Nine Lives [EXPLICIT LYRICS]

Nine Lives begins it's musical journey with a meow (literally). The heavy-hitting, ***-kicking, Aerosmith-licking title track sets the stage for what's left to come. The first single, Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees), a rocking number jammed packed with plenty of amusing, tongue-in-cheek lip, follows. Things slow down a pace with Hole In My Soul, an aesthetically written ballad with a haunting, splendid melody, hearkening to the more classical-sounding Aero ballads of yesteryear.

Next up at the plate is the rhythm-grooving tune, Taste of India (and Mr. Tyler ain't talking about the country, folks). With it's funky, driving beat and hypnotic lyrics, this one proves to be a unique gem. Full Circle, a swing ballad-type, is brimming with clever sing-along lyrics that you can easily sing to while sitting around a campfire, chugging a brew. A cool-sounding drum beat opens Something's Gotta Give, a hard-rocking tune that jams ("Does the noise in my head bother you?"). Ain't That A Bitch starts out slow and mellow, kicking into a straight ahead upbeat song, full of clever hooks ("Love is like the right dress on the wrong girl").

A bit of experimenting on the next two songs, The Farm and Crash, end in pleasing results. The Farm starts out with bits of dialog from The Wizard of Oz, providing a whimsical touch, telling a tale of jest (and it's not Kansas). A bit different, but easily likable. Crash is a furious-sounding, fast-paced rocker with an awesome harmonica and drum solo that totally jams.

Two more ballads, Kiss Your Past Good-bye and Fallen Angels, add to the collection of ballads on this album. Kiss Your Past Good-bye has some well-penned prose, making it one of the most meaningful songs on the album. The song starts with simple vocals and guitar, and the melody builds with euphonious keyboards and some beautiful guitar work. Fallen Angels, the finale, sounds much like the ballads from Get A Grip, with the exception of the instrumentation at the beginning and end of the song. Tin-sounding drums, tambourines, a flute, and some other horns supply a vastly cultural sound to the song. Lyrically, it's one of the deepest songs on the album, which makes up for a drawn-out ending that could have been a tad shorter.

Pink and Attitude Adjustment are sandwiched between the last two ballads, continuing the well-planned song placement on the album. Pink is extremely sexy, with it's playfully seductive lyrics. It has an almost country-rock flavor to it, peppered with some mean harmonics and acoustics, and complimented with a steady drum beat. Attitude Adjustment is an upbeat, fast-paced, in-your-face, guitar-laden rocker with inventive lyrics.

Not able to take Nine Lives out of my CD player, the wait seems well worth it. Nine Lives should not disappoint fans, old or new. The album flows from one song to the other, providing a nice mix between ballads and rockers. The lyrics are so cleverly penned: From the songs that go straight-for-the-heart, to the ones that go straight-to-the-groin, to the ones that make you chuckle, to the ones make you think. Musically, the band has never sounded better. You can hear tones of classic Aerosmith, mixed with the modern sound they have adopted in recent years.

All the same -- it's still Aerosmith. It's easy to see why the band has lived within the hearts of their fans. Aerosmith, after all of these years, can still rock your bootie off or touch your soul with their own brand of hard-hitting, funky-rhythm, blues-flavored music that's exciting, sexy, sincere, and full of balls. As an added bonus, for the computer-geek generation, there's a free Music Media game that can have even the most intelligent scratching their head with frustration.

Nine Lives will disappoint very few who still believe in the power of real rock n' roll. Nine lives and twenty-plus years later, the Boston Bad Boys can still kick the spunk out of the younger, trendier bands of today. Thank God for Aerosmith -- someone needs to show `em how it's really done.