Customer Reviews

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

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AEROSMITH'S GREATEST HITS is a 10 track collection of songs originally released in 1980, remastered in 1993, that included their biggest hits from 1973's AEROSMITH, 1974's GET YOUR WINGS, 1975's TOYS IN THE ATTIC, 1976's ROCKS, 1977's DRAW THE LINE, 1978's SEARGEANT PEPPER'S SOUNDTRACK, and 1979's NIGHT IN THE RUTS albums. PERMANENT VACATION, PUMP, etc. hadn't even been concieved yet. That having been said, let's focus on the material that is included here.

Track 1, DREAM ON, is really the only true worthy track from the AEROSMITH debut album. This is a classic that was re-released as a single in 1976 after the success of TOYS IN THE ATTIC. FM classic rock stations still play this one today.

Track 2, SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE, is the only track from the GET YOUR WINGS album. While this is a great song, TRAIN KEPT' A ROLLIN' would have been a better choice if they were only going to pick one for this album.

Track 3, SWEET EMOTION, from the TOYS IN THE ATTIC album has been butchered here. The track starts out already in progress. It's like switching the radio dial and finding an AEROSMITH song that had already started before you switched the dial. This track clocks in at 3:12, whereas the TOYS IN THE ATTIC version clocks in at 4:34.

Track 4, WALK THIS WAY, also from the TOYS IN THE ATTIC album, is essential on any AEROSMITH greatest hits collection. But just like SWEET EMOTION, it has been cut from it's original 3:40 to 3:12.

Track 5, LAST CHILD, from the ROCKS album is essential and is intact.

Track 6, BACK IN THE SADDLE, also from the ROCKS album is essential and is intact.

Track 7, DRAW THE LINE, from the DRAW THE LINE album, is one of two essential tracks from that album.

Track 8, KINGS AND QUEENS, also from the DRAW THE LINE album, is the other essential track. Like SWEET EMOTION, they've butchered it badly here - starting already in progress, and cut way short. Disappointing!

Track 9, COME TOGETHER, is essential from the band's participation in the SEARGEANT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND movie soundtrack. This was a very popular single that Aerosmith released in 1978.

Track 10, REMEMBER (WALKING IN THE SAND), from the NIGHT IN THE RUTS album was a popular single in 1979.

All in all, AEROSMITH'S GREATEST HITS is a very good representation of Aerosmith's work in the 70's. My biggest complaint is about the butchering of SWEET EMOTION, WALK THIS WAY, and KINGS AND QUEENS.

Start with TOYS IN THE ATTIC and ROCKS, and then build your collection from there. It'll cost more than the AEROSMITH'S GREATEST HITS CD, but it'll be worth it.

You gotta look at this CD as more of a "primer" to test the waters to see if you want more early Aerosmith CD's than as the end-all CD to replace all their other 70's albums. It only has ten songs, true, but bear in mind this is a 1980 release. 10 songs was pretty much the industry standard for any album back then. It contains severely edited versions of several songs, the most horrible example being "Sweet Emotion", which deletes the cool talk-box guitar intro and the coda section where it really kicks back in (this version just fades out). Once again, like it or not, this is typical of "greatest hits" albums (hey, the "hit" radio versions of songs typically ARE shortened versions of what you get on the albums). But for those of you only familiar with "Walk This Way", "Sweet Emotion", and "Dream On" from their 70's heyday, you'll find some nice surprises here. "Back In The Saddle", with its galloping rhythm and cool 12-string bass lines, is one of the best things they've ever done, and "Last Child" is a catchy funky number featuring some great Steven Tyler yelps at the end. "Same Old Song And Dance" is another riff-driven rocker with horns (Aerosmith had to be one of the pioneers of combining hard rock with horns). "Draw The Line" is a good noise-rocker that features a great slide guitar riff. People have griped about the inclusion of "Come Together" here, but keep it mind it's not available on any other Aerosmith albums other than the pricey "Pandora's Box" (and it WAS a Top 40 hit - therefore a GREATEST HIT). "Kings & Queens" and "Remember (Walking In The Sand)" don't do much for me, but they at least show a softer side of the band, leaning more towards art rock and 60's R&B respectively. Get this, let it grow on you, then pick up "Toys In The Attic" and "Rocks". And then ROCK!

Yes, it packs a punch - but a very short punch. Aerosmith had so many great songs and radio staples in this era, collecting a mere ten of them for a 'greatest hits' compilation just doesn't do the band justice. And a few selections simply don't belong:

"Come Together" was a nice, sleazy cover of the Beatles' classic but not one of the band's better recordings; and "(Remember) Walking in the Sand" is just plain weak. "Kings and Queens" is a good - though not particularly great - song that loses some of it's charm in this edited version.

Of course, there are some downright essential 70s hard rock tunes here, such as "Dream On", "Walk This Way", "Sweet Emotion", "Last Child", & "Back in the Saddle".

But the fact that other well-known gems like "Mama Kin", "Train' Kept a Rollin' and "Toys in the Attic" are left off is particularly disappointing given the inclusion of lesser songs and the extremely short running time. For Aerosmith, an album band that produced so many great tunes, a 'best of' compilation should have at least more than thirty minutes of stellar material.

'Greatest Hits' is a disappointment and casual fans looking for a decent overview of the band's early career should not purchase it without also picking up "Gems", a collection of more great vintage Aerosmith. For an even better experience you may want to delve into the actual albums ('Toys in the Attic' and 'Rocks' are outstanding, and their others are quite solid as well).

I have no problem with greatest hits packages, but when they butcher the songs with 45 editing, you get half-ass versions of songs that were meant to be heard in their entirety.
Add to this poor decision that they included two songs that need not be here, Kings and Queens and the ridiculous Remember (Walking In The Sand). There are at least a dozen others songs that deserve to be included here.
All that aside, if you really want to introduce yourself to this band, buy Toys In The Attic or Rocks or one of the other scads of hits packages they've greedily dumped on the consumer over the years.
Save your money.

If most disc's can hold up to 80 minutes of music, why only 37 minutes on this greatest hits collection? Then I have to think back to 1980, and cd's really weren't around yet. The album was still short tho. 37 minutes might be okay if it's a regular studio album, but a band as HUGE as Aerosmith can't be served justice with a best-of package containing 10 fairly short songs. I own everything Aerosmith has ever done with the exception of 1994's "Box of Fire". Aerosmith has some great albums to draw songs from for their 1st and most important "Greatest Hits" package. Possible songs from their debute: "Mama Kin" & "Make It". From "Get Your Wings": "Season's Of Wither" and "Train Kept A Rollin'". How about the title track from "Toys in the Attic"? Possible tunes from perhaps the greatest hard rock album EVER.... "Rocks": "Nobody's Fault", "Sick as a Dog", or "Home Tonight". They grabbed the right tunes from "Draw The Line" - no problems there. And they missed from "Night in The Ruts" the two best tunes, "No Surprize" and "Three Mile Smile". Everyone's tastes are different and you can't please everyone... my thinking is that for the most part this is a pretty good play list of songs, BUT, it is way too short -and- some Aero tunes were more deserving than others. Remember this - all Aerosmith is CLASSIC.

The original Aerosmith compilation has become nothing more than a relic for completists. Originally released as a single LP record in 1980, there are only 9 songs from their first six records (with two of them, "Sweet Emotion" and "Kings and Queens", substantially edited) and the Beatles cover, "Come Together" (originally featured on the 'Sgt. Pepper's' movie soundtrack - you know, the one with the Bee Gees). For the casual fan, you can get just as many unedited songs from that era on the newest compilation, 'Oh Yeah!"

The subject line says it all. Avoid this CD at all costs, especially if you're an Aerosmith fan.

Don't get me wrong - the songs are great, but the album is a ripoff.

Why?

One simple word: butchering.

Here are some examples: "Kings and Queens" and "Back in the Saddle" are both snipped slightly, while "Walk this Way" fades early.

The most noticeable of the editing, however, is that the memorable intro and equally outstanding finale of "Sweet Emotion" are both gone.

Columbia/Sony owes fans a better best of collection of the first Columbia Records tenure of Aerosmith, especially now that the band is back on the label.

Again, if you're a fan of Aerosmith, don't get this album. You'll be better off getting the albums from whence these songs came.

First of all, i love this album because it's the first album i bought from 70's Aerosmith (Altough it being released in 1980) and introduced me to the classic A-songs (I have all their albums); Second: I am agree with the guys who reviewed before that "Sweet Emotion" and "Kings and Queens" are edited and i think that the original versions are better because the riffs that missed in the edited version are so powerfull. Third: Someone said 'Why to put a cover of "come together" (a Beatles song)?', Well i'll tell you it's because they recorded it for a soundtrack of 1978 film 'Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band' and didn't put it on 'Night in the Ruts' and because it's a great cover. Fourth: Why to put only 10 tracks? , What about the other greatest hits like "Mama kin", "Train kept a rolling", "Seasons of wither", "No surprize" just to name a few. If you didn't get enough of the clasical Aerosmith, buy the real gem of their greatest hits: 'PANDORA'S BOX'

Just so you know, there are shortened versions of songs like "Same Old Song and Dance" and "Sweet Emotion" on this disc. You absolutely should buy "O, Yeah Ultimate Aerosmith Hits" instead.

I'm a huge Aerosmith fan, in fact, they're my favorite band, and I do own this CD. It's absolutely great, besides the two tracks edited down, but it's just not the best place to start for a new fan. If you're a new fan, get "Rocks" and/or "Aerosmith," if you want to truly get the Aerosmith experience. If you want to get the greatest hits, I think that "Oh Yeah!" would be the best choice. The Geffen Years (sorry for lack of title) would also be a good choice for late 80's, early 90's Aerosmith as well, but as we all know, that's a completely different Aerosmith.

Aerosmith is, in my opinion, the greatest Rock & Roll band to ever grace the face of the Earth, so I'd highly recommend you listen to them. Just not with this. It's not worth the money when you could get these tracks and so much more many other ways.

I'd only recommend it for collectors.