Aerosmith's latest is blues without feeling but plenty of pep

Thankfully for Aerosmith fans everywhere, the band's latest album, "Honkin' on Bobo," might be a pleasant break from a string of recent embarrassments for the band -- in spite of its title. After their disheartening perform-at-the-Superbowl-with-Britney Spears thing and their shared double billing with KISS, the band celebrates the primordial beginnings of rock and roll by devoting the entirety of their newest CD to covering blues tunes, in effect paying homage to the beginnings of Aerosmith.

In the new album, band members Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Joey Kramer ditch the commercial pop of "Just Push Play" and bring back the rawk-ousness of the original band -- and we're not talking pop-rock eighties Aerosmith, but the all-out "Toys in the Attic" 1970s Aerosmith.

Upon first inspection, classic blues tunes take the limelight. These tunes, such as "Baby, Please Don't Go," "I'm Ready," and "Eyesight to the Blind," are inspired by their original sources, rather than from the folk and electric revivals of the 1960s. While they all have been covered to death, they're nonetheless staples of everyone and everything bluesy.

Big Joe Williams' "Eyesight to the Blind" is a particular highlight on the album. With bluesy harmonica and a touch of blues piano provided by the excellent and famous pianist Johnnie Johnson, this song will force listeners to stomp around and carry on.

Another spirited track, Mississippi Fred McDowell's "You Gotta Move," sounds like a dozen other Aerosmith songs until the harmonica (which Aerosmith use quite liberally throughout the album) chimes in and the sliding guitar starts up. "You Gotta Move" could easily become a hit single.

Willie Dixon's "I'm Ready," although covered far more honorably by Muddy Waters, is quite enjoyable, as Tyler attempts to lower and rasp up his usual tenor and croons, "I'm drinkin' TNT, I'm smokin' dynamite/ I hope some schoolboy start a fight/ 'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be."

Less-than-stellar tracks include "Back, Back Train," which has vocals that grate on the listener after a while, and "The Grind," a ballad which Aerosmith wrote themselves but which sounds too much like "Crazy" or "Cryin'" with different lyrics. The closing track, "Jesus on the Mainline," is a particular sore spot, as something about Tyler and company attempting to do soul just doesn't sound right.

While the members of Aerosmith touch upon Sonny Boy Williamson and liberally cover Baby, Big Joe Williams, Muddy Waters, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, noticeably missing from this hodgepodge are Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, and other ridiculously big blues figures.

The absence of these major country blues artists might be explained by the general feeling that Aerosmith subscribes to the rough and tough John Lee Hooker and Chicago-blues minus the irony. Aerosmith don't dabble in pain too often, or really anything other than getting tail and then moving right along, and they find kindred spirits in Willie Dixon's "I'm Ready" and Bo Diddley's "Road Runner": in the latter, Tyler sings, "When the dust hit my shoe/ I got the urge to move/ Says I'm a road runner baby".

Aerosmith may not pay tribute to the blues artists that had some influence on the band's style, but they certainly cannot be chided for not presenting the blues in an authentic and modest way. For a majority of the album, the band cranks up the volume and plays around with blues-hinted rock that's more reminiscent of the 1960s revival than true first generation blues.

Don't expect Aerosmith to single-handedly reinvent the genre, either. Tyler and his fellow band members simply select their favorites and get the tunes to walk and talk the Aerosmith way (crank them up a bit and add in a few squeals and yowls ... la Tyler and snarling guitar ... la Perry).

Aerosmith can be ridiculous and sometimes border on sleaze, but the band's loud riffs and yowling vocals provide entertaining rock 'n' roll. "Honkin' on Bobo" is a return to the Aerosmith of yore with bluesy inflections. The band's bluesy rock will certainly win back alienated fans, and perhaps introduce their newer pop-oriented audience to the blues genre.