Nine Lives is the twelfth studio album by Aerosmith, released on March 18, 1997. The album was produced by Aerosmith and Kevin Shirley, and was the band’s first studio album released by Columbia Records since 1982’s Rock in a Hard Place. In the United States, it peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over two million copies. One of the album’s singles, “Pink”, won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Until Music from Another Dimension!, Nine Lives was their longest album, at 63 minutes. The booklet for Nine Lives contains 12 pieces of album art (including the cover). Each picture contains a smaller version of the previous picture within itself. The final picture is included in the first, creating an infinite loop. It was designed by Stefan Sagmeister.
The original cover art, inspired by a painting in a book by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, features Lord Krishna (with a cat’s head and female breasts) dancing on the head of the snake demon, Kāliyā. The Hindu community protested, feeling the artwork was offensive. The band had been unaware of the source of the artwork, and the record company apologized, leading to the next prints removing the art from the cover and booklet. The new cover features a cat tied to a circus knife-thrower’s wheel.
Tracklist:
- Nine Lives
- Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)
- Hole in My Soul
- Taste of India
- Full Circle
- Something’s Gotta Give
- Ain’t That a Bitch
- The Farm
- Crash
- Kiss Your Past Good-Bye
- Pink
- Attitude Adjustment
- Fallen Angels
Aerosmith
Steven Tyler: lead vocals, keyboards, hand organ, piano, harmonica, hammer dulcimer, percussion
Joe Perry: guitar, slide guitar, dulcimer, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Falling Off”
Brad Whitford: guitar, acoustic guitar
Tom Hamilton: bass guitar, Chapman Stick
Joey Kramer: drums
Additional personnel
David Campbell: arranger, conductor (track 2)
Ramesh Mishra: sarangi
John Webster: keyboards, backing vocals
Suzie Katayama: strings, conductor
Production
Producers: Kevin Shirley and Aerosmith
Engineers: Mark Hudson, Joe Perry, Rory Romano, Elliot Scheiner, Kevin Shirley, Steven Tyler
Second engineer: Rory Romano
Mixing: Elliot Scheiner, Kevin Shirley
Mastering: Leon Zervos
Programming: Sander Selover
Horn arrangements: David Campbell, Steven Tyler
String arrangements: David Campbell
Guitar technicians: Jim Survis
Guitar technicians (Additional): Lisa Sharken, Archie Avila
Drum technician: Andy Gilman
Production engineer: David Frangioni
Art direction: Christopher Austopchuk, Gail Marowitz
Photo art direction: Christopher Austopchuk, Gail Marowitz
Photography: F. Scott Schafer
Calligraphy: Jeanne Greco
Stylist: Fiona Williams-Chappel
