‘Steven Tyler: Out On A Limb’ Is Crazy, Mixed Up Mess, But Hey, So Is Steven Tyler

From 1972 to 1979, Boston bad boys Aerosmith released some of the greatest and most enduring hard rock albums of the decade, before tragically all dying in a plane crash soon after the release of their final opus, Night In The Ruts. At least that’s what my buddy Woody likes to say as to avoid acknowledging the past 30 or so years of the band’s existence (and no, no one in Aerosmith died in a plane crash). Sure, since “getting sober” and reuniting in 1984, the group has sold millions of records, and are to this day a great live band, but for those of us who grew up on “Toys In The Attic” and “Back In The Saddle,” “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” and “Love in an Elevator” doesn’t cut the mustard.

To their credit, Aerosmith is one of a select few rock band that still contains all its original members, and since their inception has been built around the creative tag team of singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. If the other members of the band see themselves on equal footing, there’s no doubt “The Toxic Twins” – as they were once called due to their prodigious drug intake – are first among equals. For the past 10 years, however, the two have butted heads over tour scheduling, Tyler’s stint as a judge on American Idol, and his recent move to Nashville to cut a solo album. The latter provides the setting for the documentary Steven Tyler: Out on a Limb, which is currently available for streaming on Netflix.

Tyler is not just one of rock n’ roll’s great front men and singers, he’s also one of its great characters. An unabashed hippie and free spirit, he is known to pepper conversations with quotes from his own lyrical songbook. Though he is extremely youthful looking for his 70 years of age, he has come to resemble a cross between Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow – who was of course modelled on rock stars like Tyler – and, with his newfound facial hair, the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit movies.

Part biopic, part concert film, Out on a Limb features performances filmed at Nashville’s storied Ryman Auditorium. The concert was a hometown gig for Tyler, who moved to “Music City, U.S.A.” is 2015, to coincide with the recording of his first solo album, We’re All Somebody from Somewhere, which was released the following year. Much is made of Tyler moving to the home of country music and recording “a country album,” however, this tends to ignore how much rock and country have crossed over in the past 20 years. Country music has far more in common sonically with the classic rock of bands like Aerosmith now than it did back when the Ryman still hosted the Grand Ole Opry, and Nashville has become home to a thriving indie rock scene and an increasing number of past and present rock musicians.

In between live performances, we get the back story of Tyler’s dissatisfaction with the band and his move to Nashville. Director Casey Tebo, who has also created music videos and concert films for Aerosmith, tells us in voiceover narration that he decided to make the film because in all his years working with Aerosmith he’s “never seen him this happy.” Tebo self-deprecatingly refers to himself as an “egomaniac director,” who grew up an Aerosmith fan in Boston before landing his dream job with the band, and describes Tyler as an “awesome, super-famous, crazy uncle.” While his affection for the singer is obviously sincere and touching, inserting himself into the narrative of the film is a distraction, as is an odd detour where Tyler goes for a ride in a jet plane into the upper reaches of the stratosphere.

The live footage features Tyler’s backing group, The Loving Mary Band, which includes Marti Frederiksen, who has worked with Aerosmith since the ’90s as a songwriter and producer. While their forays into acoustic instrumentation tend to oversell the material’s country leanings, the band are adept at aping Aerosmith’s distinctive funky slither on the rockier material and are excellent singers to boot. On stage, Tyler meanders between songs, telling audience members how much he loves them and stories that go nowhere, but when the music starts, it doesn’t matter, he’s as good a performer and vocalist as he ever was.

As a film, Steven Tyler: Out on a Limb is a bit of a mess. It clumsily vacillates between being a concert film, an artist profile, even a travelogue on the city of Nashville, and is unsatisfying on each count.  Certainly, the live footage alone is good enough that you want to see more of it. In an odd way, however, the film’s slapdash nature perfectly fits its subject. Tyler may be flaky, impulsive, sappy and eccentric, but there’s no doubt he’s 100% genuine, and 100% about the music, a message the film convincingly hammers home.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter: @BHSmithNYC.

Where to stream Steven Tyler: Out On A Limb