Greatest Hits (2023)
Disc One
1. Mama Kin
2. Dream On
3. Lord of the Thighs
4. Same Old Song and Dance
5. Train Kept’ a Rollin’
6. S.O.S. (Too Bad)
7. Seasons of Wither
8. Walk This Way
9. Big Ten Inch Record
10. Adam’s Apple
11. Sweet Emotion
12. Toys in the Attic
13. Combination
14. Nobody’s Fault
15. Home Tonight
Disc Two
1. Back in the Saddle
2. Last Child
3. Bright Light Fright
4. Draw the Line
5. Kings and Queens
6. Let the Music Do the Talking
7. Walk This Way (with Run-DMC)
8. Hangman Jury
9. Dude (Looks Like a Laday)
10. Rag Doll (Live)
11. Angel
12. Monkey on My Back
13. What it Takes
14. Water Song/Janie’s Got a Gun
15. Going Down/Love in an Elevator
Disc Three
1. The Other Side
2. Livin’ on the Edge
3. Amazing
4. Get a Grip
5. Cryin’
6. Eat the Rich
7. Crazy
8. Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)
9. Pink
10. Nine Lives
11. I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
12. Jaded
13. We All Fall Down
14. Just Push Play
As far as swan songs go, Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits 2023 seems less like a triumphant farewell and more like a slightly worn scrapbook — overstuffed in places, oddly sparse in others. The band, after decades of stadium anthems and radio dominance, finally called it quits in 2024. Of course, in rock 'n' roll, “final” rarely means forever. But assuming this truly marks their final bow, one might have expected a carefully curated culmination — a monument of legacy.
Clocking in at a robust 44 tracks, one might presume a definitive career retrospective. Yet, predictably perhaps, this anthology stumbles into the same traps that have long plagued legacy compilations: an abundance of big hits and a baffling omission of lesser-known gems that diehards hold sacred.
There’s no denying the potency of the material culled from their 1970s heyday — songs that ooze determination, swagger, and sleaze in equal measure. These tracks form the spine of the album and serve as reminders of a band that once defined American hard rock. But then comes the curious choice: a “live” version of Rag Doll is substituted for the studio recording, which many would argue remains the superior cut. And perhaps most bewildering is the inclusion of the Walk This Way Run-DMC collaboration — culturally iconic, yes, but sonically jarring in this context — and the indulgent allocation of six tracks from the middling Get a Grip, which despite its commercial success, has aged with a certain clumsiness.
What we’re left with is a collection that gets tantalizingly close to being definitive, only to veer off course by succumbing to predictable market logic. Still, for the uninitiated, or those wishing to dip their toes into the Aerosmith catalogue without navigating the full discography, this compilation offers a solid, if uneven, primer. For longtime fans, it’s a mixed bag — a victory lap that sometimes forgets where the race began.