Poison "Crack a Smile... and more!" Capitol 2000

Originally scheduled for release in 1995, instead Capitol dropped Poison and shelved the record.
Still, the album got leaked and it's been traded ever since. Capitol decided they might as well
release it since it wouldn't cost them anything and they could cash in a little bit.
Blues Saraceno is present, giving the band better guitar playing than they ever had under CC --
not the technical shredding of his solo albums, though, just great playing. 
Aside from the truly horrible version of "Cover of a Rolling Stone", this is pretty good for
Poison. Normally they dish up a couple of hits on each album and stuff the rest with filler,
but this is a bit more consistent -- although perhaps it doesn't have anything with the hit
potential of "Fallen Angel" or "Unskinny Bop". 
For some reason Brett decided to sing with a country twang on this album. It's a bit mysterious
why anyone would try to sound more like a hillbilly, but with repeated listens you stop noticing.
Equally heinous are the monstrously unfunny attempts at comedy between the songs. Fortunately,
the songs are alright, particularly opener "Best Thing You Ever Had" and "Baby Gets Around A 
Bit". There's "Mr. Smiley", which has an almost Extreme-type funk rock approach, and a lot of
fairly typical "Poisonous" stuff. The songs are lessed riff-based than the earlier material;
it is to some extent '90s influenced, complete with loose production. 
There's a lot of bonus material, including the strong B-side "One More for the Bone", and
four songs from Poison's truly horrific attempt at MTV unplugged. Now THAT'S comedy, boys.

Poison fans only, but if you have ever liked Poison, this is one of their strongest efforts.

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