It's hard to imagine a lazier "box set" than Nothin' But a Good Time: The Poison Collection. It's a mere two discs, both of which have been released before.Disc One ("The Hits") is just Greatest Hits 1986–96 with the track order scrambled and four of the 18 songs swapped out. And they're not good swaps, either: The two tracks from Crack a Smile . . . and More!, the band's decent but C.C.-less 1996 record, lose out to songs from the group's miserable post-2000 output. (Yes, there were Poison records in the 21st century.)
Disc Two ("The Hits - Live"), meanwhile, certainly seems to be the single-disc version of Swallow This Live! Same songs. Same order. iTunes identifies the disc as Swallow. And the booklet lists 1991 and 2004 as the copyright dates -- those would be the years that Swallow came out, first as a two-disc collection, then as the aforementioned single disc.
Don't get me wrong. As far as live albums go, Swallow isn't half-bad. It's a great listen if you want to hear a classic glam band work a room, or if you'd like to bring back your own memories of Poison concerts, or if you're really craving the sound of "Something to Believe In" being played on a really awful keyboard. The problem is just that, well, nowhere on the package, or even in the fine print of the booklet, is it mentioned that "The Hits - Live" is in fact a slimmed-down version of a record that was released under the name Swallow This Live! 20 years ago.
Speaking of the booklet, even it is a letdown: It's just copyright information with a few current photos of the band members. Perhaps the only upside here is the included bandanna, which makes you look exactly like Bret Michaels. I haven't taken mine off in two days, except, of course, when I have to leave the apartment.
If you're a big Poison fan, you already have the hits, and you can snag a brand-new single-disc copy of Swallow (if you're missing it) for a mere $7 online. If you learned about Poison via Rock of Love and want to play the hits at your next '80s party, Greatest Hits 1986–96 is a far better buy. But if you're in the very weird position of wanting both a Poison greatest hits and a live recording of the band from 1991 in a single package, this is the record for you!
-- Robert VerBruggen is an associate editor at National Review. You can follow his writing at http://www.google.com/profiles/robertv4311#buzz or http://www.twitter.com/raverbruggen.
