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It
seems 'trendy' to release an album of obscure covers at the moment and
now it's the turn of Poison to follow the likes of Rush, Ozzy and Def
Leppard with their own collection on this latest release, maybes just a
stop-gap before a possible new original album if they can survive all
those tensions that haunt the band at times.
Not all the chosen songs really work for me on 'Poison'd' as some sound
really weak compared to the originals as with The Cars 'Just What I
Needed', which has an empty, almost half-hearted sound to it, as if it
was just a practice shot before actually laying it down on tape.
Quite disappointing.
Bowie's 'Suffragette City' is given a total makeover with its honky-tonk
piano parts and fiddly guitar solos throughout, all which couldn't be
any further from what the White duke did, but the more listens the song
gets, it does actually grow on you.
It would be interesting to know who actually chose the songs to cover as
the artists such as Jim Croce just seem so out of place for a band like
Poison and I'm surprised that they've actually heard of him!
The one song they do that needed a revamp is the 35 year old Sweet hit
'Little Willie' and the lads have probably done the version Sweet in
hindsight would loved to have done back in 1972, raunchier and with deft
touches on guitar as C.C. DeVille does, and only Poison would end the
songs the way they do!
They almost slip into Country mode on Alice Cooper's 'I Never Cry' with
acoustic, Bret Michaels vocals doing the song justice as he usually does
on the ballads, so it would be harsh of Mr Cooper if he wasn't pleased
with the outcome of his song. The other 'slower' track on the
album 'Can't You See' is THE typical Poison power ballad and is quite
reminiscent of their all-time classic 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn' and if
that was possible, it should be released as a single because they have
no doubt done the original by the Marshall Tucker Band proud.
On the flip side though, what the hell have they done to Kiss's 'Rock N'
Roll All Nite'?!? It was the very first rock record I ever bought
back in the 70's and a classic, but Poison do the song no favours at all
in my eyes, taking it back to their 'Look What The Cat ...' days by the
sound of it, and again has a slightly tinny, empty sound to it, almost
on the verge of a demo tape version. NOT a one for the most ardent
Kiss fan I'm afraid.
The best song on the album is their version of Grand Funk Railroad's
'We're An American Band', with its "beefy" sound in the
drumming and guitar sections which makes them sound like a totally
different band to what we're used to and I'd like to bet they enjoyed
themselves doing the song the way they have.
This album on whole is one that only the die hard Poison fan would be
interested in, so I wouldn't expect this to be a huge seller within the
rock community outside their home country. Sorry Poison fans!!
Review by Bob Baldwin.
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