Poison - Hollyweird

List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $6.59
You Save: $10.39 (61%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.88 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases

Music CD Cover

Free Music Notes for Hollyweird

Free Music Review: Another classic album
Hit: 5 Stars

The opening track Hollyweird is a real powerful tune to kick things off, starts off with motley crue style guitars sounding like a bike revving up. Then CC's fingers get to work on a riff that would not be out of place on any of Poison's older albums. Brilliant lyrics by Bret, on the whole this song is the high point of the album, a 9 out of 10 hard rock song.

Then something that the boys have not done that often - a cover song! Not bad, but sounds much better live. CC makes the song his own with his trade-mark riffs. "Shooting star" and "wishful thinkin" have been condemned widely by poison fans for sounding similar to "fallen angel" - the songs are basically about the small town guy/gal who goes to hollywood to make it big but things are not as easy as they seem. I agree, a similar concept to previous songs, but the experiences of Bret, Bobby, CC and Rikki will always be based around this - after moving to California they spent the best part of one year living in a busted down basement surrounded by cockroaches and eating scraps of food. Songwriting is, I guess, all about portraying your own life experiences so I can understand where these songs are coming from.

Now the most frustrating part of this album - the song "Get ya some" - a tune that possesses the catchiest groove you've ever heard, then progresses to a heavy metal riff you could bang your head to....absolutely breath-taking! Why frustrating? Because despite the great music, it sounds like Bret spent five minutes while he was on the toilet writing the lyrics!! for example :"she make a dead man come, I got to get me some"!!!!!

CC does 3 songs, "Emperor's new clothes", "Livin in the now", and "Home" - all good songs but I can't help but think that these were a pre-requisite to this album being made. Nevertheless they are entertaining a don't drag the quality down at all.

"Devil Woman" and "Wasteland" are both decent 7 out of 10 rock songs, and the album gets stronger towards the end with the hilarious "Stupid, stoned and dumb" and "Home" which is a song done twice - same musically but Bret sings one and CC the other and they both tell their own stories - kind of like an after dinner speech detailing their exploits. Check out CC's version, very funny!!

"Rock star" sounds like it was written lyrically by a 14 year old, but there is also a large element of tongue-in-cheek and it is a great song to finish the album with.

This album is not up to the standards of the 1st three classics from the late 80s/early 90s, but as a Poison fan I would rather have this collection of decent tunes to listen to as opposed to nothing at all, hence the five stars I have given. There are some trade-mark moments on here if you listen carefully.

I really hope Bret, Bobby, CC and Rikki play more songs from this album when they next play live. If you enjoyed the Greatest Hits compilation, then this cd will provide you with hours of enjoyment!

Hard Rock & Metal Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock