Aerosmith released Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology in the United States on November 20, 2001. The Geffen compilation spread 34 tracks across two CDs, pairing songs from the band's comeback years with material scattered across singles, soundtracks and other collections. Its scope made room for a part of that history a straight run of hits could easily miss.
The first disc opened with “Let the Music Do the Talking” from Done with Mirrors, the band's 1985 album. “My Fist Your Face” and “Shame on You” followed before the sequence moved into Permanent Vacation and Pump. That starting point gave the anthology a longer view of the Geffen period than Big Ones, the 1994 compilation of their later hits.
The familiar songs were there: “Dude (Looks Like a Lady),” “Janie's Got a Gun” and “Cryin'” all made the cut. But the extra disc space also let less obvious selections sit beside them. “Ain't Enough,” previously a B-side to “Love in an Elevator,” appeared near the end of disc one. On disc two, “Head First” joined material from the Get a Grip period.
“Head First” had a history outside the main studio albums. Songwriter Jim Vallance recalled on his website writing it with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry at Long View, a Massachusetts farm with rehearsal and recording facilities in its barn. The song first appeared as a bonus track on the “Eat the Rich” CD single in June 1993. Including it here put that songwriting session within reach of listeners who hadn't collected the singles.
“Deuces Are Wild” followed an even less direct route to an Aerosmith release. Vallance described recording instrumental ideas at home over the 1988 holiday period and mailing Tyler a cassette. Tyler developed the song's melody while listening on a Walkman and walking on a treadmill. The track was considered for Pump but didn't make the album.
When it surfaced on The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience in 1993, much of Vallance's original recording survived. In his account of the song, he explained that Aerosmith added Tyler's vocals and harmonica, along with additional guitar and drums, to his demo. Vallance's own contributions included guitar, organ and bass, alongside programmed instrumental parts. Its subsequent appearances on Big Ones and this anthology placed that home recording among songs drawn from Aerosmith's studio albums.
Even some of the hits took a different form on Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology. “Livin' on the Edge” appeared in an acoustic version, while “Amazing” used an orchestral version. Those choices gave collectors alternate arrangements, though listeners looking for the standard album recordings needed to look elsewhere. The title of a familiar song didn't necessarily tell buyers which performance they were getting.
The closing stretch drew from the 1998 live album A Little South of Sanity, including performances of “Dream On” and “Sweet Emotion.” That let the set reach back to earlier songs through later concert recordings. In 2005, the same 34-track collection returned as Gold, with a new title and cover.
