Just to show that old dogs can attempt to learn new tricks, at the very moment he hurtles towards his 70th birthday, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler has embarked upon a solo career.
Why he should take such a step now rather than 30 years ago and where this leaves the mothership remains unclear. We’re All Somebody From Somewhere is a mysterious business all round: not least that it’s billed as a country album — Tyler does profess a love for cornbread at one point — although it’s more Bryan Adams in bar room noodling mode than Brad Paisley in full flight.
It’s not wholly bankrupt — the inventive, off-the-wall title track is a glimpse of what might have been and Love Is Your Name has a vintage Bon Jovi-style chorus.
But with its clichéd giftcard lyrics (“I’m as free as a bird” etc) and an undernourished take on Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got A Gun, this is less a new beginning, more a dead end.
(Dot)
