Album Review: Poison - ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ [Original Recording Remastered]

By Patrick Luce Aug 1, 2006, 23:05 GMT

The ‘80s “glam/hair” metal days return with the release of Poison’s 1986 debut studio album ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ – digitally remastered for the band’s 20th anniversary.

Although it is a little rough around the edges and less than polished, ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ gave the world their first taste of Poison – the band that would go on to symbolize the partying image of ‘80s rock.

The band, which began in 1984 with the name Paris, consisted of vocalist Bret Michaels, bassist Bobby Dall, guitarist C.C. DeVille, and drummer Rikki Rockett. Moving to Los Angeles in 1985, they started playing the club circuit, and quickly made a name for themselves on the Sunset Strip for the group’s theatrical live shows and striking "glam" look.

‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ was originally released on the Enigma label of Capitol Records and reached #3 on the U.S charts. The album is filled with fast “poppy” guitar driven songs filled with oversexed lyrics and the party lifestyle that came to symbolize the band. It saw huge success with rocking fun singles like "Talk Dirty to Me" and "I Want Action." The album also contained the first of Poison’s trademark hit making ballads "I Won't Forget You."

The album also contains enough “metal” sounding guitar riffs on tracks like “Look What the Cat Dragged In,” “Play Dirty,” and “Blame It On You.” The album has one of the perfect teenage rebellion songs - “Let Me Go to the Show.” 

The new version of the album comes with three bonus tracks – “I Want Action” [7” single remix], “I Won’t Forget You” [7” single remix], and a fun Poison cover of “Don’t Mess Around With Jim.”

Out of the three big albums released by Poison under the Enigma label of Capitol Records, ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ is probably the band’s weakest effort, and is also the most dated by today’s rock standards. The songs are filled with sex-charged lyrics that scream of influence from other rock bands such as Aerosmith and Kiss. The guitar riffs are fast-paced and most songs seem built around the traditional ’80s screaming guitar solo.

While it is not my favorite album from the band, Poison fans will want to pick up ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ in its new digitally remastered form. The album sounds crisp, and it does have several good rock songs on it (my personal favorite being “Let Me Go to the Show”). The group would go on to release better albums with better songs, but ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ did succeed in announcing to the world that Poison had arrived to claim the “hair metal” throne.

‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ [Original Recording Remastered] is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information and a complete track listing.