SONIC WAVES….Whitesnake/ Live…… In The Heart Of The City

Welcome to Whitesnake Week here at Arena Rock Tbay! Now all you early am readers to my blog don’t choke  on your Cheerios but I thought I would try Something different here and talk about 4 albums by Whitesnake this week that run from 1980 to 1989!

The first time I heard Ol Whitesnake was at this dudes house whose name was Darcy. He had a older brother named Stacy so Stacy asked me ( this was around say 1982ish) if I had heard of the band Whitesnake? I had! In Circus magazine they were written about a bit but not much. That day for better or worse I became a follower and my first introduction to the Snake was the live album …..Live In The Heart Of The City. Once I heard it I was hooked I had not heard a band like this before with blazing Hammond B3 organ,crazy drums,bluesy wah wah solos and a singer with a very unique charismatic voice and man I was hooked! Deke,welcome to the world of old school hard blues rock!

Now this album was recorded in 1980 but by the time I got my paws on it it was like I said around 82 or so and man here’s David Coverdale and with him are two cronies from Deep Purple,Ian Paice and Jon Lord(rip),on bass is Neil Murray and guitars Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden. So you knew these guys well the guys from Deep Purple are gonna be laying down some serious hard blues rock and by golly did they ever!

Lets check out what these ol buzzards were doing that one night when the LIVE button was pushed!

COME ON- Are You Ready shouts Dave and ol Cov begins the nights festivities! Come On is a great track! Great lyrics and and a great heavy sound but not so heavy where it drives the track crazy and makes me nauseous! But one that is awesome. OK PEOPLE THIS IS OL SNAKE THERE ARE NO CRAZY CHICKS SLIDING AROUND ON THE HOOD OF CARS WITH THIS INCARNATION OF THE BAND…reason being…THEYRE UGLY! Sorry had to point that out if your looking for that version of the band check back  here on Friday! Cool opening number and I was hooked. Actually of note also is the backing vocals there supreme on this release.

SWEET TALKER-I’m sure Cov was taking home most of the pay with Whitesnake but he would pass around the accolades of others in the band. This song he chirps Micky Moody before the solo (and also before Jon Lord destroys his organ as well on the solo)which would help me the listener at home distinguish who was playing what solo! Cool lyrics as well like…first time I ever heard the phrase….’Bitch is in heat!” Hahaha,sorry ladies!

WALKING IN THE SHADOW OF THE BLUES- Cov tells us all that this song features the other guitar player Bernie Marsden and boom great song. Ian Paice on drums and Neil Murray on bass are locked and loaded on this tune and it rips along at break neck speed. Cov tells us all that he loves the blues in this tune and yep so do I at Whitesnakes volume level which is at 10 !

LOVE HUNTER- is a 10 minute song and it goes without saying that this is one of the best songs on here it features everything,some crazy assed slide guitar by Moody interlocked with Paice on the drums. Myself as a 15 year old never heard crazy jams like this and I guess it’s the Deep Purple coming out of them in Love Hunter(great title) can’t say I blame em.

AINT NO LOVE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY-side two begins with a super slow bluesy number which a lot of it is crowd participation! This is hard slow blues rock driven by Paice on the drums! Super cool tune…..

FOOL FOR YOUR LOVING- No more sez Cov and he introduces it as the song that the British fans put in the top 20 and yep for all you later day Snake fans,ol Cov redid this track on the Slip Of The Tongue record from 1989 which Steve Vai(love him with Roth/ not so much in Whitesnake) basically manhandled his wang dang guitar bar to the point of brutality in a Whitesnake hard rock blues band! Anyways back to 1980 and hey man this is the way this song should be played!

TAKE ME WITH YOU-The Snakes are gonna exit the building and there gonna rock it out big time! This is Whitesnake playing there style at a 100 mph and not easing off the gas pedal! This album and song left me wanting more. This was heavy rock played a different way and for me it was ok !

IN CONCLUSION-for my introduction to Whitesnake this is a pretty damn good spot! Lots of Cov saying “eres a song for ya!” Lots of great musicianship these cats could play. I totally love and rocked to this album and yep the YouTube clip that is posted for Sweet Talker is the cover of the album If your looking for Slip Of The Tongue Whitesnake here, just keep trucking pal,just keep trucking!