Aerosmith - Music From Another Dimension! (2012)

Music from Another Dimension! is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on November 6, 2012 by Columbia Records. 

This is their first studio album since 2004's Honkin' on Bobo and the first to feature all-new material since 2001's Just Push Play, marking the longest gap between Aerosmith's studio albums. The album was released in a single CD edition, along with a deluxe version. 

It is the last album in Aerosmith's recording contract with Sony/Columbia Records and was produced by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Marti Frederiksen (three tracks). It is also their longest studio album with total track time of nearly 68 minutes.

The album includes the singles "Legendary Child", "Lover Alot", "What Could Have Been Love", and "Can't Stop Lovin' You". Music From Another Dimension debuted at number five on the Billboard 200.

"How can we miss you when you won't go away?" It's a question that sounds as if it could be the title of an Aerosmith power ballad co-written by Diane Warren, but it's a sentiment that also applies to the Boston quintet themselves. 2012's Music from Another Dimension! may be their first album in eight years -- and their first record of original material in over a decade! -- but the band has never been far from the headlines during those missing years, and not just because Steven Tyler screeched his way into America's homes as Simon Cowell's replacement on American Idol. 

Joe Perry, the Keith Richards to Tyler's Mick Jagger, never was happy about Tyler's leap to the small screen but it was just one of many interpersonal squabbles that bled their way into the public. 

That schism can be heard on Music from Another Dimension!, particularly toward its conclusion when Perry muscles his way to the mike for a pair of bracing rockers reminiscent of the band at full flight, but more than anything, this big-budget blockbuster telegraphs that Aerosmith is indeed broadcasting from another dimension, a dimension where splashy kitchen-sink albums from rock bands could sell millions of copies on sheer momentum alone. 

Carrie Underwood may pop up for a duet on "Can't Stop Loving You," but that's the only nod to the present on an album that's living every day like it's 1997. 

Both the rockers and ballads are big, big, big, dressed in countless overdubs, so much clatter that it can be hard to hear hooks initially. This bright blare conveniently camouflages the raggedness of Tyler's voice as well, but Aerosmith truly show their age by the very nature of the album itself. Simply put, nobody makes albums like this any more. 

Nobody breaks the bank attempting to make a rock album that's everything to everyone, and Aerosmith sound entirely oblivious to this state of affairs, carrying on like it was 1997. And, in a sense, as an overall piece of product, Music from Another Dimension! is no worse than Nine Lives. It may lack a single as immediate as "Fallin' in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" -- or the subsequent "Jaded" from 2001's Just Push Play -- but it faithfully follows Aerosmith's '90s blueprint, getting nothing wrong but never quite feeling right.

Track listing 

 

1. "Luv XXX" - 5:17 

2. "Oh Yeah" - 3:41 

3. "Beautiful" - 3:05 

4. "Tell Me" - 3:45 

5. "Out Go the Lights" - 6:55 

6. "Legendary Child" - 4:15 

7. "What Could Have Been Love" - 3:44 

8. "Street Jesus" - 6:43 

9. "Can't Stop Lovin' You" (featuring Carrie Underwood) - 4:04

10. "Lover Alot" - 3:35 

11. "We All Fall Down" - 5:14 

12 ."Freedom Fighter" - 3:19 

13 ."Closer" - 4:04 

14 ."Something" - 4:37 

15 ."Another Last Goodbye" - 5:47 

Wal-Mart (U.S.) bonus track

16. "Shakey Ground"  (The Temptations cover) - 4:39 

Aerosmith

• Steven Tyler – lead vocals, drums on "Something", arrangement, backing vocals on "Up on The Mountain", production
• Joe Perry – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Freedom Fighter" and "Something" and "Oasis in the Night" production
• Brad Whitford – rhythm guitar & backing vocals
• Tom Hamilton – bass guitar, lead vocals on "Up on The Mountain"
• Joey Kramer – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

Julian Lennon – background vocals on "Luv XXX" Melanie Taylor – background vocals on "Oh Yeah" and "Out Go The Lights" Sharlotte Gibson – background vocals on "Oh Yeah" Laura Jones – background vocals on "Oh Yeah" Tom Scott – saxophone tenor on "Oh Yeah" and "Out Go The Lights" Jessy J – saxophone tenor on "Oh Yeah" John Mitchell – saxophone baritone on "Oh Yeah" and "Out Go The Lights" Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone on "Oh Yeah" and "Out Go The Lights" Gary Grant – trumpet on "Oh Yeah" and "Out Go The Lights" Larry Hall – trumpet on "Oh Yeah" and "Out Go The Lights" Mia Tyler – backing vocals on "Beautiful" Russ Irwin – piano and backing vocals on "What Could Have Been Love" Carrie Underwood – featured vocals on "Can't Stop Loving You" Johnny Depp – background vocals on "Freedom Fighter" Bruce Witkin – background vocals on "Freedom Fighter" Paul Santo – Hammond organ on "Something" and "Tell Me", keyboards on "Closer" and "Freedom Fighter", mellotron on "Closer" Dr. Rudy Tanzi – Hammond organ on "Something" and "Freedom Fighter" The Section Quartet: Daphne Chen – violin, Eric Gorfain – violin, Lauren Chipman – viola and Richard Dodd – cello on "We All Fall Down" and "Another Last Goodbye" Jesse Sky Kramer – additional drums on "We All Fall Down" Zac Rae – piano and synthesizer on "We All Fall Down", electric piano on "Freedom Fighter" Desmond Child – piano on "Another Last Goodbye" Jesse Kotansky – violin solo on "Another Last Goodbye" Daniel J. Coe – synthesizer on "Closer" and "Oasis in The Night", synthesizer and programming on "Another Last Goodbye", arrangement Rick Dufay – rhythm guitar on "Shakey Ground" Production Jack Douglas – production, mixing, arrangement, and percussion on "Luv XXX", "Oh Yeah", "Tell Me", "Lover Alot", "Closer", "Freedom Fighter" and "Up on the Mountain"; keyboards and backing vocals on "Freedom Fighter"; organ on "Can't Stop Loving You"; synthesizer and backing vocals on "Legendary Child"; outro piano on "Street Jesus" Marti Frederiksen – production on "Beautiful", "What Could Have Been Love" and "Can't Stop Loving You"; Pro Tools, backing vocals on "What Could Have Been Love"; keyboards and guitar Roland synthesizer on "Closer" introduction  Warren Huart – engineering, mixing, and backing vocals on "Legendary Child" Paul Santo – engineer, pre-production engineer, drum recording, vocal recording, drum engineering, vocal engineer Al Schmidt – mixing Chris Lord-Alge – mixing Neal Avron – mixing Anthony Focx – Pro Tools editing Daphne Chen – arrangement Tom Scott – arrangement Casey Tebo – artwork Slash – inside artwork

Notes

Released:  November 6, 2012 

Recorded:  July 5, 2011 – April 2012

Recording Location:

   Boneyard Studios 

   Briar Patch Studio 

   Hensen Studios 

   Mad Dog Studios 

   Pandora's Box Studio 

   Poppy Studios 

   Retro Activ Studios 

   Sunset Marquis Villa 41 

   Swing House Studios 

Genre:  Hard rock 

Length:  72:32 

Label - Columbia Records