Like
Mick Jagger before him,
Steven Tyler itched to launch a solo career, but where
Mick struck while the iron was relatively hot -- 20 years after "Satisfaction," true, yet
the Rolling Stones still packed arenas -- the
Aerosmith singer took the better part of a decade to figure out what he wanted to do on his own. He landed a starring gig on American Idol that didn't quite launch a solo career. That didn't happen until 2015, when
Tyler emerged from a 2012 reunion with
Aerosmith as a country singer -- a surprise, because the closest he ever came to country was the
Desmond Child co-write "What It Takes," a power ballad that provides a good touchstone for 2016's
We're All Somebody from Somewhere. Nominally a country album,
We're All Somebody from Somewhere doesn't belong to any country: laden with power ballads and pulsating polished rockers, it's commercial music of all stripes.
Tyler has a laugh with the lighter moments -- he skips through "I Make My Own Sunshine," a number so effervescent it should never have crossed his lascivious lips, and glides into the glistening groove of "Sweet Louisiana" -- but a good chunk of
We're All Somebody from Somewhere moves a good deal slower, pulsating along with minor keys and deliberate marches. Pro that he is,
Tyler never seems out of sorts. He lays into the crawling schmaltz of "My Own Worst Enemy" and "It Ain't Easy" with as much gusto as he slings the corn of "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly & Me," "Red, White & You," and "We're All Somebody from Somewhere." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine