Metal Underground.com

It's been 11 years since the last album of Aerosmith originals, "Just Push Play" — and 15 years since the last good one, "Nine Lives." For all the hype about getting back to the band's original 1970s sound — including hiring "Toys In The Attic" producer Jack Douglas — the best the band manages on the comeback record "Music From Another Dimension!" is a hodgepodge of songs that tries to be everything for everybody, picking up threads from across the band's four decades.

Granted, when the band heads to the 1970s, as it does on the Joe Perry-penned "Oh Yeah," the results are nothing short of thrilling. The band takes a page from the Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main Street" on "Out Go The Lights," which features some great female backing vocalists and horns.

Some of the forays into the 1980s are pretty decent as well, including the opener, "Luv XXX" which, once it gets past its silly "Outer Limits"-style opening narration, recalls the likes of "Love In An Elevator." The single, "Legendary Child" is OK, but for shamelessly ripping off the riff to Led Zeppelin's "Wearing And Tearing."

The problem comes when the band heads to ballad-ville for far too much of the album. "Another Last Goodbye" is a fantastic Beatles-esque tune, and the acoustic "Tell Me" works better than it has a right to. The slow "Closer" and especially the Diane "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" Warren-penned "We All Fall Down" ought to have been excised from the album.

The disc's worst track, though, is the horrendous attempt at a country crossover "Can't Stop Lovin' You," which features guest vocals by Carrie Underwood (guess that "American Idol" gig was good for something after all, Steven).

That said, Steven Tyler's voice is in fine form throughout, and Perry's guitar work is grand (even when his vocals are terrible, like on "Freedom Fighter").

In a better alternate reality, "Music From Another Dimension!" would have lived up to the hype of being a return to Aerosmith's '70s roots. In this one, though, it's an OK album with a few moments that recall the glory days.