A good collection of their deep cuts

At the end of the 1970's, Columbia Records released Aerosmith's Greatest Hits. At the time of its release, just about everyone thought their best days were behind them, thus the release of a greatest hits album. Although the album had all the hits, it didn't quite tell the whole story. The beauty of Aerosmith's '70s albums was that the album tracks were just as strong as their singles, especially on Toys In The Attic and Rocks. So with Aerosmith at the beginning of their near impossible comeback of the late '80s with Geffen Records, Columbia hopped on the money train and released Gems, a stellar collection of their best album tracks.

Although this collection was released strictly for profit, it showed fans that came during the late '80s that they were more than the band that did "Dream On" and "Walk This Way." Most of the tracks here are top notch, with 8 of the collection's 12 cuts coming from their first four classic albums. These tracks are the strongest ones here, with the tracks "Rats In The Cellar", "Train Kept A Rollin", and "Mama Kin" still getting regular airplay on classic rock radio. The remaining cuts from these albums, "Nobody's Fault", "Lick And A Promise", "Round And Round", and "Adam's Apple" are also excellent tracks. The tracks "Critical Mass", "No Surprize", and "Jailbait", are all strong tracks which are salvaged from their albums after Rocks, which were progressively weaker with each release as dissention and hard living affected the band's creativity. Also featured here is the excellent studio version of "Chip Away The Stone", which was originally only available as a live track from their Live Bootleg album. This is a strong collection of their lesser known album tracks. It definitely blows away everything they recorded after Pump. If you like the tracks on Gems, I'd highly recommend Rocks and Toys In The Attic, their best albums, and some of the best hard rock recorded in the '70s.

Exceptional Aerosmith Anthology

GEMS is an excellent anthology of lesser-known Aerosmith songs that is just as great as GET YOUR WINGS, TOYS IN THE ATTIC, ROCKS, GREATEST HITS, and PUMP. Of special interest is the otherwise unavailable studio version of "Chip Away The Stone", which is better than most of the group's recognized "classics." The album also contains such immortal cuts as "Mama Kin" and several others which must be heard to be fully appreciated. Get this CD/cassette along with the others I've mentioned, and I guarantee, you're in for a great ride.

ONE OF THE ONLY 2 AEROSMITH CDS I OWN

THIS IS NOT A GREATEST HITS ALBUM. BUT, AN ATTEMPT TO CASH IN ON SOME OF AEROSMITH'S 1970S SONGS. EVEN THOUGH IT'S JUST A COLLECTION OF OLD AEROSMITH SONGS WITH NO NEW MATERIAL AT ALL. BUT, IT IS A VERY GOOD CD TO HAVE FOR ANY AEROSMITH FAN. THE MOST POPULAR SONG ON THIS CD IS ''MAMA KIN''. OTHER THAN THAT, THE REST OF THE SONGS ARE JUST OLD ALBUM TRACKS THAT NEVER WERE SINGLES. THE SONGS I LIKED THE MOST ARE OF COURSE ''MAMA KIN'', ''CHIP AWAY THE STONE'', ''RATS IN THE CELLAR'', AND ''LICK IN A PROMISE''. THESE ARE ALL GREAT SONGS FROM THE BEST TIME PERIOD OF AEROSMITH'S CAREER, WHICH WAS THE 1970S. A GREAT BUY FOR ANY AEROSMITH FAN. AND TO MAKE THINGS BETTER, IT'S PRETTY CHEAP NOW.