Listen, I know, on a Stones forum, this could be flame city. But I also know there's absolutely a section that either likes this band or SHOULD like this band. Every few years I get into a total Whitesnake mood and just destroy their discography.

What I'm talking about here is 1977-1983 Whitesnake, which is an often forgotten or erased Whitesnake. I know people could box them into a Journey, Styx, Motley Crue, Poison sort of band to look down on and laugh at. That is NOT what prime Whitesnake really was. Its what they became but they were a powerhouse before they sadly became a joke. It is almost a Fleetwood Mac situation where, its almost two completely different bands over two eras; just one was massively more successful than the other and one was, unjustly written off into obscurity.

The band was just out of this world outstanding. You had the duel guitar chops of Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody that were akin to a Dick Wagner/Steve Hunter partnership in just perfectly working off each other. Its also similar to Alice Cooper's guitarist Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton. Bernie wrote most of the songs with David Coverdale, similar to how Michael Bruce did with Alice, and I would argue in his later age similar to a Mick Taylor type. Just a man with great chops, a sort of pudgy man who let himself go but with an unbelievable talent. Micky Moody played incredible slide guitar and was the lead guitar player, similar to a Glen Buxton, where he could just make any song he touched so much better.

Add in the phenomenal bass playing of Neil Murray and the king of keyboards Jon Lord (from Deep Purple) and you were dynamite. Their drummer on the first several albums, Dave Dowle, was nothing extraordinary, but when they later picked up Ian Paice, also from Deep Purple, they were truly unstoppable. This was a six piece force to be reckoned with. You also can't forget about David Coverdale, who again became a joke but at a time was exactly what you wanted in a singer. He had a completely unique voice, wrote great and funny lyrics that perfectly fit those songs, and was an incredible stage presence. The band was never just HIM in that time, but he steered the ship and did a great job with it.

Also behind it were incredible songs and albums. Their first 5 records or so (up to Slide It In) are fantastic front to back, as well as their live album which shows the band in their glory just completely crushing it. They probably peaked albumwise with Ready An Willing, but Lovehunter is also a great starting place throughout, and Come An Get It is an excellent record too. After the original band left in 82/83, the band kind of disintegrated. Slide It In is a massive departure to their sound, even though it produced two of their best songs in the title track and Slow And Easy. From there though, it just became a shell of what it once was. Coverdale became embarrassing, the songs either became wimpy or guitar workouts that weren't all that memorable. To his credit, Coverdale 20 years later brought in a guy Doug Aldrich who, as laughable as it is, brought a new sound to Whitesnake that was needed, and was key in creating two albums that were overdue and are welcome additions to their early catalogue with Good To Be Bad and Forevermore.

But for me, Whitesnake has always been that original band, again very similar to Alice Cooper and the original BAND that surrounded it. Those 6 guys made magic, and I hate that it is so often overlooked and forgotten. It is blues rock at its absolute finest and I know many here would really enjoy it if they've never heard it. I understand shitting on Coverdale and Whitesnake, and a lot of it is warranted, but the way many feel about that forgotten era of Fleetwood Mac led by Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer, Bob Welch... there is a story there that is very similar with Whitesnake and it deserves more recognition.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-11-27 12:12 by RollingFreak.

All I know of Whitesnake is the late '80s big hits era...the Sykes/Campbell/Adridge/Sarzo years.

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keefriff99
All I know of Whitesnake is the late '80s big hits era...the Sykes/Campbell/Adridge/Sarzo years.

And thats not surprising but truly sad. I see it as very similar to how most people think Fleetwood Mac started with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There's a whole other era (better era as some would argue) that you're completely missing and is very much unfairly minimized in history. I only bring it up here because I think many Stones fans would enjoy the music before Whitesnake became a parody of itself, as their albums Lovehunter and Ready An Willing, and their live album Live In The Heart Of The City, are just the tops. A must for blues hard rock fans. Every member of the band is the best in their class. Not flashy the way Whitesnake became, but just solid as @#$%& hell and incredible musicians and songwriters that don't get nearly the due they deserve.

Wine Women and Song: [www.youtube.com]

Walking In The Shadow of the Blues: [www.youtube.com]

Lie Down and Trouble: [www.youtube.com]

Also, what's always been hysterical is some of their biggest hits from the late 80s (Here I Go Again, Crying In The Rain, Fool For Your Love) are just remakes of songs they had written and recorded on earlier albums. Unnecessarily and just shows all the good songs they had were written by this original stable band.

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RollingFreak

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keefriff99
All I know of Whitesnake is the late '80s big hits era...the Sykes/Campbell/Adridge/Sarzo years.

And thats not surprising but truly sad. I see it as very similar to how most people think Fleetwood Mac started with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There's a whole other era (better era as some would argue) that you're completely missing and is very much unfairly minimized in history. I only bring it up here because I think many Stones fans would enjoy the music before Whitesnake became a parody of itself, as their albums Lovehunter and Ready An Willing, and their live album Live In The Heart Of The City, are just the tops. A must for blues hard rock fans. Every member of the band is the best in their class. Not flashy the way Whitesnake became, but just solid as @#$%& hell and incredible musicians and songwriters that don't get nearly the due they deserve.

Wine Women and Song: [www.youtube.com]

Walking In The Shadow of the Blues: [www.youtube.com]

Lie Down and Trouble: [www.youtube.com]

Also, what's always been hysterical is some of their biggest hits from the late 80s (Here I Go Again, Crying In The Rain, Fool For Your Love) are just remakes of songs they had written and recorded on earlier albums. Unnecessarily and just shows all the good songs they had were written by this original stable band.

First Whitesnake album I got was Live In The Heart Of The City. I knew who they were and I knew they were popular in England but they were fairly unknown here. Saw them on the Slide It In tour when they opened for Quiet Riot in 84. Coverdale was awesome and they had John Sykes and the late, great Cozy Powell on drums! I used to get Kerrang magazine at an import shop in Vancouver and I was amazed when I read they were headlining Donnington in 83 and ZZ Top was below them! ZZ was huge in North America with Eliminator.
Saw Snake again in 87 when they opened for Motley Crue on the Girls tour, excellent show again. By then I believe Vivian Campbell was one of the guitarists and Tommy Aldridge was drumming. What a great album that was with Still of the Night and Here I Go Again remake. Gotta hand it to Coverdale, he gets great drummers. Saw again in early 90s when Steve Vai was guitarist.
I see they will be touring with Scorpions down under. That would be a great double bill. I know Coverdale's voice isn't too good anymore, but none of the older hard rock singers is now!
I'm sure the Whitesnake setlist varies tremendously in England versus North America, where it would be mostly songs from their 80s albums.

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RollingFreak

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keefriff99
All I know of Whitesnake is the late '80s big hits era...the Sykes/Campbell/Adridge/Sarzo years.

And thats not surprising but truly sad. I see it as very similar to how most people think Fleetwood Mac started with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There's a whole other era (better era as some would argue) that you're completely missing and is very much unfairly minimized in history. I only bring it up here because I think many Stones fans would enjoy the music before Whitesnake became a parody of itself, as their albums Lovehunter and Ready An Willing, and their live album Live In The Heart Of The City, are just the tops. A must for blues hard rock fans. Every member of the band is the best in their class. Not flashy the way Whitesnake became, but just solid as @#$%& hell and incredible musicians and songwriters that don't get nearly the due they deserve.

Wine Women and Song: [www.youtube.com]

Walking In The Shadow of the Blues: [www.youtube.com]

Lie Down and Trouble: [www.youtube.com]

Also, what's always been hysterical is some of their biggest hits from the late 80s (Here I Go Again, Crying In The Rain, Fool For Your Love) are just remakes of songs they had written and recorded on earlier albums. Unnecessarily and just shows all the good songs they had were written by this original stable band.

I knew they'd been around since the late '70s, and that they were a much different band than their MTV/Tawny Kitaen heyday, but I've just never gotten around to checking that period out. I'll listen to the above songs.

I am a HUGE Whitesnake fan, started with Here I Go Again, in '87, but as I was also just getting into music at the time, I soon discovered that they had a plethora of other albums, all of which sounded nothing like what their self-titled album did. Come And Get It is a great great album, and really all of that early stuff is VASTLY different from the hair metal era that launched them. Very British blues akin to those early Fleetwood Mac years. Great stuff.

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VoodooLounge13
I am a HUGE Whitesnake fan, started with Here I Go Again, in '87, but as I was also just getting into music at the time, I soon discovered that they had a plethora of other albums, all of which sounded nothing like what their self-titled album did. Come And Get It is a great great album, and really all of that early stuff is VASTLY different from the hair metal era that launched them. Very British blues akin to those early Fleetwood Mac years. Great stuff.

Its so good! Glad to see another fan!

I'm a fan of the Paice and Powell era. The recent reissue of Slide It In is great. Coverdale was a great live vocalist back then.

Saw them earlier this year in Melbourne,Florida and it was a good gig.His voice sounded fine.

I remember the 84 show when Coverdale announced they were going to play a song that would be on their next album called Crying In The Rain. At the time I didn't realize it was released a couple years earlier on the Saints and Sinners album. The 87 version was a lot harder and had Aynsley Dunbar on drums!
Tommy Aldridge has been the drummer now for many years. I remember when he was with Ozzy's band and Pat Travers before that. When Ozzy came to Vancouver in 81 on the original Blizzard tour, I didn't go but a buddy of mine went. First thing I asked him was how was Randy Rhoads. He said great but then he went on about how great Tommy Aldridge was, especially his drum solo where he plays with his hands. I think he still does that now.
There's a good Youtube video of a Whitesnake concert in England where Bernie Marsden comes on stage to play Fool For Your Loving.

couple of me mates have white snakes....
They're always get 'em out and scaring the rest of us ….



ROCKMAN

Coverdale had a great voice, and was great with Deep Purple on the Burn album.
'70's era Whitensake seemed a poor mans Deep Purple meets Led Lep meets Rainbow meets generic heavy British blues rock- though there were a couple of decent tunes (the original Fool For Your Lovin' the only one I can think of).
The more commercial '80's/MTV era was as sappy as can be, though I did like Love Ain't No Stranger and even Here I Go Again (first version) though neither have aged very well.
The Coverdale/Page collaboration was nothing but a bad joke....I recall being excited at the prospect of it prior to release, but it turned out to be complete crap no matter how you look at it.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

I figured you'd probably join with snarkiness, especially about Page, and I knew when you did I'd leave it at that cause I just don't wanna deal with it.

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DGA35
There's a good Youtube video of a Whitesnake concert in England where Bernie Marsden comes on stage to play Fool For Your Loving.

Yes, its a wonderful clip and warms my heart. I love when original longtime band members play together.

[www.youtube.com]

I believe Bernie is really the only one Coverdale is still pretty friendly with. Occasionally Bernie guests and Coverdale just guested on Bernie's solo album. Micky Moody I don't believe speaks to Coverdale anymore and hasn't for awhile, same with Neil Murray I think. Don't think Ian Paice has a problem with him but just they don't see each other. Jon Lord has unfortunately passed, and no one really cares about the original drummer. I did see them recently (free tickets) and Tommy Aldridge was very good. Impressive drummer and did do the hand thing. The rest of the show was "eh". I saw them a few years back with Doug Aldrich touring new material and THAT was pretty decent, even though a far cry from the period I adore. But the best I could ask for at this moment. The free one I saw was basically my worst scenario where it was literally those 3 80s albums (Slide It In, 1987, and Slip Of The Tongue) and Coverdale had gone downhill vocally.

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RollingFreak
I figured you'd probably join with snarkiness, especially about Page, and I knew when you did I'd leave it at that cause I just don't wanna deal with it.

Wasn't seeking a reply or any interaction with you, was just adding my two cents to this thread from my own perspective. You then say "you're going to leave it at that cause I just don't wanna deal with it", but then hypocritically go out of your way to direct a reply at me and adding "snarkiness" (a snarky comment itself), once again taking it to a personal level. If it really bothers you to read someone else's opinion, maybe you should learn to either ignore it or accept it.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-11-26 07:41 by Hairball.

I was into Whitesnake 1979-1982 (ish) and the only album I have is Live In The Heart Of The City + a couple of radio broadcasts on cassette tape. I saw the Coverdale/Marsden/Moody/Murray/Lord/Paice line up twice and they were pretty good live but I gave up when Coverdale went poodle perm and spandex trousers to appeal to the US market. Fair play to him, I think he succeeded but the heavy British blues era was the best for me.

I bumped into Bernie Marsden and had a chat with him at The Concert for George in 2002 – top top bloke!

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Valeswood
I was into Whitesnake 1979-1982 (ish) and the only album I have is Live In The Heart Of The City + a couple of radio broadcasts on cassette tape. I saw the Coverdale/Marsden/Moody/Murray/Lord/Paice line up twice and they were pretty good live but I gave up when Coverdale went poodle perm and spandex trousers to appeal to the US market. Fair play to him, I think he succeeded but the heavy British blues era was the best for me.

I bumped into Bernie Marsden and had a chat with him at The Concert for George in 2002 – top top bloke!

Damn thats so awesome! That you met Bernie AND that you saw that band in their prime live. Agree with you, its a love hate thing with Coverdale. I like that it brought him and the name Whitesnake the success they clearly weren't having before. I hate that it ruined what was one of the blues rock outfits in that era. It was a necessary evil to survive, and I applaud his ability to do so, but yeah, visually and songwriting wise it kinda ruined him (even though its the era people know and like so clearly he did something right).

Thats so cool to hear you saw them. Can't imagine what that was like. And I'd love to see or interview Bernie Marsden these days. He's full of so many stories and very active Twitter but just only plays shows in the UK it seems. And he unfortunately doesn't play with Moody or any of the other Whitesnake guys anymore which he did 15-20 years ago.

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Hairball

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RollingFreak
I figured you'd probably join with snarkiness, especially about Page, and I knew when you did I'd leave it at that cause I just don't wanna deal with it.

Wasn't seeking a reply or any interaction with you, was just adding my two cents to this thread from my own perspective. You then say "you're going to leave it at that cause I just don't wanna deal with it", but then hypocritically go out of your way to direct a reply at me and adding "snarkiness" (a snarky comment itself), once again taking it to a personal level. If it really bothers you to read someone else's opinion, maybe you should learn to either ignore it or accept it.

Hairball, it´s your right to have another opinion and to post it here. Keep on going.

Personally I LOVE the early Whitesnake that ends with the exit of Jon Lord. The change of the band into hairmetal was a bad decision in my opinion, as well as the new recordings of fool of your loving and Here I go again which is ruined by the new arrangement.
But then: Coverdale / Page: I loved that record and called it one of my faves for years. After a long time I listened to it this spring and was heavily disturbed by the 80-production and the massive reverb that is used. This album deserves a new remix, the songs, singing and playing are fabulous!
I was excited to hear, that Whitesnake re-recorded the purple-stuff some years ago but found it dissapointing.
But the video "purple-tour" is really fun to watch.

for me, Coverdale is one of the best rock singers of all time.
Yes, his voice aged, and he sounds quite rusty these days which is kind of charming. But come on, compare with Robert Plant, which voice now is quite worse. These are old men, what do we expect?
By the way, I prefer the 70s Mick Jagger voice compared to the voice these days. But it´s good, to know them beeing alive and singing and still making us happy.

That line up with Bernie , and Ian Paice and Jon Lord is up there in my ranking and no one can deny the force of a front man that David Coverdale is . Bernie is very well thought of in the guitar community !

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deardoctor
Personally I LOVE the early Whitesnake that ends with the exit of Jon Lord. The change of the band into hairmetal was a bad decision in my opinion, as well as the new recordings of fool of your loving and Here I go again which is ruined by the new arrangement.
But then: Coverdale / Page: I loved that record and called it one of my faves for years. After a long time I listened to it this spring and was heavily disturbed by the 80-production and the massive reverb that is used. This album deserves a new remix, the songs, singing and playing are fabulous!
I was excited to hear, that Whitesnake re-recorded the purple-stuff some years ago but found it dissapointing.
But the video "purple-tour" is really fun to watch.

for me, Coverdale is one of the best rock singers of all time.
Yes, his voice aged, and he sounds quite rusty these days which is kind of charming. But come on, compare with Robert Plant, which voice now is quite worse. These are old men, what do we expect?
By the way, I prefer the 70s Mick Jagger voice compared to the voice these days. But it´s good, to know them beeing alive and singing and still making us happy.

Agree with almost all of that. The Page-Coverdale album was alright. I thought it had a few pretty memorable songs on it, Pride And Joy being a great single that I still think stands today. Otherwise, everything you said was spot on.

And yeah, I know that Bernie is super well respected in guitar communities and just wish he could get some more recognition to the mainstream. He's in a group of those guys that never fully gets his due, moreso than others simply because he was in Whitesnake during the not famous era.

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deardoctor

Hairball, it´s your right to have another opinion and to post it here. Keep on going.

The respect is mutual deardoctor.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Hi,

all of my love and respect for this first Whitesnake.

I think the same had happened with Rainbow, their fist albums with the great Dio are one band and their next albums without him are a complete diferent band.

bye
Fernando

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Fernandobsas
Hi,

all of my love and respect for this first Whitesnake.

I think the same had happened with Rainbow, their fist albums with the great Dio are one band and their next albums without him are a complete diferent band.

bye
Fernando

So true. Since You've Been Gone is a good song, but otherwise, there's only one Rainbow to me and its the one with Dio. Those first 3 albums and live album are as amazing as anything.

So true. Since You've Been Gone is a good song, but otherwise, there's only one Rainbow to me and its the one with Dio. Those first 3 albums and live album are as amazing as anything.

Yes, we have the albums from this good old days when the Snakes and Rainbow rocked the world.

Long live rock and roll !!!!!!

Bye
Fernando

i love all eras of this band. coverdale and his band can really write hooks

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keefriffhard4life
i love all eras of this band. coverdale and his band can really write hooks

I have unwarranted hatred for their middle era just because it meant the end of such a great early era. In fairness to them, there's great songs in that middle 3 album run. Slow And Easy is easily one of my favorite songs by them, Slide It In the title track is right up. Love Ain't No Stranger, Still Of The Night, Cheap & Nasty, Kittens Got Claws, and Sailing Ships are all very good songs. There was enough that I thought was solid, but it was just the end of a great era that bugs me.

Having said that, as previously mentioned, their newer era, while laughable for a band from the 80s, was actually really good. Their album Good To Be Bad was an incredible return to form combining great songs and the heaviness they had in the 80s. Thats a solid album through and through. And the follow up Forevermore was also pretty good. Honestly, when Good To Be Bad came out it really changed my mind about their whole middle era. I have to applaud Coverdale, and particularly Doug Aldrich who spearheaded the whole thing and added the new blood that band needed, for a great late era work.

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RollingFreak

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keefriffhard4life
i love all eras of this band. coverdale and his band can really write hooks

I have unwarranted hatred for their middle era just because it meant the end of such a great early era. In fairness to them, there's great songs in that middle 3 album run. Slow And Easy is easily one of my favorite songs by them, Slide It In the title track is right up. Love Ain't No Stranger, Still Of The Night, Cheap & Nasty, Kittens Got Claws, and Sailing Ships are all very good songs. There was enough that I thought was solid, but it was just the end of a great era that bugs me.

Having said that, as previously mentioned, their newer era, while laughable for a band from the 80s, was actually really good. Their album Good To Be Bad was an incredible return to form combining great songs and the heaviness they had in the 80s. Thats a solid album through and through. And the follow up Forevermore was also pretty good. Honestly, when Good To Be Bad came out it really changed my mind about their whole middle era. I have to applaud Coverdale, and particularly Doug Aldrich who spearheaded the whole thing and added the new blood that band needed, for a great late era work.

i really enjoy "now you're gone". most of the others you named too

Also a really good one. I didn't mind most of it (although its funny if you just skip through that 1987 album, literally every song starts with the exact same guitar slide. The Still of The Night one just over and over again lol), it was really just stuff like Is This Love and The Deeper The Love and those kind of ballads I just hated. But that was also like any other band at that time. The 1987 album, while not really my cup of tea, has the most solid musicians behind it. Skyes, Anysley Dunbar and Neil Murray. You can't beat that. Like you said, Coverdale always got great musicians to back him. Gotta give him props there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-11-27 02:41 by RollingFreak.

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RollingFreak
Also a really good one. I didn't mind most of it (although its funny if you just skip through that 1987 album, literally every song starts with the exact same guitar slide. The Still of The Night one just over and over again lol), it was really just stuff like Is This Love and The Deeper The Love and those kind of ballads I just hated. But that was also like any other band at that time. The 1987 album, while not really my cup of tea, has the most solid musicians behind it. Skyes, Anysley Dunbar and Neil Murray. You can't beat that. Like you said, Coverdale always got great musicians to back him. Gotta give him props there.

i don't really like the 2 ballads you named. i like "now you're gone" though

Yeah, I like it too cause its not the same as the others. I like a good ballad, I just like it done well and Now You're Gone is in that vein.

Yes, RollingFreak, and no, but after eight years of sticking around here and over 3,900 posts you'd understand to do one thing: Mark this thread OT.