POISON
Capitol Records Remasters
Capitol Records 2006
www.poisonweb.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
To celebrate the glam rockers 20 years in music, Capitol Records heads back into the vault to remaster Look What the Cat Dragged In, Open Up and Say…Ahh, and Flesh and Blood; complete with bonus tracks.

Genre
Glam / pop-metal

The Good
Look What the Cat Dragged In (as well as the other releases) sounds a lot more crisp and clean as I remember it, but still shows how the group was honing their sound. That’s not a bad thing, but Poison really blows the roof off these songs today. Sometime you forget that songs like “Cry Tough,” “I Want Action,” “Talk Dirty to Me,” and “I Won’t Forget You” were from their debut album (and that it was 20 years ago!). The bonus track included are 7” inch mixes of “I Want Action” and “Cry Tough,” as well as an unreleased cut “Don’t Mess Around with Jim.”

Open Up and Say…Ahh is where Poison really made their mark. Oddly enough this release didn’t spawn as many hits as their debut, but it does contain their most successful track ever “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.” In addition to that, MTV favorites “Nothin’ But a Good Time,” “Fallen Angel,” and “Your Momma Don’t Dance” will refresh the memories of your youth. Another notable change is the inclusion of the original album cover. Honestly, it’s quite tame even for back then. I even discovered a few long-lost album tracks that were just as good as the singles (“Back to the Rocking Horse,” “Tearin’ Down the Walls”). Bonus tracks include one song “Livin’ for the Minute” and a 10 minute interview that involves the band talking about themselves and the album (from back then).

Anyone that loved Poison’s first two albums kind of got a bad taste in their mouth with the release of Flesh and Blood. Once again, not because it was bad, but it was because Poison was starting to drift away from their over-the-top pop-metal sound, to a more gritty and bluesy sound. The most memorable rocking track from this album would be “Unskinny Bop,” but for the most part, the other hit singles were ballads or borderline ones (“Life Goes On,” “Ride the Wind,” “Something to Believe In”). Bonus tracks include and acoustic version of “Something to Believe In” and an unreleased instrumental demo of “God Save the Queen.”

The Bad
Doesn’t make much sense on the part of Poison and Capitol to remaster and release these albums within months of releasing an 18 track greatest hits package. Who wants these three albums when you can just have the best songs all on one CD? For the bonus tracks maybe? I doubt it. None of the bonus tracks are anything special. Who the hell cares about 7” mixes and an interview? How many times are you going to listen to that? Sure there are a couple of unreleased tracks, but take it from a Poison fan, you can live without them.

The Verdict
Nice to hear the sound updated, kind-of neat to hear the unreleased stuff, but your better off picking up The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock. It has all of the hits and none of the filler (well, except for the new cover songs).

Did You Know?
Poison were originally known as Paris.

Rating: out of 5

Related Reviews:
Poison - The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock
Poison - Seven Days Live DVD

--George Dionne