I would be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about hearing this 13 track covers album from Poison. One of the biggest selling bands of their genre, the band have sold over 25 million albums in a 20 year career - and believe it or not they are still selling out the big venues with their annual US tours.

Produced mostly by legendary producer Don Was, 4 tracks have been previously released by the band, this CD is a revelation.

On it we have tracks originally recorded by The Rolling Stones ('Dead Flowers'), Bowie ('Suffragette City'), Tom Petty ('I Need To Know') and The Cars ('Just What I Needed') - and the band has succeeded in making the tracks their own, with every song sounding less like the original artist and more like Poison did them all along.

I have to be honest and say that the older, previously released, tracks such as Kiss' 'Rock and Roll All Nite' and Loggins & Messina's 'Your Mama Don't Dance' - itself a massive hit for Poison - do sound a little dated and would have benefited from a new recording. However, this does not detract from the fact that the band have pulled off what others have tried before- and failedto do - they have released a credible covers album, that coinciding with this summer's tour, should do well for them.

****

Review by Nikk Gunns