On EMI/Capitol
Critics said they wouldn’t last and their peers deemed them a musical joke, but love’em or loathe’em Poison are still rockin’ out venues and bringing good time rock n’ roll to the masses.
Originally released in 1986, ‘Look What The Cat Dragged In’ was dismissed as amateurish pabulum, but over the years it has become the seminal L.A. glam-rock album of all time featuring classics such as: ‘I Want Action’ and ‘Talk Dirty To Me’. The newly remastered version features a crisp sound as well as three bonus tracks – the 7” version of ‘I Want Action’ and ‘I Won’t Forget You’ plus the previously unreleased ‘Don’t Mess Around With Jim’ (a song properly left off the original release, but a fun added value now).
Two years and two thumbs down from critics later, Poison unleashed Open Up And Say... Ahh! to the people and racked up their biggest hit single to date with ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’. The album would also include many songs that became synonymous with the L.A. ‘80s hard-rock scene such as: ‘Fallen Angel’, ‘Nothin’ But A Good Time’ and the Loggins/Messina cover ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’. The remaster offers the straight ahead rocker ‘Living For The Minute’ (originally the Japanese only bonus track) and a radio ad styled interview as extras.
The year 1990 was marked with the release of Flesh & Blood a somewhat disjointed affair as demons within the band took over. Still, the band managed a few hits with ‘Unskinny Bop’, ‘Ride The Wind’ and ‘Something To Believe In’, but unlike the first two landmark releases Flesh & Blood was a take it or leave it album with a ton of filler. This updated version offers the alt-lyric and acoustic ‘Something To Believe In’ and ‘God Save The Queen’ (minus vocals) as bonus tracks (cute, but not essential).
****1/2, ****, ***
