Just Push Play - Reception

Reception

Metacritic gave the album 65 out of 100 based on 14 generally favorable reviews. For his review of Just Push Play for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that it was their best album since Pump in 1989, but he criticized them "for not acting their age" and said the album was not much compared to Pump and Permanent Vacation. He compared their production name, "The Boneyard Boys", to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' production name, "The Glimmer Twins." Ben Mitchell of Blender magazine said the album was better than Nine Lives by a little bit and feels the album was not with the times and was rather poor. Darryl Stredan had a very strong dislike for both the album and the artist saying the they weren't a band anymore, that they were instead a marketing company, and was of the opinion that they should stop producing new music. Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly said that songs to not listen to on the album are "Fly Away from Here", "Luv Lies", "Avant Garden", "Just Push Play", "Drop Dead Gorgeous", and "Outta Your Head", but the rest of the songs on the album are tolerable including several with string sections ("Jaded", "Beyond Beautiful", and "Sunshine") and thinks the album overall is good but not great. In the NME magazine review of Just Push Play said that most of the album is not new, but the album was Aerosmith's first album to feature rap metal with songs like "Just Push Play" & "Outta Your Head". David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine said that they are still a good band and it is lucky for them to still be around, but he also said that they haven't made a "great album" since Rocks, although it came close as did Pump. He compared "Jaded" to an Electric Light Orchestra song and said that the weak spots on the album were the power ballads. Robert Christgau picked out one song from the album, "Jaded", as a choice cut.