Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Whitesnake
Label: EMI Records
Release: 1987
Runtime: 53:00
Rating: 4.5/5
»Whitesnake« (released in Europe as »1987«, and in Japan as »Serpens Albus«) was the triumphant fulfillment of the wet dream of legendary serpent-voiced frontman David Coverdale. With it, he finally conquered the top of the world’s radio charts and cracked the oh-so-coveted American market. He’d started forging his plan to turn a heartfelt blues rock band into hard rock/metal heroes of the big stadium stages three years before this massive commercial triumph dropped. Thanks to MTV hits like »Still Of The Night«, »Give Me All Your Love«, »Is This Love«, »Crying in the Rain’87« and »Here I Go Again ’87« (the last two being classics from »Saints & Sinners«, 1982, reworked for American tastes), it went down as one of the most successful and best-loved rock albums of all time. He’d already sold his soul to the ‘corporate devil’ with the American version of the previous album, »Slide It In« (1984).
Still, before recording of »Whitesnake« even began, it looked like Coverdale had already closed the book on Whitesnake. Of the heartfelt blues rock band Coverdale founded ‘way back’ in 1978 with legendary guitarist Micky Moody, nothing was left by 1985. In its place stood a hard rock attraction fronted by Coverdale, original bassist Neil Murray, young guitar virtuoso John Sykes (ex-Tygers Of Pan Tang, John Sloman’s Badlands, Thin Lizzy) and legendary drum master Cozy Powell (ex-Rainbow). Guitarist/vocalist Mel Galley, who played on »Slide It In«, was officially booted from the band over a nerve injury in his hand. Unofficially, it was because he’d pissed off Coverdale by planning, behind his back, to revive his first band Trapeze, which he revealed in an interview.
After the »Slide It In« tour wrapped in 1985, relations between Powell and Coverdale soured badly and the cult drummer decided to leave, thoroughly fed up with the singer’s dictatorial approach to running the band (Cozy later co-founded the short-lived supergroup Emerson, Lake & Powell and for a while joined Black Sabbath). At that point Coverdale was ready to end the Whitesnake story, but the top brass at Geffen, with whom he had a deal for the American market, talked him into carrying on with Sykes. Coverdale and Sykes started recording new songs in the south of France, and Murray reportedly helped with some of the arrangements. The first two songs of the new Whitesnake project were, besides »Here I Go Again’87«, also the album’s biggest hits: the epic wrecking-ball of a rocker »Still Of The Night«, which had its roots in the collaboration between Coverdale and Ritchie Blackmore back in their Deep Purple days, and the touching power ballad »Is This Love«.
Then Coverdale, Sykes and Murray moved to Los Angeles, where they held drummer auditions and picked a fellow Brit out of sixty candidates: the legendary Aynsley Dunbar (ex-Frank Zappa, John Mayall & the Bluesbrakers, David Bowie, Journey, Jefferson Starship). Once the new lineup had taken shape, they headed to Vancouver in Canada, where Sykes, with the help of Coverdale’s old acquaintance, sound engineer Bob Rock, nailed the ‘American’ hard rock guitar sound they were after. That’s when the first trouble hit: Coverdale came down with a sinus infection, which dragged production of the new album well past the deadline. Coverdale had to undergo surgery and then a rehab program, which made young, hungry-to-prove-himself Sykes impatient. His headstrong streak went so far that he wanted to re-record the new Whitesnake album, for which he’d already laid down all the guitar lines, with some other singer, a fatal mistake. As soon as Coverdale recovered, Sykes was out of the band for his scheming. The same fate befell Sykes’s ‘buddy’, producer Mike Stone, whom Coverdale replaced with Keith Olsen.
And the personnel shake-ups weren’t over yet, since David needed a guest keyboardist to handle the keyboard parts on the album and a new guitarist for the solo on »Here I Go Again’87« and the tour. He found the latter in Dutch guitar gem Adrian Vandenberg (boss of his own hard rock band Vandenberg). Vandenberg wasn’t just a first-rate replacement for Sykes but also helped upgrade the band’s looks, being yet another guitar ‘pretty boy’ who drew swooning sighs from every member of the so-called MTV generation. The keyboards on »Whitesnake« were played by seasoned old tomcat Don Airey (ex-Colosseum II, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, later Deep Purple), the best possible stand-in for the even more legendary Jon Lord. Bill Cuomo also worked on some of the keyboard parts, and thanks to his tinkering with Lord’s contribution on the American version of »Slide It In«, he didn’t exactly leave the fondest memories with most longtime Whitesnake devotees. Vandenberg was originally meant to be just an occasional player, but after the unexpected, roaring success of »Whitesnake« he became a full member, and Coverdale worked with him for years to come.
The new Whitesnake, tailored to the taste of the MTV generation and elegantly strolling the borderlands between hard rock, melodic rock and metal, conquered not only American radio stations but Europe and the rest of the world too. The American version of the album had a different track order than the European one and left out the splendid »Looking For Love« and »You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again«, which made the European release the superior one yet again, so that’s the one this review is mainly about. The epic, heavy-as-hell opening classic and big hit single »Still Of The Night«, where you can feel both their blues rock roots and a more modern hard rock influence, is one of the hardest-hitting creations in the entire Whitesnake career. From a strictly technical standpoint, it even features Coverdale’s best performance of his whole time with the ‘white snakes’, as the legendary singer hits some seriously high, ridiculously demanding notes, at least by his standards, without skimping on his trademark passionate sighs in between.
David’s raging vocal sits in the intro on top of Sykes’s irritated guitar phrases and Dunbar’s uncompromising drum fills. The ethereal symphonic arrangement, courtesy of Airey, deepens the melodramatic, enigmatic atmosphere, which peaks with a cataclysmic shift into an epic ‘metal’ section where Sykes, who according to Coverdale reportedly hated the blues, runs wild with a mouth-watering guitar solo. The main ‘star’ of this epic evergreen, one of the best creations of the entire Whitesnake career, is of course the legendary serpent-voiced frontman, whose erotic vocal performance, riding gorgeous guitar and keyboard harmonies, hits brand-new milestones of heavy rock magnificence and lyrical melodrama.
The erotically spiced music videos also did a lot for the huge success of »Whitesnake« a.k.a. »1987«. They featured Coverdale’s then-girlfriend and future (now long-ex) wife, American model Tawny Kitaen, who helped cement David’s image as the incorrigible Benny Hill of heavy rock.
The cataclysmic »Bad Boys«, with raw guitar passages from metaller Sykes, racing drum finesse from Dunbar and Coverdale at the peak of his vocal powers, keeps up the album’s hard-hitting streak and cements the legendary band’s new hard rock-metal image. The splendid »Give Me All Your Love«, with another passionate vocal outburst from David and plenty of moments for Sykes to show off his virtuoso guitar acrobatics, was the next big hit off the album. It became one of their most beloved classics mainly thanks to its melodic rock, as-potent-as-it-gets chorus, in which David doesn’t hide his traditional erotomaniac mischievousness one bit.
»Looking For Love«, a gorgeous power ballad, opens with an ethereal synth arrangement, soon joined by David’s heart-wrenching vocal confession, which, with the help of beefy guitar passages and massive drum transitions, carries this splendid creation into extremely rich ambient expanses. Sykes wouldn’t be Sykes if he didn’t squeeze in a turbulent solo, the kind no such guitar hero’s arsenal should be without. Dunbar’s closing pounding on the bass drum and one more wild guitar solo neatly deliver a proper metal finish. The re-recorded version of the »Saints & Sinners classic »Crying In The Rain« is at least twice as punchy as the original, although longtime blues rock Whitesnake devotees might accuse it of lacking soul. Sykes’s arrogant, metal passages are something else entirely from the bluesy subtlety of the legendary Micky Moody-Bernie Marsden tandem, who no doubt clutched their heads while listening to this version. Regardless, Whitesnake still play this commercially successful ‘metal’ version live to this day. The wild jamming between Sykes and Dunbar is pure balm for all fans of technically top-shelf instrumental feats.
»Is This Love«, which Coverdale and Sykes reportedly wrote originally for Tina Turner, easily became their most successful power ballad, also thanks to the picturesque video with Tawny Kitaen in the lead role. Its main charm lies in the melancholic central arrangement and David’s brilliant vocal performance, which, with the help of iconoclastic guitar phrasing, peaks in the epic chorus, right in the middle of which the incorrigible hedonist finally tears open his yearning heart. Sykes’s ‘weeping’ solo deepens its deeply confessional nature, in which, for once, there’s no trace of David’s typical erotic fantasies, just honest love, which was probably the deciding factor in its huge, ‘for everyone’ success.
»Straight For The Heart« is a straight-ahead hard rocker with a pronounced AOR note in the main chorus, where Sykes once again doesn’t spare the bristling guitar passages, while Dunbar’s dynamic drumming proves over and over why he played with some of the greatest musicians of all time in his colorful career. The hypnotic, melodic rock effect is deepened by delicious synth arrangements that highlight the epic, vocally harmonized chorus. »Don’t Turn Away« is yet another touching power ballad, with an inspiring symphonic keyboard arrangement and bristling guitar phrases, while Coverdale’s passionate vocal approach splendidly ramps up the magical mood. Here too there’s no escaping the complex guitar and drum variations from two masters of their instruments.
Most of the »Whitesnake« lyrics carry on David’s notorious tradition of writing about his latest escapades with random women, but this time honest love seems to have had a slight edge over erotic fantasies, as if the guy, who was 35 at the time, had matured just a smidge after all. »Children Of The Night« is a thrilling hard rock-metal hybrid set at a quickened tempo with uncompromising drum marches. Sykes’s jagged guitar phrases and Dunbar’s committed pounding on the bass drum diligently back David’s energetic vocal performance, in the middle of which you can clearly feel how much he enjoyed morphing from ‘old rocker’ into a teased-hair ‘hair metal brat’ at the time.
Next comes the biggest hit on the album and the most popular song of the entire Whitesnake career, the re-played version of the epic power ballad »Here I Go Again«. A synth intro paves the way for David’s passionate, yearning confession, which, after a forceful switch into a hard rock section with a punchy, wrecking-ball guitar phrase, peaks in a mighty chorus. The mouth-watering solo was played specifically for this classic by Adrian Vandenberg. American hair metal youth was thoroughly conquered by the »Here I Go Again« music video, which was on constant rotation on MTV at the time. Meanwhile Moody and Marsden, watching it, were probably breaking out in hives and thinking their former bandmate, who in their eyes had made a parody of their guitar contribution, had finally lost the plot. »You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again«, yet another hard rocking, uncompromising energy catalyst with racing drum stampedes, potent guitar passages and a mighty vocal performance from the ‘white snake’, makes an effective closer to this excellent, commercially huge, yet also supremely controversial album.
»Whitesnake« a.k.a. »1987« was a huge triumph for the ‘American-flavored’, hard-rocking version of Coverdale’s ‘white snakes’, and with a pile of big radio hits led by the freshly re-recorded »Here I Go Again«, it finally shot them into the ranks of the most successful rock bands of all time. But David’s corporate greed still wasn’t satisfied after the unexpected, massive success of this album, so he decided to cement their new status as a big stadium attraction and overhauled the band’s lineup once again. Of the lineup that recorded this album, no one but Coverdale was left for the promo tour. Alongside Vandenberg came new members: additional guitarist Vivian Campbell (ex-Dio, later Def Leppard), bassist Rudy Sarzo (ex-Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne) and drummer Tommy Aldridge (ex-Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne), the latter two being the rhythm section of the ‘retired’ heavy rock project M.A.R.S. This lineup played the tour promoting the new album and appeared in the aforementioned videos for all the major »Whitesnake« hits.
Lineup
David Coverdale – vocals
John Sykes – guitar, backing vocals
Neil Murray – bass guitar
Aynsley Dunbar – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Don Airey – keyboards
Bill Cuomo – keyboards
Adrian Vandenberg – guitar solo on “Here I Go Again”
Production
Mike Stone and Keith Olsen
Track list
1. Still of the Night
2. Bad Boys
3. Give Me All Your Love
4. Looking for Love
5. Crying in the Rain
6. Is This Love
7. Straight for the Heart
8. Don’t Turn Away
9. Children of the Night
10. Here I Go Again
11. You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again
