Welcome to the Week of EPs! No sooner do I finish the Record Stores Tales before I’m off on yet another series!  Each day this week, I’ll be checking out a variety of EP releases, both famed and obscure. Let’s start with a major band: Aerosmith.

AEROSMITH – The Other Side (1990 Geffen EP)

The first time I bought this, it was on cassette in a mall in Calgary, Alberta in August of 1990.  I also bought Judas Priest’s Hero Hero at the same store, also on cassette.  A completist even then, there was no way I was leaving without The Other Side.  Of all my finds on that trip, this one I had never seen before.  I later replaced it on CD while working at the Record Store.

The Pump CD is a great album, probably my favourite.  The two songs from Pump that are on this single are “My Girl” and “The Other Side”, neither of which are really as great as the rest of Pump.  That’s in my opinion; “The Other Side” was a popular hit.  Notably, “The Other Side” lacks its intro, “Dulcimer Stomp” which may make it interesting for some.

The CD also has two useless remixes of “The Other Side”.  The “Matt Dike ‘Honky Tonk’ Version” is just as offensive as the “Club Mix”.  Maybe the Matt Dike version is slightly less offensive, but the added backing vocals and dance vibe is just crap.  Neither mix adds anything of value to the song, but they are dragged out to 5:09 (Matt Dike mix) and an agonizing 7:04 (Club mix).

The main track that I bought the disc for was “Theme from ‘Wayne’s World'”.  I actually had no idea what Wayne’s World was, although my cousin Geoff apparently did.  Back then, I wondered what the hell this was.  There were no liner notes to help either.  This track is a mere 1:29, and it’s a straight up recording of the Saturday Night Live performance by Aerosmith of that song.  I didn’t give a shit, I love it now.  Perfect filler for the end of a mix CD!

Since this CD consists of two album tracks, two pointless remixes and a 1:29 song, you must be sure not to pay too much for it.  As a kid I rarely played it, and the same can be said of the adult version of me.

2/5 stars