Honkin' on Bobo

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This article is about the album by Aerosmith. For the subsequent tour, see Honkin' on Bobo Tour.
Honkin' on Bobo
Aerosmith - Honkin' On Bobo.JPG
Studio album by
Aerosmith
ReleasedMarch 30, 2004 (2004-03-30)[1]
Recorded2003
Studio
  • The Boneyard
  • The Bryer Patch
  • Pandora's Box
Genre
Length43:57
LabelColumbia
Producer
Aerosmith chronology
Just Push Play
(2001) 		Honkin' on Bobo
(2004) 		Music from Another Dimension!
(2012)
Singles from Honkin' on Bobo
  1. "Baby, Please Don't Go"
    Released: 2004

Honkin' on Bobo is the 14th studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on March 30, 2004, by Columbia Records.[1] The album includes 11 covers of blues and blues rock songs from the 1950s and 1960s, with one new song, "The Grind". The album pays tribute to Aerosmith's earliest influences and showcases a rawer sound, reminiscent of their 1970s work, when compared to their more recent commercial efforts. Honkin' on Bobo was produced by Jack Douglas, who was Aerosmith's producer on a vast majority of their 1970s output.

The album sold over 160,000 copies in its first week, reaching number five on the Billboard 200.[2] Honkin' on Bobo was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on May 11, 2004.[3]

Production[]

Honkin' On Bobo was recorded in Joe Perry's ranch near Boston, with the band playing only when they were in a good mood, as according to Perry, "We wanted to do something we haven't done before and that excites us. That's what makes us want to do another record. Otherwise, we'd say, 'OK, we've done everything we can do, so why bother even going in again?’." The album title was suggested by Steven Tyler, who heard the phrase somewhere and the band found it funny.[4] Perry also stated during a radio interview that "We just know that it's a phrase that sounds ... jazzish, nastyish, so it works for us."[5]

Many tracks on the album feature harmonica work by Tyler, including Little Walter's "Temperature" which was played on an episode of the House of Blues Radio Hour which was about the harmonica.[6] A harmonica keychain was included with the limited edition version.[7]

The album is noteworthy for featuring "Stop Messin' Around." This Fleetwood Mac cover, sung by Joe Perry had never before appeared on an Aerosmith album despite being a staple of the band's live concerts for over ten years prior.

Reception[]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic69/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic3.5/5 stars [7]
Blender3/5 stars[9]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[10]
Rolling Stone4/5 stars[11]
USA Today3/4 stars[12]

Metacritic gave the album a score of 69 out of 100 based on 12 generally favorable reviews.[8] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that the album is the best the band has done since Pump in 1989, and that it cannot be called a "blues" album because it is a rock album. He called the album a "surprise" in that, even though the album's artwork and title are bad, it marks a return to Aerosmith.[7] In his Blender magazine review of the album, Jon Pareles said that the band did their blues album different than most others because, instead of making "respectable" cover versions, they make quite unrespectable cover versions like "You Gotta Move". The album, to him, proves that Aerosmith can still rock.[9] Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly felt that the album didn't live up to what it should be because it is too loud, but some songs on the album are good.[10]

David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine wrote an article for the magazine comparing and contrasting Aerosmith's Honkin' on Bobo and Eric Clapton's Me and Mr. Johnson which also explored blues influences. He said that Clapton's album was mostly about pain, while Aerosmith's album was about sex and running away from lovers. He also considers Bobo to be a double-tribute album – one tribute to the original musicians and one tribute for 1960s blues-rock bands – and considers the album to be overdone, which is what Aerosmith is good at.[11]

Track listing[]

Per liner notes:[13]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Road Runner" (Bo Diddley cover)Ellas McDaniel a.k.a. Bo Diddley3:46
2."Shame, Shame, Shame" (Smiley Lewis cover)Ruby Fisher, Kenyon Hopkins2:15
3."Eyesight to the Blind" (Sonny Boy Williamson II cover)Sonny Boy Williamson II3:09
4."Baby, Please Don't Go" (Them cover)Joe Williams3:24
5."Never Loved a Girl" (Aretha Franklin cover)Ronny Shannon3:12
6."Back Back Train" (Mississippi Fred McDowell cover)Fred McDowell4:23
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."You Gotta Move" (Mississippi Fred McDowell cover)Rev. Gary Davis, Fred McDowell5:30
8."The Grind"Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Marti Frederiksen3:46
9."I'm Ready" (Muddy Waters cover)Willie Dixon4:13
10."Temperature" (Little Walter cover)Joel Michael Cohen, Walter Jacobs2:52
11."Stop Messin' Around" (Fleetwood Mac cover)Clifford Adams, Peter Green4:29
12."Jesus is on the Main Line" (Mississippi Fred McDowell cover)(Traditional, arr. by F. McDowell)2:51
Japanese Edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Jaded"Tyler, Marti Frederiksen3:34

Personnel[]

Per liner notes:[13]

Additional musicians

  • Tracy Bonham – vocals on "Back Back Train" and "Jesus Is on the Main Line"
  • Johnnie Johnson – piano on "Shame, Shame, Shame" and "Temperature"
  • The Memphis Horns – brass on "Never Loved a Girl"
  • Paul Santo – piano, electric piano, organ, engineering

Production

Charts[]

Album

Chart (2004) Peak
position
Australian Top 100 Albums[14] 59
Austrian Top 75 Albums[15] 22
Belgium (Wallonia) 100 Albums[16] 44
Canadian Albums Chart[17] 5
Finnish Top 40 Albums[18] 35
French Top 200 Albums[19] 52
German Albums Chart[20] 32
Irish Top 75 Albums[21] 60
Japanese Top 30 Albums[22] 6
Netherlands Top 100 Albums[23] 64
Spain (AFYVE)[24] 48
Swedish Top 60 Albums[25] 38
Swiss Top 100 Albums[26] 17
UK Albums Chart[27] 28
US Billboard 200[28] 5
US Blues Albums[29] 1

Certifications[]

Organization Level Date
RIAJ - Japan Gold[30] April 10, 2004
RIAA - USA Gold May 11, 2004

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Furniss 2012, eBook.
  2. ^ "Aerosmith Bask in the Blues". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  3. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum Search Results". RIAA. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  4. ^ AEROSMITH BLUES ALBUM INSPIRED BY BIKE CRASHES AND FUNNY PHRASES
  5. ^ Aerosmith - Making of Honkin' On Bobo Pt. 1 on YouTube
  6. ^ [1] Archived October 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "Honkin' On Bobo Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Pareles, Jon. "Review : Honkin' on Bobo". Blender.com. United States: Alpha Media Group. Retrieved November 30, 2010.[dead link]
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Willman, Chris (April 2, 2004). "Review : Honkin' on Bobo". Entertainment Weekly.com.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Fricke, David (April 15, 2004). "Review : Honkin' on Bobo". Rolling Stone.
  12. ^ Edna Gundersen (March 29, 2004). "Clapton, Aerosmith dabble in the blues". USA Today. Gannett Company.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Honkin' On Bobo (Media notes). Aerosmith. U.S.: Columbia Records. 2004. CK 87025.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ "The ARIA Report (Issue 737)" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Pandora Archive. p. 5. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  15. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo (Album)". Austrian Charts (in German). Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on November 8, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  16. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo (Album)" (ASP). Ultratop (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  17. ^ "Aerosmith Album & Song Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  18. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo (Album)". Finnish Charts. Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on November 9, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  19. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo (Album)" (ASP). Les Charts (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  20. ^ "Chartverfolgung / AEROSMITH / Longplay". Music Line (in German). Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  21. ^ "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending April 1, 2004". GfK Chart-Track. Archived from the original (JSP) on June 17, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  22. ^ 2004年04月第2週の邦楽アルバムランキング情報 (PHP). Oricon Style (in Japanese). Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  23. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo (Album)". Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on November 6, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  24. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  25. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo (Album)" (ASP). Swedish Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  26. ^ "Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo". Swiss Charts. Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on November 14, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  27. ^ "Chart Archive: Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive – April 10th, 2004". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  28. ^ "Aerosmith Album & Song Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  29. ^ "Aerosmith Album & Song Chart History: Blues Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  30. ^ ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2004年3月. RIAJ (in Japanese). 2004-04-10. Retrieved 2010-11-13.

Sources[]

  • Furniss, Matters (2012). Aerosmith: Uncensored on the Record. Warwickshire, UK: Coda Books. ISBN 978-1781580141.
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