Whitesnake

Reviewing my blogs I realized I’d never reviewed this band, per se, though I’d mentioned them earlier.  A proper blog entry is in order at this…juncture.

In 1976 Deep Purple had run its course, with the Mark IV line-up crashing and burning.  Although their sole album with guitarist Tommy Bolin, Come Taste The Band, was up to standard, it turns out he had a heroin addiction the rest of the band had no clue about – until they toured overseas in places like Indonesia where he couldn’t score from local sources and he buzzed out on withdrawal symptoms.  Hint:  “drugs are bad, m’kay?”

The band decided to call it a day and go their separate ways, Bolin himself dying of a heroin overdose a few months later. 

Ian Gillan, fired from Mark II a few years before, formed a solo band.   Ritchie Blackmore, who quit after two albums with Mark III, started his own band, Rainbow.  The most substantial project was Whitesnake, centered around vocalist David Coverdale.

Initially this was just the name of his first solo album (David Coverdale’s Whitesnake), followed by Northwinds.  Then he started a proper band, Whitesnake, with an EP, Snakebite, and an album, Trouble.  This early stage of the band was R&B, classic rock, with provocative album covers and a familiar sound.  Maybe too familiar – my high school buddy Sean C. dismissed them as Led Zeppelin clones.

Subsequent discography:  Lovehunter, Ready An’ Willing, Come An’ Get It, Saints & Sinners, Slide It In.  Of these, my favorite is a toss-up.  Lovehunter has by far the best album cover, with the attractively proportioned and above all naked woman riding an improbably large snake (which isn’t even white, by the way), but I’m less keen on the music itself.  I did get the t-shirt of the album before getting the album itself, even wearing it to high school on the last day   Saints & Sinners has my favorite collection of songs, including the original versions of “Here I Go Again” and “Crying in the Rain”, which resurfaced on the self-titled album, and the very first song I ever learned to play on guitar, the title track itself, “Saints & Sinners”. 

The line-up tended to change regularly, with singer Coverdale the constant along with guitarists Bernie Marsden and Mickey Moody.  Ian Paice and Jon Lord ( >> 3/5 of Deep Purple Mark III/IV) served a short stint, as did bassist Neil Murray.  Glenn Hughes was never asked to join.  This era ended with Slide It In, released in 1984.  Sadly, I never got to see this era live; my brother and I only started going to concerts in late 1984. 

At this point Coverdale took the band in a completely new direction, more hair metal, Dokken, Motley Crue, etc. with the self-titled album three years later (1987)  Having said that, he mastered the genre and the album sold like crazy.   It was this tour that I finally got to see them play live – Baltimore Arena, 2/4/1988.  “Still of the Night” is probably one of their best songs.

Whitesnake, Slip of the Tongue, Restless Heart, Good To Be Bad, Forevermore, The Purple Album, Flesh & Blood.

White I have all the prior albums, I don’t have all of these.  We did see the Purple album tour, at NYCB Westbury on Long Island (7/27/15), the night after seeing Deep Purple.   This album has Coverdale, with his current lineup, cover Deep Purple Mark III and IV songs, from Burn, Stormbringer, and Come Taste The Band.  Can’t say I enjoy these versions as much as the originals, but I certainly did enjoy hearing them again, along with the rest of the material, on Long Island.