Open Up and Say...Ahh! (CD - 1988)

Additional personnel: John Purdell (keyboards).

Engineers: Duane Baron, John Purdell, Richard McKernan.

Recorded at Conway Recording Studios and One On One Recording Studios.

Poison: Bret Michaels (vocals); C.C. DeVille (guitar); Bobby Dall (bass guitar); Rikki Rockett (drums).

Poison's best album still has a bit of filler that fails to deliver the big hooks and catchy riffs of their best material; when that happens, Bret Michaels' affected "rawk & rowl" singing accent begins to grate. But thankfully, that doesn't happen very often on Open Up and Say...Ahh!, which solidified the group's status as hair metal's top party band. The ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," Poison's only number one hit, and the Top Ten "Nothin' But a Good Time" became their most widely recognized signature songs; a cover of Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" also hit the Top Ten, and the sometimes-overlooked "Fallen Angel," one of their best songs, got plenty of MTV airplay. But the agreeable raunch of album tracks like "Love on the Rocks," "Good Love," and "Look But You Can't Touch" helps make Open Up and Say...Ahh! Poison's best overall album. ~ Steve Huey minimize