Tra le tante raccolte pubblicate dagli Aerosmith ho scelto di recensire quella che reputo la migliore, ovvero la Greatest Hits che raccoglie il meglio del gruppo di Boston, periodo 1973-1980.
Senza dubbio questa raccolta contiene pezzi che hanno fatto la storia dell'hard rock, si parte con "Dream On" e già i brividi corrono lungo la schiena: solo questo brano, con il finale urlato a squarciagola vale l'acquisto del cd, un brano semplicemente stupendo e romanticissimo (altro che "Crazy"...); si va avanti con il riff che ci presenta "Same Old Song And Dance", e qui è letteralmente impossibile non muoversi al ritmo di questo brano accattivante sorretto anche da una buona sezione di fiati e dalla chitarra zeppeliniana di Perry. Il terzo brano è "Sweet Emotion" e qui la voce grossa la fa il basso accompagnato dalle schitarrate di Perry (ancora un altro grande riff...) e da un ritornello che fa tremare le pareti. Ancora un altro riffone e ancora una altro pezzo con la p maiuscola: tocca alla famosissima "Walk This Way" e qui le parole non servono: un pezzo di storia del rock racchiusa in 3 minuti e 32 secondi contenente un testo a luci rosse... andando avanti troviamo "Last Child", che apparentemente sembra un lentone, ma dopo 20 secondi dall'inizio prende forma regalando un momento non molto hard rock ma apprezzabile; il finale ("I was the last child, just a punk in the streets"
) urlato da Steven Tyler è da storia. La sesta traccia è "Back In The Saddle", accompagnata dal canto isterico del signor Tyler, che ripete fino alla noia "I'm back in the saddle again"
e che ci dimostra le sue doti di cantante: è impossibile non cantare il ritornello di questo brano. Tocca a "Draw The Line" (inutile che vi dica a cosa si riferiscano gli Aerosmith quando parlano della linea...), anche questo è un brano molto hard rock e molto coinvolgente con delle buone parti di chitarra. Tocca poi a "Kings & Queens", brano non molto veloce ma che contribuisce a calmare le acque dopo tanto rock; la nona traccia è la (riuscitissima) cover di "Come Together" dei Beatles, presente anche nella colonna sonora di Armageddon. Il decimo e ultimo brano di questo best of è un'altra cover, ovvero "Walking In The Sand", che chiude con un po' di malinconia questa raccolta.
Il prodotto è senz'altro di grande valore ma se in questo "best of" avessero trovato spazio brani come "Mama Kin" o "Train Kept A Rollin'" saremmo di fronte a un capolavoro. Peccato, resta comunque un bel disco.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Dream On (04:27)
Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines in my face gettin' clearer
The past is gone
It went by like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay, yeah
I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win
Half my life's in books' written pages
Live and learn from fools and from sages
You know it's true
All the things
Come back to you
Sing with me
Sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing it with me
If it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away
Sing with me
Sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing it with me
If it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away
Dream on, dream on, dream on
Dream yourself a dream come true
Dream on, dream on, dream on
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream on, dream on, dream on, dream on
Dream on, dream on, dream on, ahh
Sing with me
Sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing it with me
If it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord can take you away
Sing with me
Sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing it with me
If it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord can take you away
02 Same Old Song and Dance (03:04)
Get yourself a cooler lay yourself low
Coincidental murder with nothing to show
The judge constipation will go to his head
And his wife's aggravation you're soon enough dead
It's the same old story
Same old song and dance my friend... sing it
(It's the same old story)
(Same old song and dance my friend)
Yeah... gotcha with the cocaine they found wit'chor gun
No smoothy face lawyer to get'cha undone
You say love ain't the same on the south side of town
You could look but you ain't gonna find it around
Same old story
Same old song and dance my friend
It's the same old story
Same old story same old song and dance
Listen... When your fate starts knockin'
Doors start lockin'
Your old time connection
Change your direction
You ain't gonna change it
Can't rearrange it
Can't stand the pain when
It's all the same to you my friend
Yeah it's true... my friend.... wak gi gi goa
Come on come on come on come on... yeah
When you're low down and dirty from walkin' the street
Wit'chor old hurdy gurdy and no one to meet
You say love ain't the same the south side a town
You could look but you ain't gonna find it around
Same old story
Same old song and dance my friend
It's the same old story
Same old story same old song and dance... eah yeah eah yeah...
03 Sweet Emotion (03:14)
Sweet emotion
Sweet emotion
You talk about things and nobody cares
You're wearing other things that nobody wears
You're calling my name but I gotta make it clear
I can't say baby where I'll be in a year
Some sweat hod mama with a face like a gent
Said, "My 'get up and go' must have got up and went"
Well I got good news, she's a real good liar
'Cause the backstage boogie set your pants on fire
Sweet emotion
Sweet emotion
I pulled into town in a police car
Your daddy said I took it just a little too far
You tellin' me things but your girlfriend lied
You can't catch me 'cause the rabbit done died
Yes it did
You stand in the front just a-shakin' your ass
I'll take you backstage, you can drink from my glass
I talk about something you can sure understand
'Cause a month on the road and I'll be eatin' from your hand
04 Walk This Way (03:32)
Well there's a backseat lover who's always undercover
and I talked to my Dad he say
He said "You ain't seen nothin' till you're down on a muffin
Then you're sure to be a changin' your ways"
I met a cheerleader
Was a real young bleeder
All the times I could reminisce
'Cause the best things in lovin' with her sister and her cousin
Only started with a little kiss like this!
Seesaw swingin' with the boys in the school
And your feet flyin' up in the air
I sing "Hey diddle diddle"
Put your kitty in the middle of the swing
Like you didn't care
So I took a big chance at the high school dance
With a missy who was ready to play
Wasn't me she was foolin'
'Cause she knew what she was doin'
And I knowed love was here to stay
When she told me to...
CHORUS
walk this way, talk this way, walk this way
talk this way,
Uh, just gimme a kiss!
Like this.
School girl sweetie with a classy kinda sassy
Little skirt's climbin' way up her knee,
There was three young ladies in the school gym locker
When I noticed they was lookin' at me.
I was a high school loser, never made it with the ladies
Till the boys told me somethin' I missed,
Then my next door neighbor with a daughter had a favor
So I gave her just a little kiss a like this
Seesaw swingin' with the boys in the school
And your feet flyin' up in the air,
I sing "Hey diddle diddle"
Put your kitty in the middle of the swing
Like you didn't care.
So I took a big chance at the high school dance
With a missy who was ready to play,
Wasn't me she was foolin'
'Cause she knew what she was doin'
When she told me how to walk this way.
She told me to
CHORUS
05 Last Child (03:28)
I'm dreaming tonight, I'm living back home.
Right!
Take me back to a south Tallahassee.
Down cross the bridge to my sweet sassafras-y.
Can't stand up on my feet in the city.
Gotta get back to the real nitty gritty.
Yes, sir. No, sir.
Don't come close to my
home, sweet home.
Can't catch no dose
of my hot tail poontang sweetheart.
Sweathog ready to make a silk purse
from a J. Paul Getty and his ear
with her face in her beer.
Home, sweet home.
Get out in the field;
put the mule in the stable.
Ma', she's a cookin',
put the eats on the table.
Hate's in the city
and my love's in the meadow.
Hands on the plow
and my feet in the ghetto.
Stand up, sit down.
Don't do nothing,
It ain't no good when the boss-man
stuffin' down their throats
for paper notes
and their babies cry
while cities lie at their feet
when you're rockin' the street.
Home, sweet home.
Mama, take me home, sweet home.
I was the last child.
I'm just a punk in the street.
06 Back in the Saddle (04:41)
I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
Ridin' into town alone by the light of the moon
I'm lookin' for old Sukie Jones she crazy horse saloon
Barkeep gimme a drink that's when she caught my eye
She turned to give me a wink that make a grown man cry
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
Come easy, go easy, all right till the rising sun
I'm calling all the shots tonight I'm like a loaded gun
Peelin' off my boots and chaps I'm saddle sore
Four bits gets you time in the racks I scream for more
Fools' gold out of their mines the girls are soaking wet
No tongue's drier than mine I'll come when I get back
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm ridin', I'm loadin' up my pistol
I'm ridin', I really got a fistful
I'm ridin', I'm shinin' up my saddle
I'm ridin', this snake is gonna rattle
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
Ridin' high
Ridin' high
Ridin' high
Already
07 Draw the Line (03:23)
Checkmate honey, beat you at your own damn game
No dice honey, I'm livin' on the astral plane
Feet's on the ground, and your head's goin' down the drain
Oh, heads I win, tails you lose, to the never mind
Where to draw the line
An Indian summer, Carrie was all over the floor
She was a wet net winner, and rarely ever left the store
She'd sing and dance all night, and wrong all the right out of me
Oh, pass me the vile and cross your fingers, it don't take time
Nowhere to draw the line
Hi ho silver, we were singin' all your cowboy songs
Oh, you told Carrie, and promised her you wouldn't be long
Heads I win, tails you lose, lord it's such a crime
No dice honey, you the salt, you're the queen of the brine
Checkmate honey, you're the only one who's got to choose
Where to draw the line
Checkmate
Don't be late
Take another pull
That's right
Impossible
When you got to be yourself
You're the boss
The toss
The dice
The price
Grab yourself a slice
Nowhere to draw the line
08 Kings and Queens (03:49)
Long ago in days I'm told
Were ruled by Lords of greed
Maidens fared with gold they dared
To bare their wombs that bleed
Kings and queens and guillotines
Taking lives denied
Starch and parchment laid the laws
When bishops took the ride
Only to deceive
Oh I know I lived this life before
Somehow know now truths I must be sure
Tossin, turnin' nightmares burnin'
Dreams of swords in hand
Sailin' ships the Viking spits
The blood of father's land
Only to deceive
Living times of knights and mares
Raising swords for maidens fair
Sneer at death
Fear only loss of pride
Living other centuries
Deja vu or what you please
Follows true to all who do or die
Screams of no reply
They died
Screams of no reply
And died
Lordy Lordy they died
Lordy Lordy they died
Live and do or die
They died
Live and no reply
They died
09 Come Together (03:45)
Here come old flat top
He come groovin' up slowly
He got Joo Joo eyeball
He one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker He just do what he please
He wear no shoeshine
He got Toe Jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca Cola
He say I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together
Right now
Over me
He bad production
He got walrus gumboots
He got ono sideboard
He one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease
Come together
Right now
Over me
He roller coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good lookin' 'cause he's so hard to see
Come together
Right now
Over me
Carico i commenti... con calma
