Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton on ‘LUV XXX’

Photo: Columbia

Aerosmith’s first album of original material in 11 years begins with the spooky voice of producer Jack Douglas, in a parody of the old sci-fi show The Outer Limits, warning listeners: “Do not attempt to adjust the illusion . . . Now is the time to submit quietly.” What follows is a rush of banging guitar and a big beat right out of Toys in the Attic, with a bit of gloss from the band’s late-Eighties rebirth, as singer Steven Tyler wails, “Hello, hello, come on, come on, come over,” reintroducing the veteran hard rockers to another generation.

The song is “LUV XXX” (read “love three times”), with Tyler’s vocal sidling along a searing guitar line from Joe Perry. Tyler says he wrote the lyrics “trying to make a social comment about how the world should be. Instead of mentioning peace ”“ which is an overused name ”“ I figured I would say ‘love three times a day.’ That’s partly joking and partly truth.”

Singing harmony vocal is guest Julian Lennon, the son of John Lennon who Tyler met by chance when they were staying at the same hotel in Los Angeles. “When Julian sang with me, we used the same mic and set it up like his father and Paul [McCartney],” says Tyler. “He sounds so much like his dad, and he’s so good. He has such a character to his voice. So it’s very Beatle-y.”

It was Douglas, the producer of Aerosmith’s multi-platinum albums from the Seventies, who suggested opening the album with a rush. “You want that first song to be the one that really grabs people by the balls,” says bassist Tom Hamilton, adding that the song was worked out during intense rehearsals in a 15-by-15 room. “That’s just one of those songs that we pounded away on for at least two full days of arranging and trying different ideas before we went out in the big room and played it.”

Click to listen to “LUV XXX”

ROLLING STONE will be premiering Aerosmith’s ‘Music From Another Dimension!’ album, one track at a time, in the weeks leading up to the November 6th release. The premiere kicks off today with the album’s opening track, “LUV XXX.”