Aerosmith's last album 'Just Push Play' was, in my opinion, a huge disappointment with far to few of the quality songs and style that had made the band one of the biggest in the world. It was therefore vitally important that Honkin' On Bobo deliver, in order to make up for any ground that the band may have lost. In order to facilitate this the band employed the services of Jack Douglas, the producer of many of the finest Smith's albums in the 70's to co-produce this album alongside  the band themselves.

So what do we get for our money, well for a start this record is mainly cover songs, delving into the archives of the artists that influenced Aerosmith in the early days with only self penned song being 'The Grind'. Album opener 'Road Runner' kicks off things in fine fashion as the dual guitars of Whitford & Perry trade 12 bar licks with interludes from drums and bass. Tyler sounds in good voice, perhaps singling slightly lower than of late. 'Shame Shame Shame' continues in the same fashion with a low down dirty blues sound as piano licks interweave with the guitars.

'Eyesight To The Blind' is in a slightly slower tempo but still has that authentic blues feel, like sitting in a smoky bar with a whiskey in your hand. Piano takes a more prominent role in this song  with some nice slide guitar playing and a touch of harmonica thrown in for good measure. 'Baby Please Don't Go' is perhaps a song we could have done without, not that it is bad, just it has been done so many times before. Tyler and Perry trade riffs with voice and guitar and at time Tyler almost sounds like Dave lee Roth in his more bluesy mode

'Never Loved A Girl' is so laid back as to be horizontal. The song is played in an understated way allowing Tyler to take the lead with the melody and lyrics. 'Back Back Train'  meanwhile has Joe Perry on lead vocals, his deep tones interacting seemlessly with the introduction of  female backing vocalists.

'You Gotta Move' ups the tempo slightly whilst the aforementioned 'The Grind' does exactly what the title suggested as the bass drives the song . The song is basically an Aerosmith ballad but without the overblown orchestration and arrangements that have been so much in evidence on recent albums.

Track 8 is 'I'm Ready' which is another laid back number which really does hark back to the Aerosmith of the 1970's with a simple arrangement and a plaintive vocal performance. 'Temperature' then carries on in the same style with Tyler slightly back in the mix as the piano/guitar/bass take to the foreground. 'Stop Messin' Around' raises the pace, sounding like early ZZ Top, and is truly a boogie number that will have people dancing in the aisles if it is ever played live. The album rounds off with 'Jesus On The Mainline' which again comes complete with female vocals and what sounds like pedal steel guitar.

In conclusion Aerosmith have ditched the arena rock pretensions of the 80's and 90's to get back to a raw, under produced sound. This sounds like a band having fun once more and that, leads to a good album.

Let us know your views on 'Honkin' On Bobo'

Track List

Road Runner
Shame Shame Shame
Eyesight To The Blind
Baby Please Don't Go
Never Loved A Girl
Back Back Train
You Gotta Move
The Grind
I'm Ready
Temperature
Stop Messin' Around
Jesus Is On The Main Line

Line Up

Steven Tyler - Lead Vocals
Joe Perry - Guitar
Brad Whitford - Guitars
Tom Hamilton - Bass
Joey Kramer - Drums