Get a Grip

iTunes Review

Following Permanent Vacation and Pump, Get A Grip is the final installment in Aerosmith’s trilogy of multiplatinum, Bruce Fairbain-produced comeback albums. The album carried the group into the Nineties, and introduced them to a new generation of MTV viewers with the classic videos for “Cryin’” and “Crazy.” While the nasty strut of “Walk This Way” is replayed in “Get A Grip,” and the mammoth balladry of “Dream On” is reflected in “Livin’ On the Edge,” the band still sounds stronger and fresher than ever, even if they are still plying a well-worn blueprint. “Eat the Rich” starts like a slap across the face, while the strolling organ on “Amazing” calls up the group’s under-acknowledged Beatles influence. Fairbairn’s production gave the band a larger-than-life sound without subtracting their edge, and as always, the band excels at blending raw grit with tuneful hooks as on “Shut Up and Dance” and the Lenny Kravitz collaboration “Line Up.” In the end, though, Get A Grip is all about “Cryin’” and “Crazy,” two ballads as worn-in as old jeans, and as sinewy and sweet as the best of the Stones.