Consumer Guide Album

Aerosmith: Get a Grip [Geffen, 1993]
There are no rules. Obscene megabucks, boring rehab, song doctors, turning 40, minuscule interest in doing something new--nothing stands between the world's greatest hard rock band and their best album since Rocks. The drugs long gone, they show a strong professional commitment to rebellion and an undiminished relish for the fleshpots. If the song doctors prescribed "I'd rather be O.D.in' on the/Crack of her ass," not to mention "It's like gettin' head from a guillotine," they were worth every point. And though at first you may miss the killer cut, the "My Fist Your Face" or "Janie's Got a Gun," in fact the midtempo, classic-rock, love-as-pain "Cryin'" should prove irresistible to anyone who doesn't equate good art with doing something new. A−