Honkin' On Bobo

Performer: Aerosmith
Artist: Tracy Bonham; Johnnie Johnson
Engineer: Jay Messina; Marti Frederiksen; Paul Caruso; Paul Santo; Brian Paturalski
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Aerosmith: Steven Tyler (vocals, harmonica); Joe Perry, Brad Whitford (guitar); Tom Hamilton (bass); Joey Kramer (drums). Additional personnel: Tracy Bonham (vocals); Johnnie Johnson (piano). Producers: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jack Douglas, Marti Frederiksen. This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel: Joe Perry (vocals, guitar, slide guitar, dobro, hurdy-gurdy, background vocals); Steven Tyler (vocals, harmonica, piano, background vocals); Tracy Bonham (vocals); Brad Whitford (guitar); Tom Hamilton (acoustic guitar, background vocals); The Memphis Horns (brass); Paul Santo (piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer organ); Johnnie Johnson (piano); Joey Kramer (drums, background vocals). Audio Mixer: Marti Frederiksen. Recording information: Pandora's Box; The Boneyard; The Bryer Patch. Photographers: Michael Coleman ; Ross Halfin; John Bionelli. With HONKIN' ON BOBO, Aerosmith takes a break from radio-ready fare to record an album that pays tribute to the blues influences that have always been close at hand for the group. Further enhancing the sound of this project is the presence of storied pianist Johnnie Johnson (on two tracks) and Jack Douglas, the producer for many of Aerosmith's classic 1970s albums. The result is the typical 'Smith sass and shimmy, with a contemporary sensibility applied to nuggets plucked from the songbooks of Willie Dixon (the sleazy strut "I'm Ready"), Sonny Boy Williamson (a rollicking "Eyesight to the Blind"), and Little Walter (the Howlin' Wolf-flavored "Temperature"). Throughout the record, Joe Perry and fellow fret-bender Brad Whitford play with a dirty, fuzz-guitar tone, perfectly complemented by Steven Tyler's equally rough-and-rowdy forays on the harmonica. As a result, these Boston natives do a stellar job with fiery renditions of Big Joe Williams's "Baby, Please Don't Go" and Mississippi Fred McDowell's "You Gotta Move," proving that they can still rock hard while playing the blues.

Rolling Stone (4/15/04, p.150) - 4 stars out of 5 - "There is a tightness to this mania; BOBO is a celebratory attack on the [blues] canon..." Rolling Stone (p.141) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[T]he Boston legends tear through classic cuts..." Q (p.94) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[They've] gone back to their roots with a set of blues and early R&B covers that has these fiftysomethings sounding almost as fresh as on their '73 debut." Mojo (Publisher) (p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Claustrophobic yet utterly captivating, singer Jamie Stewart shares his demons with us in a series of stunning, cathartic hits."

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.

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