That the first new Poison studio album in the last five years should be a collection of covers does not, perhaps, suggest a band at the height of its creative powers. As such things go, however, this is pretty good. Only eight of the 13 tracks are newly recorded, but their 1987 version of Kiss classic Rock & Roll All Nite (originally released on the soundtrack of the flop movie Less Than Zero) is a welcome addition nonetheless.
As with most albums of this type, its success depends on the matching of the band’s style to the songs they tackle, and Poison play it relatively safe, sticking with the glam/classic rock and pop idiom. This isn’t a criticism, though. They do this stuff well, and the highlights here (including an excellent version of the Stones’ Dead Flowers and a rocking Suffragette City) have the swaggering charm of Poison’s best work. Perhaps most importantly, the whole album has the youthful ebullience that was always Poison’s trademark – no mean feat after twenty years in the business!
