Honkin' On Bobo

Aerosmith had an enormous hit with 1998’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” a saccharine ballad originally written for Celine Dion. The song introduced the band to a whole new audience, and all of a sudden their music was appearing in car ads and the once “Toxic Twins” were playing the Super Bowl halftime show. Even as the band reached new commercial peaks in its old age, the mainstream brouhaha distanced Aerosmith from its rock’n’roll roots. The group had long planned to do an all-blues album, but by 2004, the need to reconnect with their roots was more pressing than ever and Honkin’ On Bobo is a surprisingly fierce showing for these Top 40 veterans. Aerosmith loved the Yardbirds, and the Yardbirds loved Chicago blues, so it’s no surprise that the bulk of the songs here are the Chess records standards favored by Yardbirds, and their contemporaries the Stones, the Animals, and Them. Aerosmith turns in acceptable renditions of “Road Runner,” “Eyesight to the Blind,” and “Stop Messin’ Around,” but it is the slash-and-burn energy of “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” the juicy grind of “I’m Ready,” and the heartbeat throb of their Aretha Fraklin cover, “Never Loved A Girl” that reveals the band’s essence in all its seething glory.