Poison Album: “Open Up and Say...Ahh!”

After doing a more or less straight cover of KISS's "Rock And Roll All Nite" for the Less Than Zero soundtrack, the bad boys of Poison released their second album, Open Up And Say Ahh!, which got into a bit of a controversy because of the album cover. So what's the big deal about a scraggly haired demonic green-eyed woman with a long tongue sticking out? Apparently a lot to the censorship folks. The edited album cover was a narrow strip that merely showed the eyes and orange slightly below and above. Fortunately, I manged to snag the unedited cover.

"Love On The Rocks" recalls Motley Crue and Cinderella, only not as hard as those two groups, but a good enough dose of rock and roll and swaggering bedroom antics. Another track Diamond Dave would be proud of.

"Nothin' But A Good Time" was a good choice for the first single although not as rowdy as the first single from their debut. The theme of blowing one's hard-earned money for a good time to compensate for an unsatisfying job is shown clearly here. The part before the final chorus run-through is a favorite. After CC's solo, comes the rhythmic thumping of the drums in measured time.

Going "Back To The Rocking Horse" seems like a good idea to me. After a brief been-there, done-that explanation, the narrator longs not only for a simpler time but to start all over again. Gosh, the things I'd do if I had the chance, and the world had better look out! A worthy rocker.

A bluesy harmonica and beats owing nods to to "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way" is displayed on "Good Love," which is to the girl of the song what petrol is to a car. The lifestyle led by the couple in this leads neighbours saying "the things you're doing ain't natural, boy."

The naughtiest and hardest rocking non-single track here is "Look But You Can't Touch" about his trying to seduce a young thing who later doesn't seem quite as innocent as all that. When he sings "I didn't plan on spending money just to get a piece of mind", he emphasizes the word "mind", making me think, "Yeah, as opposed to something rhyming with mass." The guitar squeals in time when he sings that he gets slapped in face for making an illegal move.

"Fallen Angel", the second single, is about a small-town girl whose dreams of show business includes a life in the fast lane, "rolling the dice of her life."

A heartfelt sigh opens the heartbreaking "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", their first #1 song and a mature ballad looking back at a blown chance to make or break a relationship. After words like "like the knife that cuts you/the wound heals, but the scar, that scar remains," I thought, "And these guys did 'Talk Dirty To Me' two years ago?" This really set the standard for their other great ballad, Flesh & Blood's "Something To Believe In"

Then comes a cover of Loggins and Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance," which is good old fashioned rock and roll from the 70's. By the time this single came out, hard on the heels of the previous one, the album had run its course, hence its failing to make the Top Ten.

Things get slower, the sound lacking the ferocity of Look What The Cat Dragged In, which results in a few filler tracks, compensated for by "Every Rose..." but Bret Michael's swaggering bad-boy, play all night with beautiful women tone, is still here. Worthy followup to their debut. And when is EMI going to reissue that original cover for everyone?

Definetly One of my all times favorite Bands, POISON rocked the 80's, the 90's, and as a few good bands of those "Long Hair Golden Years", they still rocking these days!!!

This is one of the albums that made me a big Poison fan for life!, every single song on this Album is a Rock n' Roll Party anthem, and for me (as for many people) those songs became for sure, part of my "Life Soundtrack".....

May be the best Poison Cd, it has energy and fun, trademarks of Poison's songlyrics, glam/hard rock music and wildlife style, that why it became the album of the summer of '88, starting from the "Love on the Rocks" opening with a cool riff of CC DeVille to the "Bad to be good" where Boby Dall played bass on a 70's street style, playing this CD is a purely "Nothing but a good time" that with a high volume can "Tearing down the walls", with one of the best rock and roll ballad of the 80's "Every Rose has it's thorn" making you remember a long forgotten "Good love" on a "Fallen Angel" that you can only "Look but you can 't touch" and made you wish going "Back to the Rocking horse", so if your "Mama don't dance" and you Daddy don't rock and roll, surely this Cd will make them go to dancing & rocking! This is a MUST for every music collector or is you are looking for good times this is the CD you must pick up!

I hope Capitol will release soon this CD remastered and adding the 2 B-sides: "Living for the minute" & "Gotta face the Hangman" for the recording sessions of this album, also as cool value add the full MTV Accoustic with the 6 songs recorded (good love, let it play -these 2 unreleased- talk dirty, unskinny bop, Every rose and Your mama don't dance, there is enough room on the 80 minutes that a CD can hold- surely will be a hit!!!! Taking advantage of the 20 years of Poison's celebration and that they will be on tour this summer.

I would have to say that Poison is the best hard rock group of their time and their type. I also really like the inflection, or you could also say the character, that they put into all their songs. One of their songs, which I would have to say is their best, that I just love is "Nothin but a Good Time". That is really one of my most favorite songs I have ever heard. How Can I Resist?

Any long time Poison fan may have seen or even own a copy of this album with the original cover. The face depicted, not just eyes but an entire face, had a l-o-n-g tongue sticking out. Some people found the cover offensive so the cover was changed to black with just the eyes showing of the original picture. Oh well, that's rock and roll. This album is even better than "Look What The Cat Dragged In" in some ways. The music is still pure fun, but I think overall the songs were better, or perhaps a little less juvenile than their first effort. It's hard to put your finger on, but there's definitely a progression there. It was also a big boost for the band that the "power ballad" "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" did so well, both on the radio and on video. If you liked their first album you'll like the second. If you were a little unsure of their first album you may still like this one. If you're just unsure in general about this band and want an overview only, by all means pick up their "Greatest Hits". Whatever you do, don't let you collection be without a little Poison! As for other albums you may like if you like this band, well, starting in 1998 and moving forward into early this year there has been a phenomenal amount of activity within bands of this genre. I started cross referencing and came up with some great news! I am happy to report that Sebastian Bach (former Skid Row vocalist) has released his first solo album, and to date it is one I personally would rate as a five star album. Lizzy Borden's last release was 1995, Poison's and Quiet Riot's were 1996 so don't count them out yet. As for the rest...prepare to be surprised. The rest of these bands have new or re-released titles between 1998 and early 1999. AC/DC, Accept, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Bang Tango, Baton Rouge, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Danger Danger, Dangerous Toys, Def Leppard, Dokken, FireHouse, Great White, Guns 'N Roses, Heavens Edge, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Kane Roberts, Kiss, Kix, L.A. Guns, Metallica, Motley Crue, Mr. Big, Ozzy Osbourne, Ratt, Saigon Kick, Scorpions, Slaughter, Sleeze Beez, Steelheart, Twisted Sister, Tyketto, Van Halen, Warrant and Whitesnake. You can start right here with this album, Poison's "Open Up And Say Ahh!".