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Sure, there's the occasional melodramatic interlude (despite its lyrical cliches, "Luv Lies" has the potency to be another "Angel"-size smash). But there's also more white-knuckled hard-rock intensity here than on the band's most recent efforts.
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Much of the 'Smith's music is reassuringly familiar, barely changed over their previous 12 albums, a mix of loose-jointed Stones raunch and vast power ballads impressive enough to bring out the 40-something in all of us.
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The band’s most energetic record since 1993’s Get A Grip.
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No one will mistake ''Play'' for one of the band's best discs, but neither will anyone who enjoys the signature sound of one of America's musical treasures fail to find pleasure in its polished, mostly ungimmicky grooves.
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Despite the fact that some of this album makes me Just Push Skip rather than follow the instructions of the title track, there are numerous moments of pure Aerosmith brilliance that justify tolerance of the weaker songs.
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Fans of Aerosmith, and fans of good old Rock Music will love it.
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Along the way, though, Aerosmith slips into the stylized studio excesses of a professional producer (it might also be their only album to have strings on half the songs), and the ballads the band does deliver are as corny as anything it's ever done.
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The acceptable outweighs the embarrassing.
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One of the group's most adventurous outings...
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Except for the predictable re-entry "Fly Away From Here," Boston's bad boys have jettisoned the sappy ballads and slick producers that fueled recent releases, unveiling a homemade endeavor which recasts the crunch and cadence of vintage Aerosmith.
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While nothing else on "Play" quite matches the slinky intimacy of its Top 10 single, "Jaded," every song has something to root for, whether it's the title track's inventive genre-shuffle, Tyler's spontaneous yodeling or the way "Under My Skin" continues the band's love of gender-bending.
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Yet while the sound of these songs is often great, the bad news is that most of the songs themselves leave little lasting impression.
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Granted, not everything here is top drawer scarf-worthy.... Still, it's worth noting that the album works to a middle-of-the-set peak -- which means that Aerosmith understands the dynamics of CD construction better than bands half its age.
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An expert balance of vintage Aerosmith and more contemporary stylings.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 41
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Mixed: 4 out of 41
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Negative: 5 out of 41
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Jan 26, 2023
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Jun 4, 2014
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stevecSep 28, 2006loads of fun