Vinyl Collection - Poison Native Tongue

My journey as a Poison fan began on a community park basketball court in 1990 the summer before I started seventh grade.  I had met up with two of my school classmates and good friends, Nate and Mark, to shoot some hoops and hang out before we had to start our first year in the public middle school system.  Mark brought along a boombox (remember those?) and a tape that contained Poison's Flesh and Blood album.  Nate brought a copy of AC/DC's The Razor's Edge.  It was my intro to AC/DC as well, but we will discuss that another time.  Listening to both of those albums opened up a new world to me and I have been huge fans of both bands ever since.

I made a copy of the Poison tape and listened to it constantly.  My favorite tunes quickly became "Ride the Wind", "Life Loves a Tragedy", and "Come Hell or High Water".  Seventh grade me couldn't believe they swore in that later song.  You see, before entering a brand new world of hard rock, I was listening to The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Milli Vanilli, The New Kids on the Block (I admit it), Madonna, and Bon Jovi.  Up to that point, the most controversial thing I had heard was the beginning of the song "Social Disease" by Bon Jovi where we swore she said penis!!! Flesh and Blood instantly became cool to me.  A year later, Guns and Roses would blow my mind with "Get in the Ring", but we can talk about that later as well.

I received an all in one stereo system for Christmas that year and it had a CD player on it.  That opened up a whole new world.  I saved up $30 and wentto the local Musicland store at the mall and looked through hundreds of great titles on CD.  Back then CDs were about $15 a pop, so I had enough money to get two if I could find the right ones.  The first two CDs I ever bought were Mariah Carey Emotions (see above musical tastes at this time) and Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In.

Fast forward to hearing the news in 1992 that CC Deville, Poison's lead guitarist, was no longer in the band, and I was crushed.  One of my favorite bands was breaking up and I just started getting into them.  Imagine the surprise when I heard that Poison not only was continuing as a band, but got a new guitar player and was releasing a brand new album, Native Tongue.  I was ecstatic.  I remember when the first single, "Stand", came out on the radio.  At first, I wasn't sure what to think of it.  It was so different from the Poison of Look What the Cat Dragged In, Open Up and Say Ahhh, and Flesh and Blood.  It quickly grew on me and I went out and bought the single on cassette tape.  Then the album finally dropped and I saved my money so that I could buy the CD.

I sat at home in my bedroom and took it all in.  What I was hearing blew my mind.  Here was Bret Michaels, sounding like Bret Michaels, but the guitars... they were amazing.  They sounded

Until You Suffer Some
(Fire and Ice)
Single

complex, and bluesy.  The solos were scorching, but every note seemed mapped out and fit the song.  I was enthralled with the new sound and songs found on Native Tongue.  There were glimpses of the Bret Michaels style in songs like "Theater of My Soul", "Blind Faith" and "Ride Child Ride", but then you had guitar driven songs like "Body Talk", "7 Days Over You", and my personal favorite "Until You Suffer Some (Fire and Ice)".  This new Poison was hitting all my buttons and I fell in love with the lineup.  (CC who?)

In 1993, Poison hit the road with Damn Yankees, and Firehouse. I hadn't been to a concert since I was ten, and somehow I convinced my parents that I should be allowed to go see this show.  What a show it was!  The energy Poison put out on the stage was unreal and this show ranks up there with one of my all time favorite concerts I have been too.  The two opening acts were awesome as well, so that helped make this one a top billing.  Richie Kotzen quickly became my favorite guitar player.  It should be noted that I had started playing guitar in 1990 and fixated on guitar players at the time, so it came as a huge blow to me when in late 1993 Kotzen was fired for having an affair with drummer Rikki Rockett's fiancee.  It wouldn't be until 1996 that any new Poison material would be released (two songs with Blues Saraceno on guitar), and in 1999 I was able to get a bootleg copy of the Crack a Smile album featuring Saraceno on guitar.  But to me, nothing would ever compare to the brilliance of Native Tongue for Poison again.

CC rejoined the band in 1999, and I have been fortunate enough to see them in concert three times since then (including the 1999 reunion tour for the Power to the People album).  Poison always puts on a good show, even when CC decides not to play his solos correctly and instead ad-libs new ones.  Still, none of them over take the show in 93 with Kotzen on guitar.

My Venezuelan pressing of Native Tongue

When I started collecting my music on vinyl again, one of my most sought after albums was Native Tongue.  Sadly, it is not that easy to come across at a price I want to pay.  Most copies are found overseas, and when you do find one here in the states they typically cost $50-100.  Imagine the joy I felt when I found a copy for $17.  The catch, it was located in Venezuela.  It would be the first time I ever bought a record from a foreign country and boy was it an adventure.  The package was stuck in Venezuelan customs for over a week, and I had to get the seller to call them in order for the package to finally be released.  From there it went to Puerto Rico and was stuck in US customs in Florida shortly after for another week.  Finally, after three long weeks of praying my prized possession would arrive safely, a package was delivered to my door.  I was so excited that I grabbed my phone and shot a crude video of me opening the package and revealing the contents for the first time.  There it was, brilliantly staring back at me.  The vinyl was in near mint condition and the cover (Venezuelan record covers are made of a cardstock/cardboard material) was gorgeous.  I wasted little time in firing up the album and basked in the glory as each song played through the needle of my Audio Tecnhica turntable.  It took a while to get here, but it was so worth the wait.

Highlights of this album include the lead single "Stand", "Blind Faith", "7 Days Over You", "Theater of My Soul", "Stay Alive", "Body Talk" and "Until You Suffer Some (Fire and Ice)".  A lot of Poison fans like to dismiss Native Tongue because it doesn't feature the original lineup.  I get that, but to discount an album just because CC isn't there is a mistake.  The album sounds like Poison.  A grown up Poison writing more sophisticated songs.  Richie added a lot to Native Tongue, and that's a good thing.  Heck, in 1999, Bret and crew even got CC to play "Stand" live in concert.  To my knowledge, it's the only song from the two non-CC albums he was willing to play.  I think that is pretty cool of CC to do that.  Fans don't get that very often when lineups change and then reunite.  I wish more bands would be willing to play different era songs when they reunite certain lineups.  The other guys had to learn the previous era songs, why can the previous era learn the new era songs as well? That's another topic though.

In conclusion, for my money Native Tongue is the best album Poison has ever put out.  The songwriting is great, the guitars are amazing, and the songs just simply kick ass.  That doesn't mean I think the previous three albums were not good.  To the contrary.  Those albums are amazing and stand the test of time.  They are classics and by far the most commercially successful albums Poison ever did and ever will do.  But for me, Native Tongue is the best album they put out musically and holds a special place in my heart.  I am so glad to have a copy on vinyl in my collection and recommend anyone who has the chance to get a copy do so because I don't see them reissuing it any time soon.

Thanks for reading my latest blog.  I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Poison's Native Tongue album.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.  Do you like it as much as me? Do you not like it at all? What is your favorite Poison album? Until next time vinyl friends, keep on spinning.

Here is the video of my opening my holy grail package containing Native Tongue:

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