Great White - Once Bitten

Details :

• Year of release : 1987
• Label : Capitol EST 2039
• Review format : Vinyl

Great White are a band I’ve always found interesting. Another of those that have found themselves lumped in under the ‘hair metal’ banner despite pre-dating it by a few years I’ve always felt they had more in common with 70’s blues rock than late 80’s ‘glam’. Bluesy rock with influences stemming from the British giants of Zeppelin, the Stones and Bad Company they also managed to largely escape critism levelled at the likes of Kingdom Come, Whitesnake and Cinderella for Zepp plagiarism despite at one point offering up a whole album of covers of their heroes!

Once Bitten came long before that however and was the release just prior to their big breakthrough. At just eight tracks it comes across as a bit of a mish-mash of a couple of highlights and mainly middle the road rock. Lady Redlight is a fine opener with a decent hook and immediately shows off the vocal abilities of Jack Russell. Never lauded in the same way as many other singers were he suits Great White’s unfussy blues embellishing the riffing songs without ever resorting to vocal histrionics. Good clear and solid guitar sounds on this song as well set the standard for the album. Gonna Getcha follows similar lines in that its a plodding rocker with a good solo, decent lyrics and solid rhythm whilst track three Rock Me marks the first sides highpoint. A huge nod to Zeppelin with its sprawling extended opening, touches of harmonica and Plant-style vocals. In fact listening to this, which was released a little time before Kingdom Come, its surprising they escaped the vilification so many received but maybe its because the whole album sounds influenced by, rather than directly ripping off. Whatever the source the track builds up to a harder chorus and is a fine example of Great White’s bluesy rock ‘n’ roll sound. Side closer All Right Now is a little faster but again doesn’t break too far from the band’s template although with its mind-sticking chorus and excellent guitar work is another very decent track.

Side two though is a little hit and miss with the cover promising a studio track, a live track, a remix and a cover version. Fast Road is the opener with its big drum rolling intro and fast pace its the closest to those hair metal brothers but again Russell’s vocal delivery takes it away from sounding overly commercial. The live take of What Do You Do is next and is okay, bringing to mind early 80’s US rockers like Y&T or Dokken - the other side of the make-up of Great White possibly. The absence of audience noise seems strange for a live track but the cover notes do indicate its actually a studio ‘live’ take rather than an in-concert recording when I read a little further down from the track listing. Face The Day appears in the guise of a ‘US Radio Blues Version’ and it’s this track that first brought Great White to my attention when it appeared on a Kerrang Kompilation VHS video. Another ‘builder’ the grows into a riffing fest following a quiet opening its brings together the blues and commercial rock influences of the band and I find that some 20 years on its still a cracking track. A cover of Gimme Some Lovin’ closes the album and is interesting in that they at least try something a little different relegating the songs familiar keyboard motif to the background as they turn it into a much more guitar heavy version. Unfortunately it ultimately doesn’t quite work and fails to match either the original or the fine organ heavy cover Thunder would release a couple of years later.

Summary : Solid if unspectacular describes this album and maybe Great White as a band. Wearing their influences on their collective sleeves this is a decent album from a band I haven’t listened to in a while but who deserve rediscovery for their music rather than for their name regularly cropping up on reports about that night club disaster. This isn’t their finest hour but acted as my introduction to the band many years ago and that’s enough to make me want to revisit again in the future.

If You Listen To One Track Listen To : Face The Day

Score : 3/5