In May 1979, the band went back in to the studio to record the follow-up to ‘Trouble’. In a few short weeks they were done and on October 1st, 1979, the band released “Lovehunter’ to the masses. The album was recorded by Martin Birch who did ‘Trouble and they recorded at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire in the Rolling Stones Mobile and it was later mixed at Central Recorders Studio and Sauna in London. Sauna??? That is freaking weird. Anyway, the album did modestly and reached #29 in the UK Chart. Not a smashing success, but it did chart.
The album was rather controversial. Not for the music, no that wasn’t it. It was that cover. And oh what a cover!! It was a picture of a beautiful lady straddling a huge snake. Oh, and she is naked!! If only the U.S. had this album back in the day…why couldn’t my brothers have owned this one because at 10 years old, I would have really loved this cover. The artist was Chris Achilleos who was known for fantasy artwork and I believe he was very distraught over the controversy as it was the last album cover he did until 2003 when he did the album cover for Glenn Hughes’ album ‘Once and Future King Part 1’.
This album would end up being Duck Dowle’s last album as the drummer for Whitesnake as he was replaced shortly after the release by former Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice which would bring the total of ex-Deep Purple members to three.
After David Coverdale finished recording his last solo album, ‘Northwinds’, he found that his touring band was already trying out new songs and ‘Northwinds’ hadn’t even come out yet. The album finally came out in March of 1978, but by this time, David had already figured that his current touring line-up was already a band and needed to record its own album, which it did in March and April of 1978. By June 1978, the band released a four song E.P. titled ‘Snakebite’. It was listed as David Coverdale’s Whitesnake and it was the start of something amazing.
By September 1978, the album was released as an 8 song double E.P.. That is the copy I have and I will be reviewing. If I ever find an original ‘Snakebite’, you can bet your ass I will be grabbing it.
The 8 song double E.P. has the 4 original songs plus it steals 4 tracks from David’s last solo album ‘Northwinds’. It took the 4 best and now we have a pretty smokin’ album.
Since this was now a band, let’s see who was in it at this time.
David Coverdale – vocals
Micky Moody – guitar
Bernie Marsden – guitar
Neil Murray – bass guitar
Dave Dowle – drums
Pete Solley – keyboards
Yes, it is a quite a lethal combo on guitars with Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden. That double guitar work is what makes Whitesnake so incredible. This line-up changes again for the next album, but by only one person and that person makes a huge difference. That is a little teaser on what is to come with the next review.
The insert I have for the vinyl sleeve is still in tact and has the lyrics to all the songs and writing credits. And I think my album might have been a promo or on a cut-out sell as the bottom right corner has a nice slice out of it.
Okay, enough chit chat, let’s get to the heart of the matter…the music.
SIDE ONE:
The first song is “Come On” written by David Coverdale and Bernie Marsden and right away you can hear how big the guitar sound is. The song is a pure rock song with a great groove and a blistering solo. A great opener and I love the fact that David has two Deep Purple references in the song…“Soldier of Fortune” and “Gypsy”.
Then we get into the Coverdale penned “Bloody Mary” which opens with a piano and Pete slamming the keys. Jump up and dance and feel the music. It is pure joy and magic and two songs in and I am already loving every minute of it.
David goes back to his blues roots as he covers Bobby Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” written by Michael Price and Dan Wise. This love song is down and dirty, a blues rock song slowed down into a beautiful ballad. Oh, and the solo…wow! It fit the song so well and pulled out even more emotion. Not even an original, this song is a signature Whitesnake classic as they are still known to pull this one out and play it live.
The last song from the original E.P. is “Steal Away”. The writing credits on this one are for everyone in the band which is nice to see. The opening riff on the slide guitar is nothing short of spectacular. The song is gritty and a dirty and I love the blues rock feel. David’s vocals are spot on and for me this is my highlight on the whole album.
SIDE TWO:
Side two has 4 songs from ‘Northwinds’ as I mentioned earlier. The first one up is “Keep on Giving Me Love”. It has a funkalicious guitar riff by Moody that could have come from Glenn Hughes playbook. “Keep on Giving Me Love” has a great groove and is a rocking opening track and excites me as what is to come. Coverdale’s vocals have an edginess to it and Moody rips through a nice solo.
“Queen of Hearts” is full of pianos and there is a nice bass thump before the song slams into gear and really gets going. A groovy and bluesy song that becomes a banging good time.
“Only My Soul” is a fantastic rock ballad with a great soulful feel to it in the guitars playing. This has Whitesnake all over it. Alan Spenner, on bass, lays down a nice groove with the keyboards playing along with it during the musical interlude before David comes back and brings it home.
The final track is the most rocking song, “Breakdown”. It is pure Whitesnake. Moody & Coverdale hit it out of the park with this one and they rock it out like nothing else. The song is about the downfall of Deep Purple. The 4 songs pulled off ‘Northwinds’ were the most rocking tracks and 3 of the 4 were written by Moody and Coverdale. When he writes with the guitarists, we tend to get the most kick ass tracks.
Track Listing:
Come On – Keeper
Bloody Mary – Keeper
Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City – Keeper
Steal Away – Keeper
Keep On Giving Me Love – Keeper
Queen of Hearts – Keeper
Only My Soul – Keeper
Breakdown – Keeper
Track score is easily a 100% with 8 out of 8 tracks being keepers. As far as the albums overall score, I will break it down in to two scores. As a 4 song E.P., this is easily a 5 out of 5 Stars as those 4 songs on Side One are spectacular. What a slamming introduction to the band. Now, as an 8 song double E.P., I will ding it a little as I think only two of the extra 4 songs are Whitesnake contenders and the other two are just good songs, but not necessarily Whitesnake material. For that, I give the version I have a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars which is still pretty freaking great!! This is a an absolute must have for any Whitesnake fan.
For My Sunday Song #100, we are ending the Power Ballad set with a true classic, Whitesnake’s “Is This Love” off the 1987 album simply known as ‘Whitesnake’ or ‘1987’. The song reached all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped propel Whitesnake into the stratosphere of rock stardom.
This midtempo power ballad was written by David Coverdale and the great guitarist John Sykes. They wrote it during the writing sessions for the album in one of the worst places you could possible be, the south of France (read as sarcasm). They recorded in David’s villa called Le Rayol. It must have been rough.
The song was actually going to be used for Tina Turner until Geffen heard the song and quickly put the brakes on that. Although David thinks Tina would still have been great for the song and you know I think he is right.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 