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Native Tongue comes alive!

Some of you may nit be old enough to remember when Poison emerged from the LA glam scene over twenty years ago. But even if you have never heard their music or seen them in convert, the odds are you are familiar with frontman, Bret Michaels, and his TV show Rock of Love.

The look of the band has changed over the years, but their sound is relatively distinctive. Something else that has changed over the years has been the lead guitar position: first held (from the inception of their recording contract) by C.C. DeVille, an outgoing personality with a strange voice and a big sense of humor. He was replaced by Richie Kotzen, some would say a more serious and technically proficient guitarist. Kotzen would only perform on one studio album, Native Tongue, before being replaced by Blues Saraceno after Kotzen basically stole the fiancée of bandmate Rikki Rockett (drums) away from (later marrying then divorcing her) him and was subsequently fired. Blues made it through the recording of a Greatest Hits album and an album that didn’t see the light of day for nearly a decade before it was finally released with some additional songs by returning guitarist, DeVille as Crack A Smile… and More.

But enough with the history lessons of Poison. They have now released what could be considered their 2nd live album (possibly their third, by some) entitled Seven Days Live from their Native Tongue tour. This 11 track CD comes from the 1993 concert at the Hammersmith Apollo (formerly the Hammersmith Odeon), featuring Kotzen on lead, Michaels on vocals, harmonica & guitars, Rockett & Bobby Dall on bass & piano. The concert was originally released on video tape in ‘93 as Poison Live in Concert and on DVD in 2006 with a different cover than the image that now graces the cover of the CD.

The CD starts three songs into the concert with the popular “Ride The Wind” and is immediately followed by the ballad “Something To Believe In,” which is the sixth song found on the 15 track DVD released in 2008 under the same name, Seven Days Live. The track listing stays consistent with “Stand,” “Fallen Angel,” “Look What The Cat Dragged in,” which goes into Rockett’s drum solo, and “Until You Suffer Some (Fire & Ice).”

From there, the DVD plays the performance of “7 Days Over You” which is absent from the CD. The track listing becomes identical once more, after that, with “Unskinny Bop,”  “Talk Dirty To Me,” “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and the finalé of “Nothin’ But A Good Time.”

I’m not quite sure why the album has the name that it does since the tour was longer than 7 days, overall, but to my knowledge they didn’t stay in England for a week on tour. Maybe it has something to do with the song “7 Days Over You.”

Regardless of the confusing titles and release dates, Seven Days Live is out and ready to be cranked up for some fun, rocking classics from the former glam band. The boys from Pennsylvania who went to LA to make their dreams come true have supplied the music world with some entertaining music, stories and shows. This is Poison, live and at the top of their game.

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