Just Push Play

Reviewed by:
David Peisner

Well, we can say this about Aerosmith’s latest: At least it’s better than the Über-schlock they’ve been sleepwalking through for the past few years. Aerosmith fans (is there such a thing anymore?) can take heart that most of the songs on Just Push Play were written by four people or less (some of whom were actually Steven Tyler and Joe Perry) and that there’s some true rock’n’roll on the album. That being said, don’t fool yourself into thinking that Aerosmith are anything but sad, soulless, corporate shills who’d have to work hard just to be a shadow of the band they once were. They’re going through the motions here—which is an improvement over their last album, Nine Lives, when they couldn’t be bothered to do even that—but it’s not enough. “Fly Away From Here,” is a vapid, saccharine ballad in search of a vapid, saccharine movie (how’s that Armageddon sequel coming?) and “Jaded” is the sort of palatable pop mush they’ve been dishing out for years. Perhaps Tyler himself puts it best on “Sunshine,” when he sings, “I sold my soul for a one-night stand.” Yeah, the longest fuckin’ one-night stand in human history.

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