Poison's Greatest Hits 1986-1996

Poison’s Greatest Hits 1986-1996 is as definitive as a Poison compilation could hope to be. Featuring a full 18 tracks, including all of their Top 50 hits (“Talk Dirty to Me,” “I Want Action,” “Nothin’ but a Good Time,” “Fallen Angel,” “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” “Unskinny Bop,” “Something to Belive In,” “Stand,” among others) plus two unreleased cuts (“Sexual Thing,” “Lay Your Body Down”), the album boasts every worthwhile song the group ever recorded, augmented by Bret Michaels’ track-by-track commentary. Though the album isn’t sequenced in chronological order, it plays like an excellent mixtape, which actually makes the album more listenable. Even on a compilation, Poison wears a little thin — there are still dull moments among these 18 songs, mainly in the form of lesser-known album tracks and singles — but still, Greatest Hits 1986-1996 is the most enteraining album the band ever released. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine