ONE TIME UP,
AND THE
NEXT TIME DOWN
THIS MAY BE
THE LAST TIME
THAT YOU SEE ME AROUND
Native Tongue
is the fourth
studio album
by American
glam metal band
released in 1993
through Capitol Records.
It peaked at #16
on the
Billboard 200,
#20 on the
UK Albums Chart
and was certified gold
by the RIAA
on
April 21, 1993.
It has also been
certified platinum
in Canada.
This is the only album
to feature
lead guitarist
Richie Kotzen.
Kotzen was hired
as the band's guitarist
following the firing of
C.C. DeVille
in late 1991.
The album features
the singles
"Stand",
"Until You Suffer Some (Fire And Ice)"
and
"Body Talk".
Production and Marketing
Admitted as a
full-fledged member
of the band
rather than a
"hired gun",
Kotzen was given
considerable
creative freedom.
Resultantly,
Kotzen's writing
and
performing contributions
dominated the album.
FIRING OF KOTZEN
Kotzen would later be
expelled from the band
following the world tour,
after it was discovered
that he had been
romantically involved
with the former
fiancée of drummer
Rikki Rockett
Recollections of the album,
while no doubt
soured by these events,
nonetheless appear
to faithfully reflect
the basic clash
between Kotzen's style
and that of the band's
founding members.
Kotzen would later claim that
"being in Poison
helped me forget
I was a musician"
while Rockett
would lament
the loss
of the
band's original
"attitude"
The album was recorded
and mixed at
A&M Studios in
Hollywood, California,
and
Rumbo Recorders
in
Canoga Park, California
with producer
Richie Zito.
It was dedicated to
Van Halen tour manager
Scotty Ross
and former
Poison guitarist
C. C. DeVille.
The album peaked at
#16 on the
Billboard chart.
The first two singles
"Stand"
and
"Until You Suffer Some (Fire And Ice)"
featured music videos
and charted
in the
US and the UK.
"Stand"
reached number 15
on the
Mainstream rock chart,
#35 on the
Top 40
Mainstream chart
and #50
on the
Billboard Hot 100.
The song also charted at
number 25
on the
UK Singles chart
and
"Until You Suffer Some (Fire And Ice)"
peaked at number 32
on the
UK Singles chart.
Following the album
the band released
a video/DVD titled
Seven Days Live
which featured
a concert from
the
Native Tongue
world tour.
1993/1994
Composition
Native Tongue
is a rock album
with an occasionally
rootsy sound,
and stirs the band's sound
into blues
rock territory.
Songs written
together by
Bret Michaels
and
Richie Kotzen
reveal the
bluesy influence of
Van Halen,
such as
"Blind Faith",
"Bastard Son of a Thousand Blues"
and
"Body Talk",
the latter a sex song
typical of the band.
Several songs,
including
"Stand",
contain heavy
gospel overtones
and blues elements.
Ultimate Classic Rock
journalist
Martin Kielty
recalls that Poison
"wanted to move away from
their party-hard reputation
and prove themselves
as quality songwriters
and take their fans
with them.
More than anything else,
they wanted to
move forward
without guitarist
C.C. DeVille,
who'd been fired
after a
drug-fueled
breakdown in relations."
"Native Tongue"
has been described as a
liberal homage to
Fleetwood Mac's
"Tusk"
(1979);
in contrast,
"The Scream"
and
"Stay Alive"
have been
compared to
Aerosmith's
Toys in the Attic
(1975).
"Stand"
features
Sheila E.
on percussion
and is comparable to
Mr. Big's
"To Be with You",
Lyrically, the band continued on
the growing sophistication
that began in
Flesh & Blood.
The album's themes
include battles against injustice
("Scream", "Stand"),
heartbreak
"Until You Suffer Some",
"7 Days Over You",
"Theatre of the Soul"
and inner demons
("Stay Alive").
"When the Whip Comes Down"
is a Rare
Non Album track
used as a
B-side for the singles.
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