Devil's Got a New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith [Remaster]

Performer: Aerosmith
Artist: Run-DMC
Distributor: Sony BMG Music (Canada) (

Notes: This reissue includes new deluxe packaging with original release liner notes, photos, and artwork. Aerosmith: Steven Tyler (vocals, harmonica, piano); Joe Perry (guitar, background vocals); Brad Whitford (guitar); Tom Hamilton (bass); Joey Kramer (drums, percussion). Producers include: Aerosmith, Adrian Barber, Jack Douglas, Ray Colcord, George Martin. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Aerosmith: Steven Tyler (vocals, harmonica); Joe Perry , Brad Whitford (guitar); Tom Hamilton (bass guitar); Joey Kramer (drums). Additional personnel: Run-D.M.C.. Longtime Aerosmith fans are likely to quibble about the set list here. How to pare down one of rock's all-time greatest and longest-running rock bands to 18 songs? Even so, 2006's DEVIL'S GOT A NEW DISGUISE: THE VERY BEST OF AEROSMITH does an admirable job, offering a single-disc crash course in the group's biggest and best-known tunes. Ranging from the their 1970s heyday throughout their astonishing late '80s comeback and beyond, DEVIL'S plays like a feel-good hard-rock radio revival. Old-schoolers will be happy to find the staples--"Dream On," "Walk This Way," and "Sweet Emotion"--while second-generation Aerosmith fans will find blockbuster MTV fare like "Cryin'" and "Crazy." The band's patented boogie shuffle is accounted for on "Back in the Saddle" and "Rag Doll," among others. Two new tracks, one of which gives the album its title, are also included. A new Aerosmith "greatest-hits" collection is about as newsworthy as the common cold, and Sony's The Very Best of Aerosmith is no exception. The 18 tracks, two of which ("Devil's Got a New Disguise" and "Sedona Sunrise") are new, are comprised of the usual suspects like "Dream On," "Sweet Emotion," "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," "Cryin'," and "Crazy," with an emphasis on later material. ~ James Christopher Monger This Australian two-fer Greatest Hits 1973-1988/Classics Live! features an expanded version of Aerosmith's lauded 1980 Greatest Hits collection, as well as 1986's Classics Live. Both discs are remastered, but it's the welcome addition of fan favorites like "Mama Kin," "Big Ten-Inch Record," "Lightning Strikes," "Seasons of Wither," and "Chip Away the Bone" to the Greatest Hits package that makes this pre-Permanent Vacation overview worth having. ~ James Christopher Monger A new Aerosmith "greatest-hits" collection is about as newsworthy as the common cold, and Sony's The Very Best of Aerosmith is no exception. The 18 tracks, two of which ("Devil's Got a New Disguise" and "Sedona Sunrise") are new, are comprised of the usual suspects like "Dream On," "Sweet Emotion," "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," "Cryin'," and "Crazy," with an emphasis on later material. Fans looking for a more comprehensive overview of the legendary Boston band's career should pick up Columbia's superior O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits anthology. ~ James Christopher Monger Aerosmith's Greatest Hits remains one of the most popular and enduring best-of collections by any rock band, selling nearly ten million copies in the U.S. alone since its release. But when it was issued in 1980, the band had just about reached its nadir. With original guitarist Joe Perry gone (and Brad Whitford soon to follow), Aerosmith had turned into a directionless, time-consuming ghost of its former self. Since there would be a three-year gap between 1979's Night in the Ruts and 1982's Rock in a Hard Place, Greatest Hits was assembled, more or less, to fill the void and buy the band some time. With the album clocking in at only 37 and a half minutes, many Aerosmith classics are not included, such as what many consider the band's quintessential track, their cover of "Train Kept a Rollin'." The only poor selection is the forgettable "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," but nine out of ten are bona fide classics -- "Dream On," "Same Old Song and Dance," "Sweet Emotion," "Walk this Way," "Last Child," "Back in the Saddle," and "Draw the Line." Also featured is their venomous cover of the Beatles' "Come Together," previously only available as a single and on the soundtrack to the 1978 movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For the casual fan, Greatest Hits will do the job, as well as its sister album, 1988's Gems. ~ Greg Prato Aerosmith greatest-hits compilations can be sorted into three categories: ones that compile the band's 1970s prime with Columbia Records (of which Greatest Hits [1980] and Gems [1988] are the benchmarks, especially the former); ones that compile the band's subsequent run with Geffen Records (Big Ones [1994]); and ones that ostensibly span both eras via cross-licensing (O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits [2002]). Devil's Got a New Disguise falls into the final category, as it spans Aerosmith's entire career to date, from "Dream On" and "Mama Kin" (from the band's 1973 eponymous debut) to a pair of new studio recordings ("Sedona Sunrise" and "Devil's Got a New Disguise"). Like O, Yeah!, unfortunately, it pays short shrift to the Columbia recordings, compiling a measly five songs: "Dream On," "Mama Kin," "Sweet Emotion," "Back in the Saddle," and "Last Child." The remainder of the 18 songs are Geffen recordings, beginning with the Run-D.M.C. version of "Walk This Way" and then moving on to Permanent Vacation (1987), bypassing Done with Mirrors (1985) as well as numerous other latter-day albums, namely Nine Lives (1997), A Little South of Sanity (1998), Honkin' on Bobo (2004), and Rockin' the Joint (2005). Such selective sampling doesn't bode well for comprehensiveness, yet it does result in a perfectly listenable album without any bad songs (unlike most of the double-disc Aerosmith best-ofs like O, Yeah! and Gold, which are comprehensive yet troublesomely bogged down by subpar material that doesn't really warrant compilation). After all, Aerosmith struggled to craft engaging material in the wake of Pump (1989), their last truly great album, so it's actually for the best that those latter-day albums are bypassed here. Truth be told, Devil's Got a New Disguise is simply a trimmed-down version of O, Yeah!, and while it's perfectly listenable, it also leaves much to be desired from the standpoint of comprehensiveness. If you were to own one and only one Aerosmith album and consequently wanted a broad, if inevitably cursory, overview, Devil's Got a New Disguise fits that niche well; however, you'd be better off with both the Columbia-era Greatest Hits and the Geffen-era Big Ones, two well-compiled best-ofs that complement each other ideally, and satisfactorily cover practically all of the band's key material without any overlap whatsoever. ~ Jason Birchmeier Originally decried by critics as an American rip-off of the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith blew these criticisms away by going on to become the biggest and best hard rock band of the '70s. Fronted by funky and fast-talking Steven Tyler, Aerosmith was anchored by the rock-solid rhythm tandem of Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer, while guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford were the instrumental gunslingers of the band. Much of Aerosmith's appeal lies in the band's outlaw personas, particularly on such incendiary cuts as "Back in the Saddle" and the equally powerful "Draw the Line." The flip side of these nuggets were arena anthems like the prototype power ballad "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion," a simmering classic written by Tyler about Perry's wife. Unlike many hard rock bands of the time whose sound was solely rooted in heavy blues-rock, Aerosmith was an unabashed fan of pop. Not only did the band cover the Beatles ("Come Together") and The ShangriLas ("Remember [Walking in the Sand]), but paid tribute to James Brown by writing its own "Mother Popcorn."

A hard-rocking, no-holds-barred American group fronted by the wiry Steven Tyler, Aerosmith plays heavy riffs with a blues underpinning. After huge hits and sold-out tours in the 1970s, the band sank into oblivion for the first half of the '80s. They returned on the crest of Run-DMC's version of "Walk This Way" in 1986, and rode back up the charts with their rehabilitated rock, cranking out slick videos to gain a new generation of fans. Having hitched their star to MTV, they took on the role of rock's elder statesmen.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.5