Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad

Details: 2008, SPV, CD

When it comes to naming my favourite singers then it’s David Coverdale at number one and the rest form an orderly queue. Whitesnake’s “1987″ was a huge album for me. As a 16 year old it dominated my stereo for ages and directly lead me into investigating the blues-rock legacy of Coverdale both with Whitesnake and the three superb albums he did while with Deep Purple. Hell, I still love those “lost” solo albums he did in the mid-70s.

1989’s “Slip Of The Tongue” was an eagerly awaited release but very much a disappointment. A few tracks including “Judgement Day” and “Sailing Ships” aside there was just too much Americanised “hair-metal” for my liking and the blues-rock basis that provided the foundations of the earlier albums had all but subsided. Vai’s over twiddly guitar was a turn off too often and the horribly reworked “Fool For Your Loving” a pale imitation of the original. Even sales of over a million couldn’t cover the cracks and Whitesnake were put on hold shortly after.

The “Coverdale Page” project marked a return to form for both the main stars and a marked return to blues rock based melodic metal too. The need to scream had apparently passed and the album has grown in stature over time. The label hijacked solo album “Restless Heart” also had its moments in my opinion. Again some fine bluesy numbers as well as some deep-voiced ballads there was little really commercial enough to warrant EMI demanding it be released as a Whitesnake album. Coverdale’s later solo album also seemed to indicate that Coverdale had moved on from Whitesnake again so the subsequent rethink and formation of a new line-up was something of a surprise. Nevertheless live reviews were positive and the subsequent product released on the back of the concerts well received too so an all new studio album became the next logical step.

After 20 years of waiting for a new proper Whitesnake album I’ve therefore been looking forward to this one a hell of a lot. Coverdale’s media claims that he “can hear moments that me back to the bluesy, early years of the band all the way through the band’s musical history to fully embrace the more electric aspects of where we are now” were positive although possibly the product of his media savvy mind (remember Vai’s “sonic tapestries”?), so I guessed I was always going to enjoy this album. It was just a question of how much!

Writing about Whitesnake for Rock Of Ages, especially a new release, requires a balance though and excited as I am about this release I wanted to include another, very different view. To provide that balance then step forward “Bob Vinyl” from the excellent “Rock ‘n’ Roll and Meandering Nonsense” blog. A man with some very different demands of his music than me and arguably the web’s number one late 80s rock music critic (he’s not wrong about some of those bands either to be fair!). What I thought we’d do here then is offer my own track by track point of view but intersperse it with Bob’s own thoughts and see if there was any common ground - Bob’s comments are in italics…

1) Best Years

A surprisingly heavy guitar riff launches the album although its pretty soon clear that “1987″ is the template. Similar big production, big chorus’ and in Doug Aldrich a man to deliver similar guitar heroics to Sykes 20 odd years ago. You’re never going to get Dylan-esq lyrics from Coverdale. He’s rarely strayed from wine, women and song for inspiration but it works and “Best Years” makes for a fine opener.

Considering what I expected, “Best Years” starts off promisingly enough. It doesn’t have the gloss of their 80s heyday which is nice, but it also doesn’t have much substance under the covers.

2) Can You Hear The Wind Blow?

Another slice of commercial heavy rock with a riff reminicent of the “Slide It In” era. The bridge sounds a bit ropey and the solo brings Sykes’ histrionics on the reworking of “Crying In The Rain” to mind but it works for what it is; post Moody/Marsden era Whitesnake doing Whitesnake.

“Can You Hear The Wind Blow?” almost takes off a few times, but never quite gets there. Everything is soild, but the song is pretty much uneventful.

3) Call On Me

So many of the melodic metal albums that followed “1987″ seem to dump a ballad at song three so I’m pleased this is another up tempo track, and one that really turns the clock back again too. Comparisons to “Slow And Easy” as well as “Still Of The Night” abound especially in the guitar work, but it’s different enough, and I’m delighted Coverdale has stuck to his assertion that the Tarzan days are over. Its a better song for it.

“Call On Me” takes a step backward. The guitar parts are overindulgent at times and I don’t know why anyone stands for that kind of nonsense.

4) All I Want All I Need

The big production ballad was always going to be there and it’s predictably very similar to “Is This Love” although does enter the AOR territory of “Now Your Gone” at times. My preferred style of Coverdale ballad is the likes of “Soldier Of Fortune”, “Blindman” and “Only My Soul” but a song like this was always going to be included and it fits the bill as the power ballad I guess.

The sheen is back! “All I Want All I Need” is a ballad right out of the 80s. It pretends to be emotional, but the fact is that it’s cold and heartless. Surprisingly, Coverdale sounds terrible.

5) Good To Be Bad

Now here is a track I could very easily imagine the early Whitesnake doing. The versus remind me a lot of “Ready And Willing” and getting the words “hootchie-coo” on the clichéd lyric sheet smacks of those old days too. It just wouldn’t be a Whitesnake album without the phrase “bad to the bone” making it somewhere either would it? Solid enough song if pretty unspectacular - a phrase levelled at early incarnations of Whitesnake too funnily enough!

The title tracks is AOR garbage. I keep expecting it to turn into “Eye of the Tiger” or something. It includes everything that’s wrong with the preceeding songs and none of the little bit that’s right. This is thin, processed, planned and entirely unemotional.

6) All For Love

Coverdale’s more gravelly voice these days really stands out on this tracks and works well too. Again cut from the “1987″ cloth with guitar work similar to “Children Of The Night” this time. Once again it’s typical Whitesnake and that’ll do nicely for me.

A little bit of the warmth comes back on “All For Love.” It has a some fun and looseness, at least in comparison to the rest of this stiff album, but it also reminds me the most of the hair metal days and that’s not exactly glowing praise.

7) Summer Rain

The albums second ballad and longest track at just over six minutes. Superior to “All I Want All I Need” the mix of acoustic guitar, clean electric tones and Coverdale’s voice work well even if once again its clear that the voice of velvet has a touch of sandpaper about it these days. Nothing heavy about the lyrics of course, just a good ol’ love song.

“Summer Rain” is another ballad, but it seems to rise to about the level of mediocrity…at least until the chorus sends the whole thing down the tubes.

8) Lay Down Your Love

The “a capella” introduction seems superfluous but otherwise this is a fine rock song with a touch of Zeppelin worship about it with the old stop/start rhythm in evidence again. A surprising hint of “Love Hunter” creeps in too on another track that has all hallmarks of mid to late 80’s Whitesnake all over it.

What happens when Whitesnake doesn’t try to hide their love of Zeppelin? “Lay Down Your Love” shows us that they fail miserably.

9) A Fool In Love

Superb bluesy song complete with a vinyl effect scratchy start. Think “Love Man” and then imagine it building in the way “Crying In The Rain” does and your not a million miles away. Add in a few typically suggestive Coverdale lyrics alongside a loser in love scenario and you’ve got the ingredients for a cracking old school Whitesnake song and I love it!

“A Fool In Love” is just a mid-tempo blues rock number. The only thing I can say is that it’s so dull it fits right in on the album.

10) Got What You Need

By some way the albums low point for me. A throwaway rocker along the lines of “Feeling Hot” or “Kittens Got Claws” for instance, it borrows an AC/DC riff and doesn’t really go anywhere. I’d actually rate it a few grades higher than both of those comparisons but suffice to say if the album had more songs like this I’d be very disappointed. The closest thing on the album to MTV metal.

They get a little heavy on the hairspray with “Got What You Need,” but at least it has energy (which makes it stand out from much of this lifeless mess).

11) ‘Til The End Of Time

Very much the best kept until last in my opinion. An excellent acoustic stomper perfectly suited to Coverdale voice and up there alongside those classic ballads mentioned earlier. There’s generally at least one track on every Whitesnake album that would make a personal “Best Of” cdr and on “Good To Be Bad” this is far and away the one. If this really is to be the final ‘Snake opus then this is a fine way to bow out.

When “‘Till the End of Time” came on, I thought, “Not another ballad,” but this one is decent. The bluesy acoustic piece has just enough pop to make it work without really seeming like a pop song.

My Summary: Just about the Whitesnake album I hoped for, never really expecting a return to the “Ready An’ Willing” days, and certainly better than I honestly expected. Not too much hair-metal fluff, but plenty of big sounding melodic rockers along the lines of “1987″ it’s transported me back to my teens. Overall hugely enjoyable and the bonus is that there is one really great song that will live longer than the album, and in “A Fool In Love” a welcome nod to the old days. Worth the wait? …I’ll say so!

Highlight: ‘Til The End Of Time

Score: 3.5/5

—–

Bob’s Summary: “Good to Be Bad” makes it quite clear why Whitesnake is still around: they must really believe that it’s good to be bad. Perhaps someone will give them a clue and then they’ll hang it up. To be fair, I don’t know Whitesnake very well before “Slide It In”, but I can say that nothing they did from that point on is worthy of their success. Their music is dull and their cornerstone, Coverdale himself, proves that he’s outstanding only at being a generic rock singer. At times, the record gets some help from the production which gives it a thick, rich tone, but that’s far from enough to save it. The bad photoshop on the cover is a pretty good indicator of the bad music inside. This album lives as much in the past as Whitesnake’s commercial success. As far as I’m concerned, it can stay there.

Highlight: not stated!

Score: 1.5/5

—–

Well there you go! Two very different opinions on the new Whitesnake album and I’m sure there will be plenty more around the web . For me this is an album that will live on my playlist for a while, the 2LP set and the European Bonus edition CD set on order for some time now. For a start its a new release from my favourite singer, secondly it’s mostly very much to my taste. I can’t see it lasting in Bob’s playlist past the end of the week!

Thanks Bob for your contribution. It was certainly enjoyable to read a non-fans opinion and hopefully gives the overall piece some kind of balance. I was actually surprised we agreed on a couple of things!

—–

And here is a nice Coverdale/Whitesnake slideshow collated to the magnificent “‘Til The End Of Time”…

—–

BL

Return To Main Page