With mainstream rock ‘n’ roll apparently on its last legs in the US, it’s no surprise that some of the genre’s biggest players have been scurrying around searching for Plan B.
For Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, that means putting his metaphorical cowboy boots on and embracing all things Nashville for his first ever country album.
Crammed with a veritable who’s who of the scene’s finest producers and players (he’s even on Taylor Swift’s label now) the reformed cock rocker’s actually quite convincing as a country star, and the opus is nowhere near the misfire that perhaps some of his bandmates might have hoped.
At 15 tracks, the record does outstay its welcome: the cover of ‘Piece Of My Heart’ and a stripped back version of Aerosmith classic ‘Janie’s Got A Gun’ in particular feel like filler. But there are songs that really have been sprinkled with stardust. ‘I Make My Own Sunshine’, a radiant country pop song, borrows successfully from The Faces’ ‘Ooh La La’; ‘My Own Worst Enemy’ is gruff and impressively confessional; and the ballad ‘Only Heaven’ is bound to be huge.
These are the best tunes Tyler has put his name to in decades. In fact, the country sounds marry with the singer’s rock voice so well, you have to wonder why he didn’t make a record like this years ago.
We're All Somebody From Somewhere is out now.