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CRACK A SMILE...AND MORE
SONG REVIEWED: "One More For The Bone"
FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE STORY BEHIND THIS MUCH-BOOTLEGGED CD, "CRACK A SMILE" WAS SCHEDULED TO BE RELEASED AROUND 1995 (THE PEAK OF THE ALTERNA-GRUNGE MOVEMENT), BUT WAS PUT ON INDEFINITE HOLD BY CAPITOL RECORDS. POISON HAD GOTTEN RID OF RICHIE KOTZEN (HE WAS PLAYING AROUND WITH RIKKI'S GIRL AT THE TIME...NOT GOOD), AND BROUGHT IN BLUES SARACENO TO FINISH THE "NATIVE TONGUE" TOUR AND TO WRITE ON THIS ALBUM. INCIDENTALLY, SARACENO WAS ORIGINALLY UP FOR THE GUITARIST GIG WHEN C.C. DEVILLE WAS DISMISSED, BUT THEY ULTIMATELY WENT WITH KOTZEN... "CRACK A SMILE" HAD BEEN PRESSED ONTO A FEW THOUSAND PROMOTIONAL DISCS, BUT NEVER RELEASED OFFICIALLY. IT WAS BOOTLEGGED AND DISTRIBUTED ALL OVER THE WORLD (COURTESY OF INTERNET DOWNLOADS AND SALES, PRIMARILY), UNTIL EVENTUALLY THE MUSICAL TIDES IN THE U.S. SHIFTED, POISON RECONCILED IT'S DIFFERENCES WITH CAPITOL (ALTHOUGH THEY WERE ALSO BEING COURTED BY JOHN KALODNER'S PORTRAIT RECORDS), AND WITH C.C. DEVILLE, AND THE RECORD WAS RELEASED IN EARLY 2000... ANYWAY, ON TO THE REVIEW.
UPON FIRST LISTEN TO THIS DISC, YOU REALIZE WHY IT WASN'T RELEASED. THIS IS POISON; AND POISON WAS/IS A HAIR BAND. IF ANYTHING WASN'T SELLING IN 1995, IT WAS A HAIR BAND. "ONE MORE FOR THE BONE" IS AN OUTTAKE TRACK, AND WAS NEVER FEATURED ON THE ORIGINAL BOOTLEG (WE KNOW, WE'VE HAD A COPY FOR 2 YEARS NOW)...AND SHOCKINGLY, ONE OF THE STRONGEST TRACKS ON THE DISC. IT STARTS OFF WITH SOME VERY THICK GUITAR AND DRUMS, AND SOME SIGNATURE NOODLING BY BLUES SARACENO (EVERY TIME POISON ADOPTS A NEW GUITAR PLAYER, THE SONGWRITING TAKES A DRAMATIC SHIFT...MOST NOTICEABLY WITH KOTZEN ON "NATIVE TONGUE")... WHY THIS WAS GOING TO BE AN OUTTAKE AND NOT A SINGLE WILL FOREVER BE A MYSTERY. IT'S A LOT STRONGER THAN A LOT OF THE SONGS ON THE DISC THAT THEY WOULD HAVE RELEASED. IT'S VERY LOW-END HEAVY (DRUMS AND BASS HIT YOU LIKE A STEEL-TOE TO THE BALLS), BUT STILL VERY MELODIC AND HUMMABLE. ALL IN ALL, "CRACK A SMILE" IS A SOLID RELEASE. NOTHING TRAILBLAZING BY ANY MEANS... BUT THEN AGAIN, POISON WAS NEVER TRAILBLAZING... THEY WERE JUST... WELL, POSION.
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