Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Whitesnake
Label: EMI Records
Released: 1982
Running time: 39:16
Rating: 4.5/5
»Saints & Sinners« was the fifth studio album from British blues/hard rock titans Whitesnake. It was another step forward in their artistic evolution and brought them solid success on home turf, despite the many troubles that dogged its making. In 1981, three years after the band’s formation, Whitesnake were completely burned out from nonstop touring and wild after-show parties where the booze flowed like water, while the bed of the snake-hipped singer David Coverdale was never cold for even a second, thanks to one fan or another. The legendary guitarist Micky Moody, a founding member alongside Coverdale, felt that exhaustion and lack of fresh ideas the most, so at the end of 1981 he decided to leave his fellow sufferers behind. In the following months of 1982, his old guitar buddy Bernie Marsden followed, along with the multi-talented bassist Neil Murray and drum legend Ian Paice. The only one who stayed ‘loyal’ to Coverdale was the legendary keyboard maestro Jon Lord.
The situation was pretty sad, since Coverdale himself was growing more and more unhappy about the fact that, despite their success in Europe, after ambitious studio efforts and long, grueling tours the band kept ending up without any serious money, which had vanished ‘who knows where’. So he fired their then-manager John Coletta, who he’d worked with since his Deep Purple days, and took over the managerial reins himself. The late Coletta had managed Deep Purple from 1968 to 1976 and also ‘looked after’ Rainbow alongside Whitesnake, but that didn’t save him from David’s wrath. The road to Coverdale’s transformation into a full-blown dictator was thus wide open, but that was exactly what Whitesnake needed at the time if they wanted to finally break through commercially on the international stage.
At the end of 1982, when »Saints & Sinners« was taking its final shape, he did manage to convince Moody to return to the band, which had started mutating into a new form yet again. Paice decided in January 1982 to join Gary Moore. Murray made the same move, though in 1984 he came back to Whitesnake at Coverdale’s invitation. Coverdale quickly found Paice’s replacement in Cozy Powell (ex-Rainbow, Jeff Beck), another drum legend, but on »Saints & Sinners« he still used the drums Paice had already recorded. Former Trapeze guitarist/vocalist Mel Galley came in to replace Marsden, but on this album he only contributed backing vocals, while his predecessor’s guitar lines were kept. The same goes for Murray’s bass lines, which the new bassist Colin Hodgkinson (ex-Alexis Corner, Back Door) never touched. The album was thus recorded by a lineup that was already history by the time it came out.
»Saints & Sinners«, which convincingly carried on the successful blues/hard rock Whitesnake story, is best known for containing two huge hits: »Here I Go Again«, their most famous classic ever, and »Crying in the Rain«. Both evergreens were re-recorded for their commercially most successful album, »Whitesnake«, in 1987, polished up and tailored to ‘American taste’, but that happened when Moody and Marsden, who would never have allowed it, had long been out of the band. In its original »Saints & Sinners« form, the superb »Crying in the Rain« is a hard-hitting blues rocker at a somewhat slower tempo, with potent guitar passages. David’s furious vocal outburst takes center stage, peaking in a mighty chorus, since this is yet another in the series of songs inspired by Coverdale’s split from his first wife. Murray impresses here too with a mix of juicy bass lines, while Marsden, with the harmonic help of his old guitar buddy, casually serves up an iconoclastic solo on the side.
In its original form, »Here I Go Again« wasn’t yet the famous, commercially most successful achievement of their career, but compared to the later ‘metal’ version it was undoubtedly played with a lot more heart, especially when it comes to the guitar sound. Everything about this evergreen is still balm for the ears today: from Lord’s original organ solo intro and the vocal harmonies to the epic chorus, where the incorrigible hedonist of a singer, for a change, bares his broken heart and sets off down the lone road, hitting some unusually high notes for him. The guitar harmonies, led by Marsden’s solo, are brilliant and deepen the overall melodramatic atmosphere. Which version of »Here I Go Again« is better, the blues rock one or the hard rock/metal one, is of course down to the individual and their musical taste, but still, David’s later guitarists never managed to capture the exceptional emotional depth that radiated from the original take by the Moody and Marsden duo. The most striking change, though, hit the original lyrics, since the verse with the word ‘hobo’ (a drifter/migrant worker) vanished from the reworked version, because Coverdale was afraid some people might mishear it as ‘homo’.
»Young Blood«, whose title is more than just symbolic, is a mighty album opener bursting with hard rock potency and massive drum fills, while dramatic vocal harmonies under Coverdale’s passionate vocal patronage are accompanied by juicy layers of Hammond organ. The singer, wise in every trick, once again couldn’t help but confess his deepest erotic fantasies in the lyrics, which he describes in vivid detail in the bouncy »Rough an’ Ready«, another song with all the trademark Whitesnake blues rock finesse, led by a colorful interplay of energetic guitar lines, with plenty of improvisation from both guitar masters. Mr. Coverdale does everything he can, in his brash vocal style, to satisfy his wild erotic fantasizing, which at times borders on bad taste.
His hedonistic daydreaming continues on »Bloody Luxury«, which is built on simple but effective boogie rhythms under the energetic command of Lord’s saloon piano and Paice’s untamed drum fills. »Victim of Love«, where David’s vocals are, once again, as angry as can be over the heartache inflicted by his latest ‘victim’, features snarling guitar phrasing, a wickedly smeared layer of Hammond organ and a melodic chorus pushed to the front. »Love an’ Affection« is a mischievous blues rocker with dirty guitar phrases, playfully moody Coverdale vocals and a bouncy rhythm packed with massive drum fills and passionate organ flourishes.
»Rock an’ Roll Angels« is a near-danceable celebration of David’s onstage and backstage fans, with boisterous piano passages and lewd guitar passages up front. »Dancing Girls« is a seriously punchy energy charger with a mighty chorus, and the lyrics are so banally dumb that they’re actually fun. A much-needed shot of sophistication comes from Lord’s ridiculously juicy organ solo, while Paice is once again uncompromising in attacking the drum kit. The album’s cheerful closer, »Saints an’ Sinners«, rests on combative guitar phrases, massive drum fills and the vocal mischief of Coverdale, who could never quite decide whether to sing about his women as sex objects, the source of all his troubles and suffering, or a wellspring of romantic longing. The enigmatic yet passionate atmosphere suits the album’s colorful cover quite well, with Psyche and her lover Eros alongside a mysterious white snake, an animal often used in antiquity as Aphrodite’s creature.
»Saints & Sinners«, which holds the original versions of the most famous songs of their career, was one of the best moves of Whitesnake’s blues rock era and a more than fitting farewell to the most stable lineup in the band’s story. Life inside the Whitesnake camp under Coverdale’s increasingly authoritarian command was never the same again, especially after Moody and Lord left in 1984, as followers of the band found it harder and harder to keep up with the constant lineup changes. On the other hand, after »Saints & Sinners« the dawn was breaking on their most successful, and also most controversial, period.
Lineup
David Coverdale – vocals
Micky Moody – guitar, backing vocals
Bernie Marsden – guitar
Jon Lord – keyboards
Neil Murray – bass
Ian Paice – drums, percussion
Mel Galley – backing vocals
Production
Martin Birch
Track list
1. Young Blood
2. Rough an’ Ready
3. Bloody Luxury
4. Victim of Love
5. Crying in the Rain
6. Here I Go Again
7. Love an’ Affection
8. Rock an’ Roll Angels
9. Dancing Girls
10. Saints an’ Sinners
