Madness To Creation’s A-Z Throwback Reviews: Featuring the 1997 Release of “Nine Lives” by Aerosmith

It was 1997 and Aerosmith released the long-awaited album entitled “Nine Lives”.  They would tour extensively throughout the world in support of this album as it would debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, won a Grammy in 1998 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song “Pink”, and it would sell over two million copies in the United States alone.

This is where we see Aerosmith’s commercial success somewhat go to their collective heads as it seems like they try to be everything to everyone.  We see them trying to incorporate a bit of Indian music in the intro of the track “Taste Of India”, however it seem to have fallen on deaf ears as it just felt kind of uninspired.  The intro to the title track, “Nine Lives”, comes in roaring but it’s like it leaves as a whimper.  “Pink” is a song that was a hit on pop and rock radio, yet it’s pretty unmemorable in the grand scheme of Aerosmith’s extensive catalog.  They even tried a song that felt like an old Irish drinking song with “Full Circle”, but it felt really drawn out.

There are a few highlights in the album, the bluesy ballad of “Hole In My Soul”, in which I love the vocal ditties that Steven Tyler did on the track where he has some speaking parts and he sounds really emotional in the song.  I wonder if it had to do with the depression that drummer Joey Kramer went through when his father died around the time of the recording.  The intro in “Something’s Gotta Give” where the harmonica is incorporated is certainly a highlight in the record as Aerosmith did an impeccable job in returning to its classic rock roots of the 1970’s in the album.

Overall, while there are a few highlights in the album, the album has more lowlights than highlights.  It just felt like that Aerosmith tried to be everything to everyone in this record instead of doing what Aerosmith does best and that is just make a great rock album with catchy rock songs.  In large part, this album fell flat as Madness To Creation rates this a 3 out of 10.  Here is the track listing below.

1.  Nine Lives
2.  Falling In Love (Is So Hard On The Knees)
3.  Hole In My Soul
4.  Taste Of India
5.  Full Circle
6.  Something’s Gotta Give
7.  Ain’t That A Bitch
8.  The Farm
9.  Crash
10.  Kiss Your Past Goodbye
11.  Pink
12.  Attitude Adjustment
13.  Fallen Angels