Nine Lives (Aerosmith album)

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Nine Lives is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on March 18, 1997. The album was produced by Aerosmith and Kevin Shirley, and was the band's first studio album released by Columbia Records since 1982's Rock in a Hard Place. In the United States, it peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over two million copies. One of the album's singles, "Pink", won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Production

Early recordings took place at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, where the band worked with producer Glen Ballard. There, Steven Tyler and Ballard co-wrote the lyrics for "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)", "Taste of India" and "Pink".<ref name=billboard/> Other collaborators, including Desmond Child and Taylor Rhodes, joined Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry to write songs. Child previously collaborated with Aerosmith on such hits as "Angel", "Crazy" and "Dude (Looks like a Lady)".

Only a week before rehearsals, drummer Joey Kramer was suffering from depression, having grieved the loss of his father a few years prior.<ref name="Kramer">Template:Cite book Retrieved July 10, 2016</ref> With Kramer unavailable, rumors began to circulate that the band would disband. Steve Ferrone was brought in to play drums until Kramer was able to return.<ref name=billboard>Newman, Melinda. "Aerosmith to Get Global Record Push From Columbia". Billboard, February 15, 1997. Retrieved July 10, 2016</ref> "I came back with a nice perspective on what I bring to the table in Aerosmith," Kramer reflected. "That was healthy for me. We ended up rerecording because people were listening to the tracks and were saying some negative stuff about it and saying the band didn't sound the same."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Originally set for a summer release in 1996, the album was delayed, because Columbia Records felt dissatisfied with the nine tracks that Aerosmith and Ballard had produced.<ref name="RecordHeaven">"Record Heaven – Aerosmith – Nine Lives". Retrieved July 10, 2016</ref> Further issues occurred in July that year, when the band asked their manager Tim Collins to step down after almost twelve years of partnership.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In his 2014 autobiography Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith, Perry recounted that Aerosmith felt betrayed by Collins, as he would pit the members against one another.<ref name="Perry">Template:Cite book |pages=391</ref> With their longtime manager gone, the band decided to hire in-house producer Kevin Shirley, and set up at Avatar Studios in New York City. Shirley, who had also worked with Journey, helped with the album's overtones and instruments, particularly the guitar sounds. In a 1997 MTV special promoting the making of Nine Lives, Tyler declared: "He's got it somewhere stuck between Toys in the Attic and Rocks."<ref name="MTV">MTV – Making Nine Lives. Retrieved July 10, 2016</ref>

The new sessions began in September 1996, and continued to November. Following the shift in production, Kramer recovered from his depression, and returned to the studio.<ref name=billboard/> Instead of playing his tracks over Ferrone's, the band rerecorded from scratch on all of the completed tracks with Kramer.<ref name="Kramer"/> John Kalodner, Columbia's A&R executive was brought back to supervise the project, after he had been pushed off the production in Florida by Collins. He helped trim the twenty-four songs that had been written to thirteen.<ref name=billboard/> Initially, the band called the album "Vindaloo"<ref name="RecordHeaven"/> after adding in elements of Indian music throughout some of the songs, including a sarangi intro by Ramesh Mishra on the song, "Taste of India". But upon completing the track "Nine Lives", the band felt that would make the perfect title, serving as a metaphor for the album's troubled conception.

Artwork

The booklet for Nine Lives contains 12 pieces of album art (including the cover). Each picture contains a smaller version of the previous picture within itself. The final picture is included in the first, creating an infinite loop. It was designed by Stefan Sagmeister.

The original cover art, inspired by a painting in a book by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, features Lord Krishna (with a cat's head and female breasts) dancing on the head of the snake demon, Kāliyā. The Hindu community protested, feeling the artwork was offensive. The band had been unaware of the source of the artwork, and the record company apologized, leading to the next prints removing the art from the cover and booklet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Author unknown. "Aerosmith Chooses New Album Art". Rolling Stone. April 22, 1997.</ref> The new cover features a cat tied to a circus knife-thrower's wheel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tour

Template:Main article The Nine Lives tour was the band's longest tour in its history, it saw them perform in North America, Japan, and most of Europe on several legs. It was delayed numerous times due to injuries to Steven Tyler and Joey Kramer. The tour began in May 1997 and extended well into 1999, due to the success of the 1998 single "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and the October 1998 live compilation A Little South of Sanity. That album included live tracks from the tour that were recorded in 1997-98, along with a few earlier live tracks from the Get a Grip tour in 1994. For the Nine Lives tour, the band often performed alongside newer, more contemporary bands like Candlebox, Monster Magnet, Seven Mary Three, Skunk Anansie and Talk Show. For a run of summer European shows in 1998, their opening act was scheduled to be Faith No More (who they had earlier shared a bill with in 1990), but this never came to fruition, since Faith No More announced their split on April 20, 1998,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a few months before the shows, which were set to begin on July 1, 1998.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception

Template:Album ratings In his AllMusic review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine compared Nine Lives to previous Aerosmith albums stating, “Nine Lives, in contrast, is overlabored, with Aerosmith making a conscious effort to sound hip and vibrant, which ironically simply makes them sound tired." He also criticized the album's troubled production saying, "Not only are the performances perfunctory, but the songs aren't catchy -- no matter how hard it tries, 'Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)' never develops a hook, and it is not an exception".<ref name=AM/> Elysa Gardner from Rolling Stone was more favorable in her 1997 review concluding, "For those who simply can't abide a collection of Aerosmith tunes without its share of power ballads, Nine Lives doesn't disappoint".<ref name="rollingstone"/>

Outtakes

Some releases of Nine Lives feature different track listings, most notably the two Japanese editions which both feature the song "Fall Together". The song was included as a B-side on the album's first single "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)". The track "What Kind of Love Are You On" was originally titled "What Kind of Lover You Want", and was one of many outtakes left from the recording sessions in Florida. The song was re-titled "What Kind of Love Are You On" and features in the 1998 movie Armageddon, as well as its associated soundtrack.<ref name="Ultimate">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The track was later featured on the European re-release of the album's third single "Pink". Unfinished tracks that were discarded during the recording sessions in Florida include, "Bacon Biscuit Blues", "Bridges Are Burning", "Heart of Passion", "Loretta", and "Trouble". Tyler also mentioned a song called "Where the Sun Never Shines" during an MTV interview shortly after the album's release.<ref>MTV – Prima interview 1997. Retrieved August 19, 2016</ref>

Personnel

Aerosmith

• Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, hand organ, piano, harmonica, hammer dulcimer, percussion
• Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, dulcimer, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Falling Off"
• Brad Whitford – guitar, acoustic guitar
• Tom Hamilton – bass guitar, Chapman Stick
• Joey Kramer – drums

Additional personnel

• David Campbell – arranger, conductor (track 2)
• Ramesh Mishra – sarangi
• John Webster – keyboards, backing vocals
• Suzie Katayama – strings, conductor

Production

• ProducersTemplate:SndKevin Shirley and Aerosmith
• EngineersTemplate:SndMark Hudson, Joe Perry, Rory Romano, Elliot Scheiner, Kevin Shirley, Steven Tyler
• Second engineerTemplate:SndRory Romano
• MixingTemplate:SndElliot Scheiner, Kevin Shirley
• MasteringTemplate:SndLeon Zervos
• ProgrammingTemplate:SndSander Selover
• Horn arrangementsTemplate:SndDavid Campbell, Steven Tyler
• String arrangementsTemplate:SndDavid Campbell
• Guitar techniciansTemplate:SndJim Survis
• Guitar technicians (Additional)Template:SndLisa Sharken, Archie Avila
• Drum technicianTemplate:SndAndy Gilman
• Production engineerTemplate:SndDavid Frangioni
• Art directionTemplate:SndChristopher Austopchuk, Gail Marowitz
• Photo art directionTemplate:SndChristopher Austopchuk, Gail Marowitz
• PhotographyTemplate:SndF. Scott Schafer
• CalligraphyTemplate:SndJeanne Greco
• StylistTemplate:SndFiona Williams-Chappel

Credits verified from the album's liner notes.<ref name=NL>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Charts

Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for Nine Lives

Chart (1997–98)	Peak position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	4
Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} With "Ricerca per" set on "Titolo", search "Nine Lives" and then click "Classifiche".</ref>	7
Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	3
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	5

Year-end charts

1997 year-end chart performance for Nine Lives

Chart (1997)	Position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	37
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	79
Canadian Albums (Nielsen Soundscan)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	42
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	43
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	50
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	53

1998 year-end chart performance for Nine Lives

Chart (1998)	Position
Canadian Albums (RPM)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	98
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	129

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1998	"Pink"	Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

External links

• Steven Tyler talks about "Where the Sun Never Shines" (Aerosmith outtake) on YouTube