Album Reviews
View "Every Rose," recorded before the big switch, was beautiful enough to top the pop charts for three weeks. But on Flesh & Blood, inflated full of stale air by producer Bruce Fairbairn, Poison lets pop fall by the wayside. Sick of being voted Worst Band in every metal-mag poll, Poison now wants to rock, goddamnit. Whatever bite the group once boasted, however, is dribbling down the storm drain.
Flesh & Blood is the Poison CD for suckers who think Pump was good Aero-smith. Fairbairn made Pump and the even piddlier Permanent Vacation squish like slush. The guy's got no use for rhythm sections, and his aesthetic hearkens closer to Days of Future Passed than to Toys in the Attic. With Bon Jovi, whose Meat Loaf leanings depend on a certain romantic uplift, this sort of pomp can be a plus. But for concise 4/4 hook-and-riff bands, it's death.
The sorry state of Poison's third outing can't be blamed entirely on Fairbairn, though. The loss of heart and humor is just as depressing. C.C. DeVille's six-string solos are detached from the melodies; singer Bret Michaels's bedside bravado has grown perfunctory and generic. And where does hogwash like "Ride the wind/Never coming back again/Until I touch the midnight sun" come from – too much marijuana, old Kansas records, health-food-eating groupies, maybe? Say it ain't so!
In Flesh & Blood's best fast song, a doofus Doobies-circa-1972 boogie called "Let It Play," rock & roll helps Michaels forget his crummy car and bitching boss; in the best slow tune, a dippy Elton-circa-1972 piano blues called "Something to Believe In," Michaels makes his protest move. (He figures out that people died in Vietnam and that homelessness is bad!) These tunes aren't half as transcendent as "Every Rose" or "I Won't Forget You" or "Talk Dirty to Me," but they'll sound fine on the FM when their time comes. The rest of Flesh & Blood might very well make me change the station. For Poison, that'll be a first.
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Review 1 of 2
No Screen Name writes:
"Flesh and Blood" is indeed a far outcry from the glamy party
tunes of the first two albums but it is indeed on of Poison's
best. It takes a more serious turn than "Look What The Cat
Dragged In" and "Open Up And Say...Ahhhhh" but at the time
it was written and produced, glam metal was on a one way
train to music history. So what if Bret, Bobby, Rikki, and C.C.
traded in the lipstick and spandex they still knew how to
reach deep into our souls and let us know how they felt. The
two songs that have the most feel on the album are the power
ballads "Something To Belive In" and "Life Goes On". The
songs tell storys that almost anyone can relate to and make
you think about your own life. C.C. does a fantastic job in
"Life Goes On" with his solo. When you listen to it, as long as
you appreciate music, it gives you chills because you can fell
the pain of the song. Party tunes arn't far off but they still
have a serious tone. So before you slam Poison for the make-
up and big hair listen to this album as well as their first two
and you can see the band matured.
Josh Terry
Oct 18, 2007 07:12:16
Review 2 of 2
No Screen Name writes:
Flesh & Blood marked Poison's return to mainstream after having massive success with "Open Up and Say Ahh." The year was 1990, and this album shot straight to the top with singles like, "Unskinny Bop, Ride the Wind, Life Goes On, and Something to Believe in." However you choose to classify it, "Hair Metal, Glam Rock, Rock & Roll" this album was one of the best to come from that period. It's amazing to look back on that period and think that within a year and a half the music scene would completely be overtaken by the new, "Seattle Sound." Poison takes a lot of heat from critics, and fans that might not have grown up in the eighties, but songs like, "Let it Play", and, "Life Loves a Tragedy" are worth a listen. I'm sure most of middle America has heard the main singles, but the album really works as a whole. Instead of picking up a Greatest Hits album, you should really give this one a try. I think you'd be surprised by it. This album has just been re-released and remastered (2006).
Aug 11, 2006 22:05:55
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