Album Reviews - P

Poison – Native Tongue (1993 Capitol Records)
PoisonWeb.com

1. Native Tongue
2. The Scream
3. Stand
4. Stay Alive
5. Until You Suffer Some (Fire And Ice)
6. Body Talk
7. Bring It Home
8. 7 Days Over You
9. Richie's Acoustic Thang
10. Ain't That The Truth
11. Theatre Of The Soul
12. Strike Up The Band
13. Ride Child Ride
14. Blind Faith
15. Bastard Son Of A Thousand Blues

Derek's Review
This is Poison's weirdest effort. Yes, weirder than Hollyweird. Let me set the time table for you. Poison is coming off one of their greatest records, Flesh And Blood (ignoring the few studio songs off their live album Swallow This Live), and C.C. (lead guitarist) has since departed. In comes Richie Kotzen. Also, this was released in 1993. Hair metal was no longer cool, and Poison is the personification of a hair metal band in the flesh.

"Native Tongue" opens the album and really is kind of a stupid intro as it really does nothing. Just a drum beat a la "Eat The Rich" (Aerosmith), but not nearly as effective. This goes into "The Scream," thus setting up the pattern that for every high on this album ("Stand," "Until You Suffer Some (Fire and Ice)," "7 Days Over You"), there are experiments that should never have been ("Bastard Son Of A Thousand Blues," "Strike Up The Band," "Ain't That The Truth"). One thing that is wrong with this album is that there are fifteen songs on it, which is way too many. Cut the filler and this album goes up by 2 guitars. "Stand" is a great song and one of Poison's best. It's just a bluesy song with a great chorus, and it's catchy as hell, which is hard to say with most of the songs on this album.

I can understand a band wanting to experiment, and Poison has some interesting moments on the disc. But for every success, there is a failure. Kotzen is a competent guitarist, but doesn't nearly provide the fire and chemistry that C.C. does.

Derek's Picks: Stand, Until You Suffer Some (Fire And Ice), 7 Days Over You

Derek's Rating