POISON
Seven Days Live DVD
Music Video Distributors 2006
www.poisonweb.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
Debut EP Do you remember when Poison kicked out guitarist C.C. DeVille and replaced him with Ritchie Kotzen? Do you remember when they released Native Tongue later that year? Me neither; but apparently they recorded a live show from London’s Hammersmith Apollo during that tour in 1993, and Seven Days Live is the result of it.

Genre
Hair metal / glam / pop metal / alternative

The Good
The show itself is shot in a documentary style, sans backstage interviews. The majority of it is shot in color, with some artsy back and white shots thrown in here and there. Poison sounds great throughout their fifteen songs set. Ritchie Kotzen injects new life into the band with his tremendous guitar playing. It’s apparent from the first solo that Kotzen is far superior to DeVille. Most notable, a lot less tremolo wails and a lot more technical playing.

The set lays heavy on the Native Tongue material, so if you’re not familiar with it, you probably won’t like it. It was a lot less glam and more alternative. Only one or two of them ever make it to Poison’s ‘hits’ compilations. That’s not to say that songs like “The Scream,” “Body Talk,” and “7 Days Over You” aren’t good, they’re just not what I think of when I think of Poison. “Stand,” which was also from that album, is really the only one that still follows the group. There’s a splattering of their high energy hits that include, “Ride the Wind,” “Fallen Angel,” “Unskinny Bop,” and “Nothin’ But a Good Time.”

The Bad
By relying heavily on Native Tongue material, I just don’t see a lot of interest in this.

The Verdict
I have been a fan of Poison since day one, but even I found it hard to swallow the alternative, ballad-ridden Poison era. I saw it as a ‘sell-out’ attempt by Michael’s to jump on the grunge wave (although his group was not the only one to try this). This show sounds great, but a lot of the material does nothing for me. Kotzen runs circles around DeVille, but it was DeVille’s wackiness and complete lack of guitar knowledge that made him interesting. I prefer the nostalgic Poison, but die-hard fans will enjoy Seven Days Live for sure.

Did You Know?
Adult film star Chloe was the first member of the Poison fan club.

Rating: out of 5

--George Dionne