Bell Biv Devoe: Poison Vinyl LP

Never trust a big butt and a smile. Words of wisdom passed down spread round the world by Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie Devoe. Get On Down has gone ahead and given us a proper reissue of their full length debut Poison, originally released back in 1990 when you were probably rockin’ the Reebok pumps, Z Cavaricci’s, and a rat tail. The cover is a pretty good timestamp of style at the time – I mean check out that that leather crewneck and those pants! But I digress… BBD took the urban soul world by storm with a little help from Public Enemy producers Eric Sadler, Hank and Keith Shocklee (aka The BombSquad) with a new brand of New Jack Swing that was a little freakier than the rest. Contains all the hits including “Poison,” “Do Me!,” “BBD,” “She’s Dope,” and more. Do it!

• music label: Get On Down 1990 / 2014

reviewed by Von Bee 04/2014