Crack a Smile... and More!

Crack a Smile... and More!
Studio album by Poison
Released	March 14, 2000
Recorded	1994–2000 at Devonshire Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre	Hard rock
Length	75:38
Label	Capitol
Producer	John Purdell & Duane Baron
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Poison chronology
Poison's Greatest Hits: 1986-1996 (1996) Crack a Smile... and More! (2000) Power to the People (2000)

Crack a Smile... and More! is the fifth studio album from the American rock band Poison. The record was released on March 14, 2000 and peaked at #131 on The Billboard 200.^[1]

Musical style

Crack a Smile, while replete with guitar performances comparable with those on Poison's previous studio record, Native Tongue, contains few traces of the seriousness of that record.

Production and marketing

The life cycle of Crack a Smile, which began in 1994, was brought to an abrupt halt in May 1994, when vocalist Bret Michaels lost control of his Ferrari. Michaels suffered a broken nose, ribs, jaw, and fingers and lost four teeth.

After his recovery in 1995, the band continued recording. To the band's dismay, however, Capitol Records had by this time decided to put the album "on the back burner", and instead released a Greatest Hits record. It was not until March 14, 2000 that the record was finally released. The album's eventual release was prompted by strong fan demand, with promotional copies and bootlegs selling for $50 or more. In order to compete with the bootleg release, Capitol took the unusual step of throwing in additional tracks to the album. The bootleg version of the album contained the original 12 album tracks, 6 songs from Poison's MTV Unplugged performance, and their cover of the Kiss classic "Rock and Roll All Nite." The final version of the album, titled Crack a Smile... and More!, contained the original 12 album tracks, two studio outtakes, one unfinished (and unnamed) demo, "Face the Hangman" (an outtake from Open Up and Say... Ahh!), as well as four of the songs from MTV Unplugged.

The album featured guitarist Blues Saraceno. Saraceno was hired as the band's guitarist following the firing of Richie Kotzen. Like Kotzen, Saraceno was given considerable creative freedom. Indeed, Saraceno's writing and performing contributions dominated the album.

The album's studio tracks were recorded at Devonshire Studios, Hollywood, California. Saraceno plays on these songs (tracks 1-15), and DeVille plays on the remaining bonus tracks, which are tracks recorded before this time. Tracks 7 and 8 were first released on the greatest hits album as bonus tracks.

Track listing

Singles

• "Shut Up, Make Love"
• "Be the One"

Personnel

• Bret Michaels – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
• Rikki Rockett – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Bobby Dall – bass, backing vocals
• Blues Saraceno – lead & rhythm guitars, acoustic guitar, piano, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• C.C. DeVille - acoustic guitar (bonus tracks 16–20 - recorded earlier).

• Duane Baron – Producer, Engineer
• Kevin Flaherty – Producer, Liner Notes, Compilation
• Sam Gay – Art Direction
• Cindy Malig – Production Coordination
• Frank Micelotta – Photography
• John Purdell – Producer, Engineer
• Nitin Vadukul – Cover Photo
• Tom Werman – Producer

References

1. ^ [1]The Billboard Hot 100 Retrieved 2008.