Customer Reviews

Open Up & Say Ahhh

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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?

After their multi-platinum debut, Poison took an even tighter grip on their 80's fame with Open Up and Say Ahh...

Featuring the Bands most successful hit of all time "Every Rose Has It's Thorn", this CD rounds out its place in Hair-Band history with "Fallen Angel" and Nothin' But a Good Time". I believe this is their best work to date...

~Shadow~

people think they're really cool if they hate bands like poison and motley crue but the truth is all the heavy metal bands of the 80's had something better than these new bands, TALENT! they were more than terrible drums that hardly even follow along with the music, more than some lame guitarriff that any three year old could play no problem,and more than just some horrible out of key singer screaming ditzy lyrics. this album is what rock was supposed to be, Fun! imagine that. some great trax on this album.

love on the rocks 8 out of 10 points nuthin but a good time 9.5 back to the rockin horse 7.5 good love 8 tearin down the walls 9.5 look but you can't touch 8 fallen angel 9 every rose has it's thorn 10 (great song!) mama don't dance 8 bad to be good 9

very good, if you like good old rock get it!

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.

This is not brain surgery! They were looking for "nothing but a good time" and they wanted you to have fun with them. Once you go past the makeup and silly clothing, you get a party record. Is that not what rock n roll music was to be? You have two camps of rockers "I want a woman, so lets go party!" and "I want to change the world with my music." We all know which one of these are Poison! I think it is time to bring back the original album cover guys.

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?

Poison was undoubltedly one of the most happenning rock acts in late 80's. Their debut album, "look what the cat dragged in", was an impressive start, but with their next album, i.e , "open up and say aah", their level of music matured. The single, "Every rose has it's thorn is one of the most touching rock ballad's I've ever heard. "Fallen Angel", is another good number.

Surely worth a buy !!

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!".

Now that we are finally starting to see the sights and hear the sounds of glam rock and pop metal finally begging to break through again after 8 horrible years, it fair to say that Poison may again be a center piece of this re-revolution in music. Sure the return of pop metal will need more than just rock fans to follow it. We need the mainstream audience to take a look back when times were good and music was fun as well. Poison embodied the era of glam rock and pop metal better than perhaps anyone but Bon Jovi and this album is deserving of the over 8 million it sold. The music isn't exactly deep on anything but the torn "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (which may be the definitive power ballad) and C.C. Deville may not tear up the fret board like Eddie Van Halen. But Poison accomplishes one thing that all 90's grundgy and thrash metallers cannot. They right sweet hooks, look good, have a sense of melody and gained mainstream popularity with more than just loyal metal heads. Songs like "Fallen Angel" and "Look But Don't Touch" are blistering and energized and are trully excellent songs. The cover of "Your Mamma Don't Dance" seems to follow the same path as Motley Crue's "Smokin In The Boys Room" and both songs are more memorable and better than the originals. The classic "Nothin But A Good Time" more or less sums up the life and times of the 80's and its one of those great signature hits like "Jump", "Livin' On A Prayer" or "Pour Some Sugar On Me"

Poison is a rock ensemble that picks up the essential sounds of the great rock bands of the early seventies (Crazy Elephants, Free, and some twists of Ten Years After) in this fabulous compilation of well made songs.

There's much adrenaline in this album of visible commercial tunes but with effective sounds that results worthy to listen and acquire.