Flesh and Blood (Poison album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Professional reviews
Flesh & Blood

Studio album by Poison
Released	June 21, 1990
Recorded	1989 - 1990
Genre	Glam Metal
Length	57:38
Label	Capitol Records
Producer(s)	Bruce Fairbairn
All Music Guide link
Poison chronology
Open Up And Say... Ahh! (1988)	Flesh & Blood (1990)	Swallow This Live (1991)
Alternate Cover

Original Banned blood version

Flesh & Blood is the third album by American glam metal band Poison.

The record was released on June 21, 1990 on the Enigma label of Capitol Records. It spawned the Top 10 hits "Unskinny Bop" and "Something to Believe In," as well as the hits "Ride the Wind," "Life Goes On," and "Flesh & Blood (Sacrifice)."

1 Musical style
2 Production and marketing
3 Songs
4 Track listing
5 References

[edit] Musical style

While remaining true to the glam metal / hard rock genre, the record arguably reflected a significant growth in the sophistication of the band’s song writing and in the depth of its lyrics. This growth in sophistication was particularly evident in the guitar work of C.C. DeVille. The anthemic staccato double-stop riff in "(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice", and fast arpeggiated groove in "Unskinny Bop" stood in stark contrast to the simple power chords which characterised the band's first two records. The instrumental piece "Swampjuice (Soul-O)", also revealed a new musical depth.

[edit] Production and marketing

The record was recorded and mixed at Little Mountain Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, with Canadian producer Bruce Fairbairn.

The front cover of the album featured the Poison logo and album title as a tattoo on Rikki Rockett's arm. The cover was originally planned to have a slightly different version of the tattoo cover that featured the tattoo after being freshly inked. This showed the skin as red and inflamed. This cover was pulled though and instead a cleaned up (Digitially?) tattoo was shown that did not have the inflamed skin. The original cover was released for the initial pressing in Japan but was subsequently removed from all later pressings (including those in Japan). The record’s marketing reflected the end of the more extreme elements Poison’s "glam" image, including its excessive make-up and teased, girlish hair (see Look What the Cat Dragged In).

[edit] Songs

Parts of the record reflected a darker, more serious side to the band, touching themes such as hard times and overcoming them ("Valley of Lost Souls", "Life Loves A Tragedy", "Come Hell Or High Water"), missing loved ones ("Life Goes On"), long-term relationships ("Don’t Give Up an Inch", "Ball and Chain"), and disillusionment ("Something to Believe In"). The fun side of the band remained intact, however, in tracks dealing with sex ("(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice", "Unskinny Bop"), exhilaration from music or motorbikes ("Let It Play", "Ride the Wind"), and tongue-in-cheek poverty ("Poor Boy Blues").

The meaning of "Unskinny Bop", one of the band's most popular songs, has always been shrouded in obscurity. Guitarist DeVille later confessed that the phrase "unskinny bop" has no particular meaning. DeVille invented it as a temporary measure while writing the song, before vocalist Bret Michaels had begun working on the lyrics. The phrase was used on the basis that it was phonetically suited to the music. The song was later played to producer, Fairbairn, who stated that although he did not know what an "unskinny bop" was, the phrase was perfect.^[1]