REVIEW: Bret Michaels – Rock My World (2008)

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BRET MICHAELS – Rock My World (2008 VH1 Classic Records)

Every once in a while I have an urge to hear some good time Poison rock.  Since Poison don’t really release new music anymore, I thought I’d give Rock My World a try.  I haven’t kept up with Bret’s solo career but apparently he has quite a few albums.  I saw this at Future Shop for like ten bucks, so why not?  And it’s not bad.  Bret wrote or co-wrote every track.

Rock My World is a compilation of (mostly) previously released songs. To the layman, that means “best of” album, and like most “best of” albums this one has some new tracks too. I’m just guessing here, but I think this was probably released to promote Rock of Love and expose people to some songs from solo albums that most haven’t heard.

What surprised me was how strong this album is. It’s certainly much stronger than the last original Poison album, Hollyweird (which was gawd-awful), though it’s not as good as Flesh & Blood. As you’d expect, it’s a strong mix of ballads and guitar driven classic rock, with modern production. Lyrics are pretty standard. What surprised me was the pop-punk rock goodness of “Bittersweet”, for me the best song and unlike anything else on the album.  I find the lyrics hilarious too.  It reminds me of an old Canadian band called Deadline that I used to like.  Unfortunately there have been a thousand bands with sounds like this in recent years.  The song’s a guilty pleasure.

I’m usually finding that as I get older, I’m not that interested in ballads anymore.  Loved ’em when I was a heartbroken youngster, but they don’t mean much to me anymore.  Having said that, “Fallen” is a pretty good song.  It’s not unique but it’s essentially the kind of song that Poison used to have massive hits with 23 years ago.  And even though it’s followed by another ballad called “Raine”, they’re both pretty good songs and it doesn’t bore me to hear them.  “Raine” is my favourite of the ballads, it has some balls and guitars to it. “Songs of Life” is also pretty strong, even if it quotes some old Poison song titles in its lyrics.

I can’t say that this album made me hungry to pick up the albums that these songs were sourced from (Freedom of Sound and Songs of Life) but with those albums so difficult to find, I think that justifies this release. I can understand why fans who already own them would be ticked that they had to buy this release to get the new songs, but let’s face it, most people don’t have those albums and are unlikely to find them at their local wax emporium.

And in my case, even if I found them, I probably wouldn’t buy them.  There are plenty of albums I don’t have that need my dollars more.

For your reference, the new songs are:  “Go That Far”, “Fallen”, “Start Again”.  There’s also a new 2008 remix of “It’s My Party”.  Whoopee!

Go for it if you like Poison, or classic rock with a good mix of ballads and rockers. Avoid if you hate dudes with headbands on motorcycles.

3.5/5 stars

51 comments

  1. I’m not sure I need this but Poison really rocked my whole world at one point. Their first three LPs are just classics of the genre and ‘Every Rose…’ makes me cry – even as a butt ugly, wizened bald 41yo, just like it did when I was young, (comparatively) good looking and hairy !

    But the Scar, That Scar Remains

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        3. Isn’t it though? It’s not the Darkness Xmas one I’m doing (although that would be a great thing for my collection). I’m doing something from record #2.

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        4. I think I got the 7″ picture disc of ‘One Way Ticket’ and the coloured vinyl of ‘Is it Just me’ – my singles are all a bit disorganised.

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        5. Oh man I don’t have either of those. CD singles yes, but I think the vinyls had different B-sides. WAIT! Is It Just Me…yes I have a 7″ picture single with “Shit Ghost”.

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  2. When I wrote about the first album there weren’t many people willing to admit to liking Poison, but I think the first album still stands up as a classic of its type. Not sure I can be arsed with Brett’s solo stuff however…

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    1. If you really, really, really missed Poison and prayed at night that they’d make new music…that’s when you need Brett’s solo stuff. I didn’t “need” it but I enjoyed it.

      I am not too keen on the first album myself, I figure it’s about halfway there. The second, third and fourth are the ones I hold in high esteem.

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        1. I always thought, particularly by Flesh & Blood, “let’s try to be more like Whitesnake.” How they were sneaking in that blues influence that had become so trendy by 1990.

          For the second album? Sure, I’d buy them trying to be Kiss.

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        3. Yeah agree, and again I think there was sort of a general trend towards “getting heavier” for bands in 1990. I think the winds of change were already in the air.

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  3. Saw Poison live Jan 91 in Winnipeg ….
    It was on the ticket Poison/Warrant but the Down Boys got kicked off so Don Dokkens solo band (plugging Up From The Ashes ) supported and as far as I was concerned blew Poison off .
    John Norum and Billy White gave a guitar clinic that night as well as the rest of the band on professionalism !
    Poison came out and sure they played the hits…but the solos killed any kind of momentum and the fact that for the last 4 songs Dall lyed on a ramp was just brutal..brutal funny just like his staggering around in the Every Rose vid….
    Last time I seen em live ……had no interest!
    Still I bought Native Tongue and Crack A Smile just to hear what they were up to….

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    1. Bobby Dall’s had some pretty severe drug issues, I wonder if that’s why he spent 4 songs on his back?

      Native Tongue is an album I really want to take a close look at. I think it’s a brave record.

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      1. Mike, this is why I love your blog: you are always willing to talk/discuss/review albums and bands that some critics and fans neglect/ignore/won’t admit they actually once liked and supported. Some of these bands sold in the multi-millions for a reason! You always get me digging back into my CD collection!

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        1. First of all, THANKS! The funny thing is that I put of posting this one for about a month. (“I’ll save this one, they won’t wanna read about Bret Michaels…”) So I’m glad you liked it. I have some old Poison singles I dug up, that I’m trying to work in somewhere too.

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  4. I own Letters From Death Row. Saw the movie as well. Neither was any good. I also have burned copies of Freedom Of Sound and Songs Of Life. I don’t think they’re awful, but I don’t think they’re any good either. Sounds like watered down version of Poison, pretty lame. I heard about this album when it came out but I couldn’t be bothered to check it out.
    But I kinda have a soft spot for Poison. I’m not sure why as they are really lame as musicians, but they still had some good, fun-loving tunes. Ope Up And Say Aaah and Flesh And Blood had some godd stuff on them, but the debut is quite crappy. Native Tongue is a real killer, though. Richie Kotzen pretty much wrote that album, I guess. Crack A Smile was great also.
    But Poison stole I Want Action from Swedish glam band Easy Action’s We Go Rocking. Check it out:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUz2CjMlUM4

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    1. Yep…not gonna argue with that at all. The similarity is more than just superficial. Has this pretty obvious theft been admitted by anybody from Poison? I mean there is no way it’s coincidence.

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      1. Well Kee Marcello, Zinny Zan and Alex Tyrone from Easy Action sued Poison but they made up outside of court. Zinny told me they got like 200 000 dollars each or something like that. But Poison officially denies this to this day.

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  6. Re: Bobby Dall’s excesses and habits. It sure was proven that all that day-glo hair/glam metal wasn’t “Nothing But A Good Time”. On the surface, it looked like that era may have been all chicks with big hair, fast cars, Flying-V guitars, scarves, and maybe a bottle of Jack (or was that iced tea in there?). I mean, “the Grunge Era” sure had its smack, and deaths, and sad stories, but there sure has been some wreckage on the sides of the road with the ’80s bands.

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    1. CC Deville seems like he was close to being a casualty. Do you notice that he slurs when he speaks now? Like he’s had a stroke?

      I know that Bret wrote the lyrics for “Stay Alive” from the Native Tongue album about Bobby Dall. They’re pretty blatant regarding excesses.

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      1. Yeah, both CC and Bobby were pretty down and out there for a while. I know a guy who were backstage when Poison were touring Flesh & Blood and Dall was aproaching everybody there about getting him some drugs. Somebody gave him some hash and he threw it back screaming “I eat this shit for breakfast!!”. He needed harder stuff…

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        1. No surprise they burned out shortly after. I remember CC showed up wasted with pink hair at the MTV video awards in ’91…then they did a music video for “So Tell Me Why” which didn’t require CC DeVille to film any scenes…the writing was on the wall.

          But they did one awesome with Richie after that, and I’ll always be glad Richie did a Poison album, which couldn’t have been a walk in the park for him.

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  7. Didn’t know about this one but I was never a big Poison fan, then or now. I’ve got the first three and they’re ok. Not a big band for me but I’m probably due another listen.

    And dudes with hairbands on motorcycles are a pet peeve of mine so that’s a dealbreaker right there! (Not really)

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