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They have such a familiar sound that I keep asking myself, "where have I
heard this before" at the beginning of each track. I do not mean
that in a negative way. Poison Kiss, is a nice refreshing album
with a bunch of awesome songs and lyrics. It is not the harder or
classic rock n' roll sound that I personally enjoy, but this is just
good music nonetheless. It kind of reminds me of the early 80's
and the New Wave invasion. The original invasion included a pop-rockish
sound, but was contained some great lyrics and music, which eventually
became too diluted with simple lyrics and synthetic sounds (for example
compare Duran Duran's first album with their later albums). For
those of you that do not go back that far, The Last Goodnight brings out
the two earlier qualities into this album. The lyrics are mostly
not simple, but actually have some meaning and depth. Maybe not in
the story teller quality of a Rod Stewart,
but provides you with enough of a story to follow along. If you have
been listening to the radio, you have already probably heard "Pictures
of You," which is one of the best songs on the album. The first
time I heard the song, I remember saying to myself, I like it. In
fact the first three songs on the album (including "Poison Kiss" and
"Back Where We Belong") are all solid. There are not any songs
that I can say "I dislike," except for "In Your Arms" which is just
album filler. However, I did not like "Good Love" the first time I heard
it. After the second play through of the album - the first time I
listened to the track, I put down in my notes "too poppy," but listening
to it again I still have the comment, but it is really a very catchy
tune. Just as a technical note, the next to last song on the album
"In Your Arms" is really good, but I probably would have produced it a
little differently. The instruments overpowers the vocals at some
points of the song, which (I feel) should have been emphasizing the
vocals and lyrics, and the last song could have been a little stronger
(but some cool lyrics).
Overall it was a pleasant listening experience. This is one of
those bands that have the potential to create some great hits.
Being a fairly solid album, it is one I would suggest to my readers.
As you know by reading some of my reviews, I love to read the liner
notes. This is another rare band that writes their own lyrics and
music, which means that they will stay consistent and can only get
better. In addition, the band itself, does a lot of charity work,
which makes them tops in my book.
One last stray thought, I wonder how they are in concert? I
keep thinking about how some of those 80's bands performed great songs
that just did not translate into a live show. However the songs of
the 80s were written for the almighty music video. I am going to
look for them when their next local appearance and hope I can go. |
