Young Lust: The Aerosmith Years covers a decade of classics, live tracks, b-sides and rarities from their Geffen years. Memorable radio/video hits lik e the Grammy - winning " Janie's Got a Gun," Dude (Looks Like a Lady), " Angel".  Young Lust is a collection of Aerosmith tracks from the Geffen years, a period that saw them come back from the brink of obscurity (or worse) and rise to world-conquering megastardom. Aerosmith's reign as America's greatest hard-rock heroes seemed all but over at the end of the 1970s, the victim of internal squabbles, drug abuse and a cocooned, decadent environment. Set against that backdrop, their 1980s' label switch and resurgence--and an eventual iconic, widespread acceptance even more pervasive than during their "prime"--was initially as gratifying as it was unlikely. This double-disc, 34-track compilation of the Geffen years chronicles a not-so-young band clawing their way back to the top with a hungry frenzy that shamed many upstarts half their age. With all the high points intact (including their groundbreaking rock-rap redux of "Walk this Way" with , "Rag Doll", "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Love In an Elevator", "Janie's Got a Gun", "The Other Side", Cryin'" et al), this compilation offers up the expected live extras (a handful of old hits and 1990s' staples), soundtrack cuts ("Deuces are Wild" and the ' "Love Me Two Times") and sundry rarities (including the non-album cuts "Don't Stop" and "Can't Stop Messin'", B-side "Head First" and Japan-only "Ain't Enough")--though, sadly, no "Theme to Wayne's World". But by its waning tracks, it also documents the encroaching influences of hired-gun tunesmiths such as Desmond Child and Glen Ballard, and the band's troubling tendency to hew ever closer to the middle of the road as their fame burgeoned. Younger listeners may well treasure this album as a history of Aerosmith's golden years, BD--as in before Diane (Warren). --Jerry McCulley Review Liberally stickered in your local emporium as a 'Best Of', this pumping, testosterone-filled beast of a compilation is, dare I say it, a bit of a sheep in wolf's clothing. Aerosmith were formed in 1970 (gasp) and have released over twenty albums, but what we have here is an anthology of the years spent with Geffen. In other words it's a minute 8 year slice of a band's 31 year career. Admittedly, all of the boy's trademark devices for alienating your neighbours are here - the bluesy sub-Zeppelinesque rifferama of Joe Perry, the yelping 'who let the cat out of the bag?' vocal stylings of Mr Stephen Tyler and, of course, the (ahem) politically correct lyrics. Yet it seems a shame to think that young whippersnappers who wish to annoy Granny this Christmas will be doing so without the full artillery that the Toxic Twins have amassed over the last third of a century. It is well-documented that earning the above nickname was very nearly the ruin of the band, and were it not for the career resuscitating move to Geffen and the hiring of some top drawer producers we wouldn't today be still grinning at their bulgy-trousered antics. That renaissance is all here on view, starting with Done With Mirrors (how apposite) and Permanent Vacation featuring the shouty "Dude Looks Like A Lady". Naturally close attention is paid to the tip-top follow-up album Pump (7 tracks included) which sold squillions and made sure they'd never go away again. From then on, if you don't count the fabulous pairing with Run-D.M.C on the revamped "Walk This Way", the band set the controls to 'stadium-filling autopilot' and proceeded to deliver&well, more of the same. So, it's a real shame that the band's first classic period gems such as the original "Walk This Way", "Back In The Saddle" or even "Draw The Line" are missing, leaving old rockers bereft and young 'uns without a true historical overview. Even worse, the boys left for Columbia before getting to that treacly power-ballad stuff like "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" - so your girlfriend won't like it either. All in all, nowhere near a best of with a truly puerile cover shot and yet, when young Tyler hits that long screaming note at the start of "Young Lust", well you just can't help grinning one more time... --Chris Jones This link will take you off in a new window