Easily the most confused music release of 2012, Aerosmith’s Music From Another Dimension is both the album the fans were hoping for and the album they feared. At an overlong 15 tracks, six are ballads. That wouldn’t be a problem if they were on the order of, say, “Dream On” which was itself a proto-ballad. No, a lot of these are of the order of the glop that cycled through the late-’90s/early-2000s, fueled on the inexplicable success of “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.”
But then they bust out something like “Lover Alot” or “Beautiful” which is a damn fine Aerosmith tune, provided you are wanting some Aerosmith that sounds like rap mixed with vintage Def Leppard. The disc opens with “Luv XXX” which sounds threateningly close to “Love In An Elevator.” And yes, there is that duet with Carrie Underwood called “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You” which stubbornly refuses to play against type and sounds exactly the way you think it is going to sound — like a bid for that Bon Jovi/country pop crossover money.
So what’s a fan to do? Quite honestly, the CD is not expensive and the Deluxe Edition throws in two extra discs with a three track EP (which really only has one essential track of the three extras in “Sunny Side Of Love”) and a DVD. None of that is going to help ease the sting of having waited since 2001 for brand-new original Aerosmith tunes, and out of the combined eighteen on what you finally receive you can cull nine or ten to make the album you prefer, and need to just push skip for the rest.
Music From Another Dimension ultimately disappoints as the overall package plays things way too safe. At this stage in the band’s existence, with the lingering doubt as to whether there will ever be another honest-to-God album under their moniker ever-present, now was the time to kick it out and not worry what new or mellowed audiences think. They’re not buying into the Aerosmith mojo no matter how you carve it up, so why sweat it by releasing a watered down half-of-a-good album?
Confusing, perplexing, and recommended only to the diehards that have to have everything the Toxic Twins issue, Music From Another Dimension is a big ol’ tease without appropriate payoff.
Music from Another Dimension
is available from Amazon.com.
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