By Stephen Kasenda
POISON “Open Up And Say…Ahh” (1988)
Poison did well with their debut, "Look What The Cat Dragged In" in 1986, and they successfully spread the venom with their follow-up, "Open Up and Say.. Ahh". The sophomore record spawned four hit singles, including the well-known acoustical piece "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". They stripped the heavy metal element from the debut and put a more stadium-oriented hard rock and commercial touch to the songs. The result is beyond any devil's expectation, racking up 10 million sales worldwide and boosting their name to become a big contender alongside Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses.
While many claims that this is their best album, I hardly agree as I think Poison reached their peak later with "Flesh & Blood". Sure this has a lot of strong and classic tracks, but with some decent songs such as "Love On The Rocks", the Def Leppard-rip off "Tearin' Down The Walls", and the worst filler, "Bad To Be Good", this album suffered from songwriting inconsistency. My fave picks of the album are "Nothin' But A Good Time", a fiery party starter, the stripper's anthem "Look But You Can't Touch", the body-shaking Loggins and Messina cover of "Your Mama Don't Dance", and the painful ballad of "Every Rose". But the top of the mountain is undoubtedly the fame-and-fortune journey of "Fallen Angel".
The production is raw and thin. The volume level is very low. I haven't got the re-mastered version yet but I hope they've resolved this issue. "Open Up And Say.. Ahh" is still a very good release with lots of fun and excitement. With this album, Poison taught you how to live life and party hard. As long as you don't drive drunk, kill somebody, and blow up your liver, that's quite a harmless lesson to learn.
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