Customer Reviews

Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology

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This is not a bad collection by any means. The remastering is excellent as both discs sound terrific, even better than I remember them sounding on the original albums. One reviewer questioned as to whom this collection was intended for? I have to agree. Die-hard fans will likely have most of this material already. The bulk of the collection is taken from the albums, "Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get A Grip, Big ones" and "A Little South of Sanity." If you already have these albums, then you really don't need this collection. There's a couple of B-sides, rarities and the Run-DMC version of Walk this Way, but not enough to warrant getting this set if you have the above-mentioned albums. If you are new to Aerosmith, or on a budget, then you can't go wrong with this collection. For myself, it was perfect as I did not want to spend the money on all the albums that the tracks in this collection come from. So, if economics are a concern for you, this is the best Aerosmith album to get as it's a nice summary of the band's work from the 80's through the 90's.

"Young Lust - The Aerosmith Anthology" chronicles Aerosmith's Geffen-years from the mid-eighties onward.
Gathering 34 singles, album tracks and live cuts, it offers a fine retrospective, and it manages to include almost all of the best songs from Aerosmith's last six studio albums. This is pretty much all that the casual fan will need.

Having said that, I would have preferred a leaner version of "Amazing" to the orchestrated one included here, but the acoustic rendition of the hit "Livin' On The Edge" is really good, and Run-DMC's take on the sublime hard rock song "Walk This Way" is included, too.
The live versions of "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion" are sort of pointless, though, and those two should have been left off in favour of two or three more songs from the band's Geffen years, but the selection is generally very good, and small flaws like those I just mentioned don't really ruin the overall impression.

The MTV-staples "Dude (looks like a lady)" and "Love In An Elevator" are here, as well as power ballads like "Angel", "Cryin'", and "Crazy", the underrated blues shuffle "Hangman Jury", the melodic (and disturbing) "Janie's Got A Gun", and several other smashes like "The Other Side", "What It Takes", and the hard rockers "Eat The Rich", "Head First", "Let The Music Do The Talking", "Rag Doll", and "My Fist Your Face".
"Young Lust" also includes and excellent version of the Door's "Love Me Two Times", as well as "Deuces Are Wild", "Blind Man" and "Walk On Water", the three previously unreleased songs from Aerosmith's earlier Geffen compilation, "Big Ones".

This well-annotated double disc compilation is the best available overview of Aerosmith's latter-day output. Get this one, and the excellent box set "Pandora's Box" for the 'Smith's seventies classics, and you're set!

For whom exactly is this double-disc set intended? Is it a hits compilation for casual fans who don't want to delve into the albums? Well, seeing as Geffen only owned the band during the second stage of their career, it couldn't be definitive, and the single-disc best-of "Big Ones" covered the Geffen years quite nicely already. Is it a rarities collection? There are quite a few b-sides and previously unreleased tunes here, but it's mostly re-packaged material from their Geffen albums. Even the live tunes are straight from their recent live record, A Little South of Sanity. So the hardcore fans will have to have it, even if their paying mostly for material they already own - and a few casual fans might pick it up confusing it for a greatest hits collection. Still, it's little more than another contractual obligation of marginal value.

I've never been what you would call a huge Aerosmith fan, but over the years, I've owned several of their albums and I consider "Pump" to be one of my favorite rock-albums of all time. In my opinion, that was their most consistent album and I can still never get tired of playing the thing. Songs like "the other side", "what it takes", and "love in an elevator" never wear out their welcome and always manage to bring back memories of my child-hood. Permanent Vacation also had some good tunes, as well as Get a Grip and Nine Lives, but I never made the effort to buy ALL of them. I guess this set was put together for casual fans like me and I'm really glad for having picked it up. On here, are 34 songs culled from their Geffen years and, in all honesty, there really isn't a weak track. I liked the double-live set "A Little South of Sanity" and I find it a little puzzling that they would include the live version of "Hole in My Sole". But, then again, that's just me. Also, we get "Deuces Are Wild" from the Beavis and Butthead Experience and "Blind Man" from the 1994 greatest hits "Big Ones".

This is a fantastic "hits" package and my only complaint is that there wasn't more stuff from Nine Lives. But oh well, can't have everything. All in all this is a solid buy that even the rabid fans may want to have. It's good times.

Okay, I know if you are an Aerosmith fan you most likely have 99 percent of the material already. However, there is that 1% of new stuff. Also, I have to say this is one of the sexiest covers of all time. I don't know what it is about this album but I love the cover! I know, pathetic but I am being honest. I love Aerosmith, but if it wasn't for the cover, I wouldn't have bought it!

because of the b-sides collected, but this is not a great compilation for those who don't have all the Geffen releases ('Done with Mirrors' (1985), 'Permanent Vacation' (1987), 'Pump' (1989), 'Get a Grip' (1993), and 'A Little South of Sanity' (1998)). From the perspective of a diehard fan, the song choice from 'Permanent Vacation' and 'Pump' is excellent, but the same can not be said of the much underrated 'Done with Mirrors' and the much overrated 'Get a Grip'. The tracks from the 1998 live record should be viewed in the same context as the record itself - a lackluster fulfillment of the band's contractual obligation to Geffen.

The real gems here are the collection of b-sides, of which all but a couple are included here. Particularly good is the reworking of The Doors' "Love Me Two Times" (from the 'Pump' era). (NOTE: I wish Geffen had just put these as bonus cuts on the remastered original records, as has been done with many other bands.) For this reason alone, I would recommend this record for the serious Aero-fans. For those just getting started, I recommend purchasing the remastered versions of 'Permanent Vacation' and 'Pump' (which are being released simultaneously).

Another greatest hits collection from Aerosmith, but actually nothing to do with the band rather complexly. Geffen have thrown together the best of Aerosmith from their years with the label (roughly 1985 to 1996), but the band were not consulted in any way about the project. So is that a good or a bad thing?

"Young Lust" is one of those rare collections. We thankfully do not just get the hits, we also get a number of non-studio album tracks, a few rarities and those album tracks that are fan favourites but did not receive radio play, or a single release.

Starting at the beginning is a trio of tracks from the much maligned "Done With Mirrors" album from 1985. Recorded during the tail end of Aerosmith's drug and alcohol abuse, the album failed to perform well in the charts, and only moderately from a critical and creative point of view. Still, the best of it is here - the Joe Perry Project tune `Let the Music do the Talking', catchy rocker (and album best) `My Fist Your Face' and brooding Led Zep-styled `Shame On You'.

Comeback album "Permanent Vacation" is well represented with the three hits (`Dude (Looks Like a Lady)', `Angel', `Rag Doll') and the best of the rest included (outstanding cut `Hangman Jury' and `Heart's Done Time' along with the title track). The trick is repeated with their career-best release, "Pump". The popular hits, `Janies Got a Gun', `Love in an Elevator', `What it Takes' and `The Other Side' are all here, and they are ably accompanied by the unnerving raunch of `Young Lust' and Tyler's story of addiction, `Monkey on my Back'. Shame that `FINE' is not included mind you.

The first disc finishes off with the reasonable `Ain't Enough', a Japan-only recording, and the career-saving `Walk this Way' re-recording with Run DMC, as fresh now as it was 15 years ago.

The peak of Aerosmith's commercial success came with "Get a Grip" and there cannot be many fans who don't own it. So it is too Geffen's credit that they have tried to vary things a little by including alternative versions of big hits `Amazing' (orchestral version) and one of the decades best tracks, `Living on the Edge' (acoustic). The inevitable inclusion of the over-exposed `Cryin' and `Crazy' is expected, and also here are mediocre rockers `Eat the Rich' and `Shut up and Dance'. Thankfully we also get the brilliant `Head First' and funky `Don't Stop' (only available as B-sides before this) as well as Europe-only release, `Can't Stop Messin'. Sountrack releases `Love me Two Times', a cover of the Doors classic, and Beavis and Butthead Experience recording, the superb `Deuces are Wild' (why this wasn't an album track I will never know) are thrown in for good measure also.

Completing the album are the two new recordings for the "Big Ones" greatest hits release in 1994, `Blind Man' and the better of the two tracks, `Walk on Water'. The last four tracks are taken from the live Geffen release, "A Little South of Sanity", a handy way for them to include tracks recorded for Columbia on 1997's "Nine Lives" - `Falling in Love' and `Hole in my Soul' as well as 70s classics, `Sweet Emotion' and `Dream On'. Pity that they couldn't give us a live version of `Pink' somehow.

This is pretty much a flawless collection, although who is going to buy it is another thing. Die-hard fans will have much of it (although it is a convenient way of getting your hands on hard to find stuff like the B-sides), while casual listeners may be put off by the fact that they don't recognise around a dozen or so of the tracks.

But you can't knock 34 tunes, and this is the best representation of the bands career during this time. Get your hands on the "Greatest Hits 1973-1988" as well and you will have a great cross-section of one of rock's finest bands all in 2 albums.

Aerosmith has many compilations, and this is the strangest. It is one of several covering their Geffen years from 1985-1993, the band's most commercially successful era, but does not do so in the usual way. Like Big Ones, the prior collection spanning the period, it has all the hits, but this two-disc set is significantly more comprehensive. It includes a number of album tracks, many of which are at least as good as the singles, often more interesting, and certainly more diverse. There are also three tracks from Done with Mirrors, Aerosmith's first Geffen album, which is nearly always overlooked; it is widely considered one of their worst albums, or even the worst, but some will appreciate its inclusion. A few songs are also here in alternate versions previously available only as B-sides. "Livin' on the Edge" is acoustic and "Amazing" orchestral; both are interesting but inferior to the famous versions. We also get Aerosmith's historic 1986 Run-D.M.C. "Walk This Way" collaboration. In addition, there is a significant amount of songs that had been released only as B-sides or on various side projects. Some ("Don't Stop," "Can't Stop Messin'," etc.) are throwaways, but a few ("Ain't Enough," "Deuces Are Wild," "Walk on Water") are excellent, including a killer cover of The Doors' "Love Me Two Times" that is far better than the original. Finally, there are four live cuts from 1998's A Little South of Sanity live album. Two - "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" and "Hole in My Soul" - are from 1997's Nine Lives album, thus bringing the compilation up to the first post-Geffen release. The other two ("Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion") are classics.

All told, it is hard to know whom this release targets. Hard-cores will be glad that some obscure tracks have wider release but will of course already have them; there is nothing actually new to attract them. Casuals will have little interest in anything but hits, making Big Ones a better buy. However, anyone wanting a more than usually comprehensive overview of this era could do no better.

If someone were new to the band Aerosmith I would definitely recommend two CDs,one would be this collection and the other would be "O'Yeah" between these 2 collections the casual fan would have all the essential Aerosmith tunes recorded both during their Columbia career and their Geffen career

sure,some of the songs are repeated,but the bonus and hard to find tracks are well worth buying both sets
in fact,even if you are like me and own every Aerosmith album,it's still worth buying both collections for the convenience of having all the songs on 2 easy to carry CDs and of course for the bonus materials

normally I'm very irritated by bands that release numerous 'greatest hits' packages (for example,Kiss,Iron Maiden,Heart,Def Leppard,Motley Crue,Poison,to name a few) but in the case of Aerosmith I would definitely recommend this one and 'O Yeah' ,as for the original 'greatest hits' collection,it is all songs from the 70s and all the songs can be found on 'O Yeah' except for 'Remember' and 'Come Together' but you can either download those two songs (legally of course) or buy the CD since it is relatively inexpensive,same with the latest 'greatest hits' package,it features all the same songs found on these 2 collections except for 2 new songs (which are both really good) but can be legally downloaded very inexpensively

back to the point here...this CD collection 'Young Lust' features the songs from the bands Geffen years,and does a nice job of covering every album from that time period (unlike 'Oh Yeah' which ignores 'done with mirrors' completely) and shows why the band dominated the airwaves and MTV throughout the late 80s early 90s...this is essential listening for all fans of rock music
and is a great overview (along with O Yeah) for anyone that is just discovering these great American rock legends!

the upside - has all the hits you could ever want from the Geffen years in one easy to carry package

the downside - can't really think of any

the bottom line - If you love Aerosmith,or rock in general,run out and buy this CD...donutman says so!!!

Aerosmith has proved time and time again that they are the best rock 'n' roll band in the world. They have always seemed to re-invent themselves with every release. This cd is probably the best compliation cd that you could have in your collection. From the first song "Let the music do the talking" on the first disc to the live version of "Sweet Emotion" on the second disc, this collection is the most complete Aerosmith collection you could get. The only real dissapointing songs on this cd are "My Fist Your Face", "Shame On You", and "Heart's Done Time". Other than that, this cd is almost complete. The only song missing or only two songs missing are "Walk This Way" (the origional version) and "Same Song And Dance". They claim the reason that they aren't on here is because Geffin doesn't have the legal rights to the songs. They needed to quickly buy the rights if not only for just this cd. Other than that, this cd rocks.