Review by Brian McLean
Mention glam in the same sentence as 1980’s rock and one band immediately comes to mind: Poison, who busted onto the national scene in the summer of 1986 with the help of their jacked up hair, lip stick, mascara and of course their videos on MTV for the debut Look What the Cat Dragged In album on Enigma Records which was eventually picked up by Capitol Records.
With nonstop touring for the album that summer and through the following year, Poison went from playing small clubs to taking the stage at the Texxas Jam in the summer of 1987 where they shared billing with Boston, Aerosmith, Whitesnake and Tesla.
Now 20-years later, the ultimate Poison collection titled Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock released through Capitol Record has been complied on one disc featuring 18-tracks from the band’s career.
All the Poison gems are included and the fan whether hiding in the closet or not will be pulling out the spandex to tracks from Look What the Cat Dragged In, Open Up and Say Ah, Flesh and Blood as well as Native Tongue, which saw Poison taking a slightly different direction, Power to the People, and the more recently released Hollyweird.
As expected, the majority of the songs come from the first three releases making up 13 of the songs listed, the others come from the Less than Zero soundtrack or the other releases that followed their Flesh and Blood album.
The one bonus song on the disc will be an exclusive recording of Grand Funk’s “We’re an American Band” which is seeing the light of day on this greatest hits collection.
As silly as it is in today’s world, the glam days were a truly a unique time and to appreciate what the era was like, one had to be in it. The second best way to experience the time would be this compilation of classic glam gems created by a four-piece band that originated in Pennsylvania and then relocated to the sleazy streets of Hollywood to find their fame and fortune, which they did.