As artists began to release albums that featured their own renditions of songs they found favor upon as Influence, aimed at generating Feedback or that just made them say Yeah how far behind could we have expected Poison to be with their own version. The ever-growing trend has been largely well-received and this appears to be the next logical step from symphony orchestra recordings or unplugged releases. The guys in Poison were rulers of the Glam or Hair Metal realm back in the day and their brand of covers presents us with bands that they liked and also found personal musical guidance from – I admit that while I enjoyed some of this I was also let down a little based on a couple of factors. The choice of songs seems sound as they choose a number from The Sweet and David Bowie, who was in his Ziggy Stardust role for the selected tune. At first I was rough on The Sweet cover since I hold the band in such high esteem but by the second listen this was just a fun track that mixed it up a little ala Poison, and the same applies for the Bowie track. Poison succeeds tremendously on the ballad tracks like Alice Coopers "I Never Cry" and the Marshall Tucker Band's "Cant You See" as they are perfect for the style they worked so well into their own "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" and "Something To Believe In". The Tom Petty and Romantics numbers are quirky 80's Rock standards that are executed well but lost me a little in the vocals because the originals are so unique. While I like Brett's voice, there are few who sound like Tom Petty and it's that tone that you find missing that makes this only an ok track to include. I felt the band faltered on "Dead Flowers" and "Just What I Needed" because they just didn't have the necessary kick for them to work. The Stones had covered themselves quite nicely on "Stripped" where the tune received a Country Western twang. The Cars track dropped the whole intro that sets the song up and this was a grievous omission in my book. As an added disappointment they chose to include five numbers that we already had at hand from other albums so we get reminded of the dreadful way they did "Rock And Roll All Nite" and "Squeeze Box". Given my being an old school KISS and The Who fan I am very critical of any versions of their material. They did ok with "Mama Don't Dance" as this was a massive hit for them, and the "American Band" track was acceptable. Yet given this being a new release I would have felt that all new material should have been presented to the fans that did not need duplicate versions of these tracks.
It's an entertaining listen from a band that still has a hard core fan base some two decades after they first began and from the looks of it shows no real sign of stopping.
Track Listing
1. Little Willy (The Sweet)
2. Suffragette City (David Bowie)
3. I Never Cry (Alice Cooper)
4. I Need to Know (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
5. Can't You See (Marshall Tucker Band)
6. What I Like About You (The Romantics)
7. Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones)
8. Just What I Needed (The Cars)
9. Rock and Roll All Nite (KISS)
10. Squeeze Box (The Who)
11. You Don't Mess Around With Jim (Jim Croce)
12. Your Mama Don't Dance (Loggins & Messina)
13. We're An American Band (Grand Funk Railroad)
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