs, kiss your sasafras”
Yup, no wonder they’re not printed on the sleeve — the PMRC would have Aerosmith for breakfast.
There’s no “modern” rock songs like “Heart’s Done Time” or “Magic Touch” here, just heaps of swagger, sass and every other cliche used to describe Aerosmith. They’re back to acting half their ages – and its a glory to behold.
“Young Lust” , “F.I.N.E.” (Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional), “Love In An Elevator”, “Monkey On My Back”, “Janie...– – oh shit I’m already halfway through the album. Suffice to say, they’re all adolescent foot stompers boasting riffs that just beg to be copied.
There’s plenty of brass, moonshine guitar courtesy of Mr Perry and that oha-oha beat only Aerosmith can get away with. Hell, there’s even some didgeridoo at the beginning of “Don’t Get Mad, Get Even“.
Producer Bruce Fairbairn managed to get some pretty emotive feels out of songs like “Magic Touch” and “The Movie” on the last album. Aside from the fact “What it Takes” is probably Pump’s “Angel“, the only “feel” Fairbairn gets here is “have another Budweiser, bud”.
Aerosmith may have made their comeback two albums ago, but this is their true return to youth. In fact, they sound exactly what they are in Australia — a band without a past and a huge future.
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