Poison

Everyone can use a little dumb fun now and then, and classic Hollywood rockers Poison are back to provide the soundtrack. Once past the weak, tin-like production sound and the bad Who cover two songs in, some fine party rock tunes can be found here, such as the unforgettable "Rock Star" and the humorous, yet kind of anthemic, "Stupid, Stoned & Dumb," in which the band encourages the losers of the world to join us rock and roll losers in a brain-dead party till death, or something. No ballads here, but as always, Poison shine best in the melodic rockers; no less than two conceptual sequels to the classic "Fallen Angel" are present here and they steal the show. Guitarist/troublemaker C.C. DeVille sings on three tunes, adding a welcome change of pace with his melodic and energetic songs. All in all, the songs on Hollyweird (love that name) won't be ultra-classics like their old tunes, but that's probably a contextual thing, not a songwriting thing. So forget about life's worries for a while and let one of the kings of stupid-core take you into their world for 40 minutes; you'll be smiling ear to ear the whole time.