Honkin' On Bobo

03/31/2004 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Ken Micallef

His ego bloated by years of lip curling excess and larynx shredding dementia, Steven Tyler is a wasted rock star in the truest sense of the word. But Honkin’ On Bobo proves that when the scrawny singer gets out of the way, Aerosmith is still a smoking rock ’n’ roll powerhouse with more passion and guts than most preening punk rockers half their age.

Led by the mighty Joe Perry, who sounds like he is itching for a fight and revenge, Aerosmith walk a thin line between electric blues and early rock ’n’roll, the album sounding at times like a lost Sun session broadcast from deep outer space. The production is shrill but the band is soulful. Aerosmith is a band reborn, especially in slow, driving numbers like the grueling “Back Back Train” and the molten “I’m Ready.” Tyler still plays the circus barker (and some killer harmonica) on “Road Runner” and the lone original track, “The Grind,” but he can’t stop the gleeful thrill of rockers like Straycat rave-up, “Shame, Shame, Shame,” or the Bo Diddley strut of “You Gotta Move.” Perry is ferocious and omnipotent, guiding the band like a man possessed in the midnight prowl of “Back Back Train,” the slamming shuffle breakdown of “Temperature” (with blues great Jimmie Johnson on piano), and Stevie Ray Vaughan send-up, “Stop Messin’ Around” (with Perry on vocals).

Honkin’ On Bobo is a big bruiser of an album, with heart, soul, and fury to spare. Who knew Aerosmith had anything, much less blues power, still left alive and well?