A Little South of Sanity

A Little South of Sanity is a live album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, released on October 20, 1998, by Geffen Records. The two-disc album features recordings taken while the band was on the Nine Lives Tour, which began in 1997 and was still ongoing at the time of the live album release, and the Get a Grip Tour, which the band was on tour with from 1993 to 1994.

This release was the only Aerosmith album to receive the Parental Advisory sticker, primarily due to lead singer Steven Tyler shouting profanities in between songs and modifying some song lyrics to racier ones, although some other song lyrics had profanity in their original studio versions as well.

Production
Shortly after the band reunited in 1984, they signed a contract to generate six albums for Geffen. Three of these, the studio releases Done With Mirrors, Permanent Vacation, and Pump, were finished before Aerosmith agreed to a contract with Columbia Records in 1991. The contract was not due to take effect until after Aerosmith's obligations to Geffen were fulfilled, but after the 1993 album Get a Grip was released, the band did not record another studio album for the label. Instead, a compilation of their hits from the Geffen era, titled Big Ones, was put together and plans for a live album were conceived as Aerosmith went to Columbia.

Artwork
Filmmaker Patrick Connolly claims that he inspired, and is depicted on, the album cover. As a teenager, Connolly was the gas station attendant for Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer when Kramer's Ferrari caught fire while refueling. At the time of the incident and for a time after, Joey Kramer was convinced that the fire was Patrick Connolly's fault. Connolly maintains that the album's cover, released in October 1998, features an image of a gas attendant who bears a resemblance to a teenage Connolly. He is convinced that the album cover artwork was intended to mockingly blame him for the July 15, 1998 incident. The fire was later found to be caused by a defective fuel line in the vehicle's gas tank.

Live sources
There are no official listings to support where or when each performance was culled from; the CD booklet only mentions they were recorded during the Get a Grip and Nine Lives world tours. However, the recordings of "Love in an Elevator", "Same Old Song and Dance", and "Sweet Emotion" each have Tyler calling out to the live crowd, revealing where they were recorded. The first song has him mentioning the crowd in State College, Pennsylvania, the second a crowd in West Palm Beach, Florida, and the third a crowd in Seattle, Washington.

Personnel

 * Steven Tyler – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion
 * Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals, talkbox on "Sweet Emotion", pedal steel guitar on "Rag Doll", lead vocals on "Walk on Down"
 * Brad Whitford – guitar
 * Tom Hamilton – bass
 * Joey Kramer – drums
 * Additional musicians
 * Russ Irwin – keyboards, backing vocals
 * Thom Gimbel – keyboards, backing vocals

Production

 * Engineer: Jay Messina
 * Assistant engineers: Lawrence Manchester, John Wydrycs
 * Mixing: Jack Douglas
 * Mastering: Greg Calbi
 * Monitor engineer: Mike Sprague
 * Director: Jim Chapman
 * Photography: Moshe Brakha
 * Lighting design: Jim Chapman
 * Clothing/wardrobe: Sherry Willshire