aglasshouse Enter the 90's. Aerosmith's still on a roll after their numerous smash hits from the 1970's and 80's, but are slowly starting to exhaust their creative processes. This is where their first hit of the decade comes, Get A Grip, in 1993. During this time glam metal was practically dying out with the new explosion of grunge performing a hostile takeover of the music industry. Regardless, Aerosmith held onto their strings and cranked out their last glam album to this day...

...and what we get it moderately good. The album starts with the hard rocking 'Eat The Rich', which is very reminiscent of the good old days that people remember from albums like Permanent Vacation and Rock and a Hard Place. A problem that becomes evidently obvious very quickly is that Aerosmith has depleted much of their variation. Many of the songs utilize the same chord structure and general composition, sometimes differentiating from slow to fast depending on the song. This factor doesn't make it much worse, but it does dampen the listening experience if you're going through the whole 14 set tracklist. Nevertheless several tracks make it through the creative barrier, such as the very arena-rock inspired 'Livin' On The Edge', with it's thundering sound and seemingly suspenseful nature, 'Shut Up and Dance', with it's frenzied dance-style groove, among others.

Away from my run on sentences- this album is a perfectly average release. Sure, it's not what you would exactly expect from these guys if you're experiencing it as the first album from the 90's with the 80's in mind, but as a look at the band as a whole, Get A Grip could easily fit among the others as a pretty good rocker.

Stephen "Get A Grip" should be the last tight grippin' album of the 90s Aerosmith that I like. They took you on a long and winding crazy ride, you think you're in a wonderland and ain't comin' back. Apart from those sensational romancing trilogy, "Crazy", "Cryin", and "Amazing", they had so much to offer, take a peek to the 50s rockabilly approach of "Fever", the raging punky "Walk On Down" felt like they're messin' with GNR track, the high-rockin' groundshaker "Eat The Rich", and the longest-yet-best track of the album, "Livin' On The Edge".

You can't compare this to Rocks or Toys, this is a different era of Aerosmith, but the good thing is that 1993 is a tough days for rock and roll but not only they still managed to stay on the right road, they even nailed the Grammy and spectacular record for selling over 20 million copies worldwide. "Get A Grip" is a likable album to many with a great span of commercial tracks, probably hated by classic fans, but also could be their guilty pleasure they won't admit.

Sleepwalker In 1993 Aerosmith released an album that’s quite nostalgic for me. When I was just getting into music in general I had a few Floyd albums and a Rush album or two. I knew a few Aerosmith songs, which I quite liked and saw this hilarious cover in a record store. So, I bought it.

Get A Grip album opens with a quite unusual intro that features Steven Tyler rapping. After those 30 seconds one of the best tracks on the album starts. “Eat The Rich” is a crunchy rocker of which part reminded me slightly of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”, actually. After those lovely four minutes a burb takes us to the title track. “Get A Grip” is probably the heaviest on the album. Joe Perry proves himself to be a very fine guitarist on this track. The next song, “Fever”, is quite an unexpected one. It’s a bluesy rocker, with some psychedelic touches. Lovely rough guitar playing is heard throughut the song and a nice addition is the harmonica.

Next is a power ballad. “Livin’ On The Edge” is musically one of the very best tracks on the album. I couldn’t care less about the lyrics though, but that’s mainly because I completely disagree with them. “Flesh”, the next track, starts with some atmospheric noises before turning into cranky rocker. It’s not a bad song, though not among the best of this album. The same goes for the more conventional rocker “Walk On Down”. The heavy “Shut Up And Dance” is a rough song featuring some very nice solo guitar by Joe Perry. After this rough song we move to what might very well be the best song on this album “Cryin” is one of Aerosmith’s best known songs. Usually a song being a single doesn’t say much to me, but this track really is the highlight of the album. The melody in the verses is truly stunning, and the song doesn’t lack any power either.

“Gotta Love It” is a song driven by a heavy rythm section. Pounding drums and roaring bass make this track a pleasure for my ears. Apart from this it isn’t among the highlights of the album though. “Crazy”, which is part of the “Cryin/Crazy/Amazing” trilogy, isn’t among the best of the album either. It’s a power ballad that just doesn’t manage to enjoy me much at all. I must mention though that it is quite an ambitious song, featuring some jazzy chords, frequent harmonica fills and I can hear some eclectic touches in it as well. The following piece is a heavy rocker somewhat in the vein of “Fever”, that’s not all too interesting. Apart from “Cryin” there is another astounding piece on this album. “Amazing” is, simply amazing. It reminds me somewhat of Aerosmith’s best known song “Dream On”. The song features a string section in the choruses, giving it a pretty epic feel. The closing track, “Boogie Man”, is unlike the title might suggest a melancholic piece. It’s a big surprise, as it’s not like anything else on the album at all. It’s a bluesy and more or less psychedelic instrumental.

Get A Grip is a very fine album, though I really wouldn’t have minded if some tracks were excluded. The albums tends to drag a bit because of this. For that reason, I rate the album three stars. It’s a very enjoyable album but lacks consistency.