Ah, Poison. The band that everyone loves to hate, and the band that were blamed for the death of melodic rock and the birth of grunge. Of course, we all know now that that the death of rock was premature and today there are some killer rock bands still releasing great music. One thing that people forget about Poison is that they sure know how to write a catchy, memorable tune. Plus, CC Deville has some serious chops.
This is album number three for them. They changed their style slightly to get away from that bubblegum rock tag and tried to write in a more “serious” way. Produced by Bruce Fairbairn, who has the touch of gold for this type of band, and the album duly went triple platinum. Ironically, the songs with the most impact were Unskinny Bop and Something To Believe In – the songs that were more bubblegum pop than the rest of the album.
There are lots of little references to old blues here, mainly due to little intros like on Ball And Chain that either are pure genius or designed deliberately to make them seem a more serious band. Either way, I think they are cool and add colour to the album. My favourite track however is opener Strange Days Of Uncle Jack, a definite step away from the norm that proves the band can rock hard with the best of them.
Let’s face it, Poison write tunes that make people happy, and what’s wrong with that?
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
