Aerosmith: You Gotta Move (DVD +CD)

Amazon.com More than three decades after coming on the rock scene and being dismissed as Rolling Stones wannabes, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and the rest of Aerosmith are still going strong--a good deal stronger, in fact, than Mick and the boys, if You Gotta Move, Aerosmith's first live DVD, is any indication. Throughout this 162-minute concert documentary (including the 90-minute program that first aired on the A&E channel), the musicians talk about being "in the zone," and there's no denying that they're at the top of their game, playing even their oldest hits with genuine fire and conviction. Along with "Dream On," "Back in the Saddle," "Walk This Way," "Sweet Emotion," and other classic rock faves, a good portion of the show (as well as a 30-minute bonus documentary) is devoted to Honkin' on Bobo, their 2004 blues/roots CD. But unlike the Stones or the Yardbirds (another obvious Aerosmith inspiration), whose blues and R&B covers formed the bulk of their early output, Aerosmith waited until late in their career to record chestnuts like "Baby, Please Don't Go" and "Stop Messin' Around," and their versions owe much more to the rockers who performed these tunes in the '60s (Van Morrison and Ted Nugent for the former, and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac for the latter) than to the bluesmen who wrote them. No surprise there--Aerosmith, too, is at heart no more or less than a no-frills, hard-rocking band. That's exactly what their fans want, and it's hard to imagine that any of them will be less than thrilled with You Gotta Move. The generous extra material includes five songs not aired in the original broadcast, the documentary mentioned above, and an audio CD of six songs from the show. --Sam Graham