February 4, 2000 / 976 reads
Original 12 Song Recording Expanded to Include Live Versions of Hits from MTV "Unplugged," Plus B-Sides, Outtakes & Rarities
Release Follows Sold-Out Reunion Tour & Coincides with Re-Airing of Hit VH1 "Behind the Music," Summer 2000 Tour and PPV.
Woodland Hills, CA --- Poison's 1994 album Crack A Smile will be released for the first time on March 14 by Capitol Records. Along with the 12 songs on Crack A Smile in full 24-bit remastered sound in their original running order, the 20 track recording will also include b-sides, rarities and outtakes, plus four bonus tracks from MTV "Unplugged." Poison's 1990 performance on the show included some of their biggest hits, "Your Mama Don't Dance," "Talk Dirty To Me," and the gold singles "Unskinny Bop" and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." The last song was recently inducted into BMI's prestigious Millionaires Club, signifying more than one million U.S. radio spins.
The release of Crack A Smile coincides with new activity for Poison. VH1's recent "Behind the Music" attracted millions of viewers when it premiered and it will re-air in heavy rotation in March. The show was filmed on Poison's 1999 Greatest Hits Tour, which featured all the original members. That tour will be followed by another one in summer 2000 and possibly a new album. Also in the works is a pay-per-view TV special from the summer 2000 tour. According to Capitol Records, the release of Crack A Smile was also triggered by the overwhelming number of e-mails from fans through the Capitol Records website hollywoodandvine.com.
Poison's seventh album, Crack A Smile became known to millions of their devoted fans as a "lost" album. After a string of gold and platinum albums and nine Top 10 singles, times had changed and so had the band's label and the band itself. Joining original members Bret Michaels, Rikki Rockett and Bobby Dall was guitar hero Blues Saraceno replacing C.C. DeVille. Numerous bootlegs began to surface, the new Capitol Records regime received unprecedented requests for its official release, and web sites and chat rooms spread tales of "their best album yet" which might never be heard by most fans. Crack A Smile includes such glam punk sounds (which have become current again) of Poison's bar band roots as "Doin' As I Seen On My TV," some of their trademark raunch in "Shut Up, Make Love" (the album's first single being released to rock radio), "Sexual Thing," "Mr. Smiley" and "That's The Way I Like It," a taste of their acoustic skills on "Best Thing You Ever Had," and a cover of Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone" featuring a drunken Michaels and Rockett struggling to complete it.
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Also included are "One More For The Bone" and "Set You Free," both intended b-sides, and an untitled outtake, all from the Crack A Smile sessions, and "Face The Hangman," from sessions for Open Up And Say . . .Ahh! Previously, it was available only as a European b-side.
Formed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the early '80s, Poison made their Capitol Records debut in 1986 at the peak of the pop metal era with Look What the Cat Dragged In, a triple platinum seller that went top five on the strength of three hits "Talk Dirty To Me," "I Want Action" and "I Won't Forget You." It was followed two years later by Open Up and Say . . . Ahh! With its three top 10 hits, "Nothin' But A Good Time," "Your Mama Don't Dance," and the #1 "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," it rose to No. 2 and went five times platinum. The controversial "Unskinny Bop" launched Flesh and Blood in 1990, one of two top five hits from the album along with "Something To Believe In." Poison went on to release two more gold albums, Swallow This Live and Native Tongue before beginning the sessions for Crack A Smile.
Track Listing Best Thing You Ever Had
Shut Up, Make Love
Baby Gets Around A Bit
Cover Of The Rolling Stone
Be The One
Mr. Smiley
Sexual Thing
Lay Your Body Down1
No Ring, No Gets
That's The Way I Like It
Tragically Unhip
Doin' As I Seen On My TV
One More For The Bone (intended b-side)
Set You Free (intended b-side)
Untitled (outtake from the CRACK A SMILE sessions)
Face the Hangman (outtake from OPEN UP AND SAY...AHH)
Your Mama Don't Dance (from MTV Unplugged, 1990)
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (from MTV Unplugged, 1990)
Unskinny Bop (from MTV Unplugged, 1990)
Talk Dirty To Me (from MTV Unplugged, 1990)
*Tracks 1-15 feature Blues Saraceno on guitar and tracks 16-20 feature C.C. DeVille.
Poison - Crack A Smile
Street Date: March 14, 2000
Label: Capitol Order
Date: February 18, 2000
Format: CD/CS
Genre: Rock
UPC Codes: 72435-24781- 2/5; 4/7
