Whitesnake /1987

 

Today (Oct 27th) is when the 3Oth Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Whitesnakes classic self titled 1987 is re-released! I will give Coverdale credit as the deluxe looks cool with a bunch of demos/unreleased studio tracks  and a live show from 1988 included as well along with the original running track of the album

I thought it would be a good time to repost this as I  had originally had posted  it back in November 2014! Course I have cleaned it up and added and subtracted a few things but basically I kept the vibe of it the same! Yup I preordered the deluxe off of iTunes and I gotta thank Da Heff for that!!

ENJOY….

So back in April of 1987 I tuned into that radio online show Rockline that was on 94 Fm here in Tbay on Monday nights at 1130pm – 1 am. David Coverdale was going to  be on plugging the soon to be released 1987 album and new single Still of The Night! So Bob Coburn(RIP) intros Coverdale and they play Still Of The Night and I’m blown away. Holy shit! David  and John Sykes (guitar and co writer) have blasted off a bunch of heavier up Zep riffs complete with complimentary violin bow! And man. Mine and Tbones socks were blown off!

But here comes the shocker. Ol Cov tells me the listener that there is a new Whitesnake in play! I already knew Cozy Powell had left 2 years earlier due to $$$$ but now Ansley Dunbar(drummer on the 1987 album)….. gone. Neil Murray on bass…..,.gone. The biggest shocker of all John Sykes who cowrote 7 of the 9 tracks on 1987….gone! David canned the whole band after he recorded the album( this explains no pics of the band on the album. They were all fired!) Filling the disposed members spots were Rudy Sarzo(x-Quiet Riot) Vivian Campbell (x-Dio) Tommy Aldridge(x-Ozzy ) and Adrian Vandenberg(x- of his own band Vandenberg) all good players but for fucks sake man! Whitesnake or more importantly ol Cov was turning over musicians like he was running a McDonalds!

Dave rolls different lineups on pretty much every Snake studio album. 1987 is no different from any others. Check out destroyerofharmony a WordPress blog where he describes in great detail what went down with Sykes And Coverdale. Click link below!

https://destroyerofharmony.com/?s=john+sykes+firing

Having said all this …. Whitesnake is like a soap opera man…..

Let’s check out how Sykes took Coverdale into new territories and the thanks Sykes gets is the BOOT!

CRYING IN THE RAIN-This is Covs tune from years earlier but Sykes,Murray and Dunbar tighten it up into a big rock sound and they push the sonic’s and it’s pretty clear early on that this is gonna be a big sounding rock album and  it was sounding huge on my Walkman! Sykes sets himself up a guitar hero here and its huge riffs after riffs! No fooling around with Snake 87! Bombastic let’s say!

BAD BOYS- Sykes continues his dominance with super-duper riffs and he rips right out of the opening gate with Bad Boys! Dunbar lays down some super crazy double bass and Whitesnake is shifting gears and going into parts unknown! Coverdale lays down some serious singing on this tune and well it’s great! Also of note me and Tbone went almost deaf blasting this song all summer long in his car in 87! We were cool back than! Or so we thought!

STILL OF THE NIGHT-Here it is. The song that Robert Plant hates! But that many loved and still do as its played on rock radio all the time! This is epic Snake…when Cov launches into his vocal delivery with ‘In The Still Of The Night….” Bammo Sykes kicks Jimmy Page in the nuts and steals the riff and Psyches(Sykes) us all out! Man this song is crazy good! 7 minutes of big riffs,big drums,Cov yelping ‘get over here’ and the middle section of the song that probably irked Plant most was the part  where it sounds like the violin bow which I think they used in the video for Still Of The Night! Hahaha…let it go Bobby Plant. Where all  trying to make a livin here! Now speaking of the video the hired guns are in this live video that I posted and not the real dudes that recorded the studio track! So let’s do the math here, I betcha at this show back in 87 about 98% of the people would not know the difference that these weren’t the studio guys on the record with the other 2% hollering ‘Scabs!’

Check out the live clip of Still of the Night below! The end of it is classic as the Snakes take their bow and as their running off stage Tommy Aldridge bends over in front of Coverdale and tosses something back(drumstick?) and nails Ol Coverdale right in the noggin! HAHAHA….. Classic Coverdale holding his head as he heads off stage for I’m sure a good yell at Aldridge!  You can’t make this shit up!

HERE I GO AGAIN- The video of that crazy Ol Cougar and Cov getting it on like a bang a gong and shit people fell for it. Whitesnake became a household name in North America cuz of this track which is another remake from an earlier Snake album that no one in North America heard! If anything Bernie Marsden who had long been booted from Whitesnake must have enjoyed the payday as he’s the co writer on here with Cov. I remember and I’m being honest here about liking this track and man when I heard it on the radio they jacked up the keys on it and it sounded like crap! Leave it the fuck alone will ya’s! But I know why Cov and Kalodner ( guy who signed  Whitesnake to Geffen in the US) did it. They wanted radio play and well it worked but I’m sure I’m not the only diehard  alienated by this move! Must mention that it was Adrian Vandenberg that laid  down the solo on this song and who knows why? Perhaps Sykes already had gotten the boot!

GIMMIE ALL YOUR LOVE-Sykes /Dunbar/Murray kick off side 2 with a flurry and man this song rocks and Sykes once again peels off a monster solo! You know by the 5th song here it’s like Sykes must have had to contain himself from overplaying on the Slide It In album. This album so far is full of bombastic riffs that just soar!

IS THIS LOVE?- Cov and the boys slam on the breaks and ask the lady’s Is This Love? Umm ok,this tune is really not my kind of deal but it’s ok and I know the game that is being played here. Cov and Sykes want to impress the soccer moms out there. Actually were there even soccer moms back in 87? Sykes as well must have smoked a couple of huge fattys before he did the solo as the guy slams on the breaks with his power riffing and shows us all he can chill at times! Take a bow dude!

CHILDERN OF THE NIGHT-Boom where back to mega riff central and the Snakes just riff and roll thru this blazing track! Cov sounds good on this record and man I couldn’t believe it that he had a ton of vocal troubles for a few years previous too 1987 being released!

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART- How could this not be a single? This is a great song and Sykes gets a real cool tone out of his guitar on this right of the gate! Man its 80s Rock guitar once again but you know what? This is one of those sleeper songs!  No  surprise huh? No surprise !

DON’T WALK AWAY- Cov bids adieu to 1987 Snake with this slow closer but I like it! It’s good and probably why I like it was for the fact that it wasn’t a single and overplayed to friggin death! Thanks for not getting greedy Mr Coverdale!

IN CONCLUSION- DC and Sykes created a masterpiece and people bought this thing like hotcakes and it sold millions and of course the videos further propelled the album sales but man 30 years later I can’t fathom watching that crazy chick do her thing with ol Cov.  Must say I always dug this cover as it was far away as  a Metal looking cover as possible! Kudos to artist  Hugh Syme. I’m sure John Sykes must have laughed somewhat watching those vids and I’m sure the payday he received somewhat compensated from him getting turfed! The guitar playing is just plain sick on this! Kudos to John Sykes….

 

Rainbow/Rising(1976)

 

Man what an awesome Cover! If that doesn’t make a musical statement nothing will!

My Rainbow listening habits started around the time of Rainbow’s 1982 release Straight Between The Eyes. I basically skipped the whole Ronnie James Dio (RIP)period(my bad) until just recently as this album was on iTunes for $3.98 so it was an easy peasey purchase!

Tarot Woman is a whopper of an opening. Tony Carey opens the album with a 1 minute 40 second keyboard intro. Hows that for laying down some Moog Law? The late great Cozy Powell slams the drums into gear while the rest of the chaps Jimmy Bain(RIP) and Mr Happy Rainbow Himself Ritchie Blackmore provide the sonic sizzle while Dio sings the tale of the Tarot Woman.  Blackmore does his deal with the devil during the solo while Powell is lurking int he background slamming the skins!

Run With The Wolf begins with all hands on deck. The band shifts a slower gear but make no mistake this song is still heavy in a Deep Purple like stomp of yesteryear. Not surprising considering Ritchie had a huge hand in those Purple songs. Dig the almost like slide guitar action during the solo. Great tune.

Speaking of Purple Starstruck  begins like a Purple track(You can hear how much Ritchie had a hand in those old Purple tunes). A real cool groove that chugs down Blackmore avenue and say what you want but the real deal on these tunes is Cozy Powell who is all over the place rhythmically and basically lets Richie loose in his rock caboose to do the stuff that the man in black can do on guitar!

Ritchie takes over and opens the song Do You Close Your Eyes and this is an all out Rainbow jam played at a loud volume! Dio drops down a ton of cool lyrics on this album. I guess you could say that this would be as close to a rock radio track you could get from these guys back in 76….

Powell drops down one of the coolest opening drum fills ever at the beginning of Stargazer. 12 seconds of a drum brilliance and Rainbow  will take you through the stratosphere of time changes  and what nots as only they can for oh lets say 8 minutes and 20 seconds! This song is a bonafide classic. It grabs you by the back of the neck and doesn’t let you go through sweeping musical climates yet never dulling out it just goes and goes and before you know it Stargazer is done! Hard to believe its 8 minutes plus…. On the way out of the door say hello to the Wizard will ya!

How about another 8 minute opus! A Light In The Black fits the bill perfectly and it rockets right out of the gate. Dio and crew play this song at a ferocious clip! I betcha once Powell/Bain/Cary hook up and  start rolling Blackmore goes all batty on his guitar for a good 5 minutes of this track! No ending in site for this song as the band is firing on all four’s.

It’s safe to say that if I was a little older back in 76 i would have been all over this album. It’s all here for the taking! You got Dio scripting all the lyrics to Blackmore’s pedal to the metal riffs. Powell slams the drum kit into smithereens  while Bain and Cary (with his keyboards adding not subtracting from Ritchie) add colours to the Rainbow! (ha that was sappy) Ok how about a boot in the ass! Crazy how it took me 41 years to own this!

Blackmore for a while leaves Deep Purple in the rearview mirror and forges a new identity known as Rainbow!

Great album!

MSG(1981)

So For This Week Mikey Ladano Issued A Challenge To All Of Us Blogger’s To Write A Few Reviews And Not To Go Over 200 words! 200 On The Dot Folk’s

I Will Also Post My Blog Pal’s Links So Click And Enjoy………

https://keepsmealive.wordpress.com

https://mikeladano.com

https://1001albumsin10years.wordpress.com

OK….200 word count starts below…….NOW!

1981 and Michael Schenker releases the superb MSG Album which features some serious players! Check out the list below….

Michael Schenker – lead guitar
Gary Barden – vocals
Chris Glen – bass
Paul Raymond – keyboards, rhythm guitar
Cozy Powell – drums

MSG was  my first dabble in the term Supergroup and like many Supergroups these guys dissolved after there next  release the fantastic double live One Night At The Budokan.

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. “Are You Ready to Rock” Michael Schenker, Gary Barden 3:26
2. “Attack of the Mad Axeman” Schenker, Barden 4:17
3. “On and On” Schenker, Barden 4:41
4. “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” Barden, Chris Glen, Cozy Powell, Paul Raymond, Schenker 5:21

Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
5. “But I Want More” Schenker, Barden 6:56
6. “Never Trust a Stranger” Raymond 4:24
7. “Looking for Love” Schenker, Barden 4:03
8. “Secondary Motion” Schenker, Barden 3:42
Total length:
36:47

The album is lock stock and barreled with a ton of Mikey’s fantastic soloing while Cozy Powell Drives the bus with his drumming! Gary Barden sings for his supper on this album…..

The album is of the 8 tracks 7 are flat-out rock tracks while Never Trust A Stranger is the lone slow mo like tune but good nevertheless!

A shame really Mikey could not keep this unit together!

Classic!

Cinderella/Still Climbing

Cinderella even knows the deal in 1994 as it’s the first album of theres not to feature any pics of them! Let The Music Do The Talking!

The early nineties weren’t kind to Tommy Keifer and crew! 1990s Heartbreak Station didn’t sell as much as the debut (Night Songs) and followup(Long Cold Winter) as well there tour supporting Heartbreak Station had a few issues as well.

Myself,Oinks and Andre had tickets too catch the Cinderella/David Lee Roth co headline tour with Extreme opening in  Alpine Valley in Wisconsin in July of 1991 when the whole tour was scrapped due to lack of tickets being sold! SAY WHAAAAAAA…….

Just like that Cinderalla fell from the musical map. You can’t even blame Cobain/Seattle/ Grunge whatever the music shift change was as Heartbreak Station burned to the ground before that Nevermind business stuff happened.

I read that Tom Keifer was having some serious vocal problems and that the Docs shut him down! Just like that Cinderella was kaput until…

1994 Cinderella put out the insanely excellent Still Climbing record and no one gave a fuck except for the hardcore bunch of fans or would that be handful of fans left! I have no problem saying I was and still am a fan!

Cinderella on all 4 of there studio albums did not duplicate there sound from album to album….

Night Songs..I reviewed it here…https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/sonic-waves-cinderellanight-songs/

Long Cold Winter- they tell there drummer Fred Coury to stay home and The late great Cozy Powell slams the skins on the album which has a bigger more shift in hard blues rock sound and of course some biggie tunes that you know like Gypsy Road and that ballad tune…..ha!

Heartbreak Station-was a fantastic record. The title track is a epic piece of music and shit man it’s a ballad but Keifer spins it so it’s not a I Saw Red debacle that Warrant issued but of course Warrant had more success with there single…silly public! Heartbreak Station has tons of slide guitar,horns, cool percussion and Fred does all the drums!

Which now brings us to …

Still Climbing…Which just drops out of nowhere in November of 94 and I think I may have seen like two adds for Still Climbing one I think in M.E.A.T Magazine and the other in my brothers Guitar World Magazine ..that’s it ..no Vids (I know of and even you tube I’m looking for anything posted so it might just be story time today Folks!)

Tom Keifer,Jeff Labar,Eric Brittingham and hired drum guy Kenny Aranoff(John Cougar) put out what I consider the best ever unknown hard rock record that if your hunting around in shops and come across Still Climbing pick up the damn thing……

BAD ATTITUDE SHUFFLE-scruffy old school phonogram scratchy needle scuzzing across vinyl starts this song off and before it there’s Tommy  and his voice and man it still sounds like Tommy! Bad Attitude Shuffle just flat out rocks after that. Double bass smoking drums and a real hard rock polished produced record(not overdone) just gets your attention from the get go! Labar and Keifers guitar playing are top notch and they never got the credit they deserved as they could play! Bad Attitude Shuffle goes off the rails or should i say Tom does as he hails a bunch of F bombs at the end of the song! Street cred 101 and you will get your ass kicked if you mess with Toms scarf collection!

ALL COMES DOWN-kinda of a Aerosmithy bluesy late 80s vibe complete with horns and this is driving rock! Actually these songs would have fit and in some cases would have improved Aeros Get A Grip album! Yeah kids I said that! Tommy sez  ‘ when the shit hits the fan Ya gotta stick to the fight!” Agreed! Great solo from the Cinderdudes!

TALK IS CHEAP-the crash  of All Comes Down ends with guitar buzzing and Ken on drums and Eric on bass hold,down the bottom end! Another great rock track with a added dose of Aero included in the prechorus! This song crunches hard blues rock with some real nice percussive flair and that’s the thing with Keifer he did it all in this band wrote all the tunes man those other cats were lucky man or they claim to fame would have been “would you like fries with that?!” More great solos! Shit man this album cooks full steam ahead Captian Keifer!

HARD TO FIND THE WORDS- almost a slow Stones kinda of blues ballad with almost a bit of a country rock flair! Tommy sings in a straight ahead rock voice and when the chorus fires up he goes into his patented Kiefer screech! Think the song Heartbreak Station! Lots of slide guitar and the drums keep the song moving! Basically think a mash up of the Stones and Skynryd for this one!

BLOOD FROM A STONE- nice trippy Hammond b3 start and some serious wah pedal kick Blood From A Stone and its a  straight ahead rock track!

STILL CLIMBING- Kenny does some cool snare drum rolls and Keifer and Crew join the fray for the title track! It’s a slow builder of a track and shifts gears the Hammond B3 is a perfect mix with the slide guitar action going on.

FREEWHEELIN- Cinderella does some speed and this is a throwback to the debut! Straight ahead 4 on the floor rock stomper! Nuthin gets in  Tommys way! Double bass drums,loud guitars cymbals crashing yeah CinderRock is fine in 1994! Too bad many didn’t take notice!

THROUGH THE RAIN-think Don’t Know What You Got Til It’s Gone and you have Through The Rain. Piano drives this song. I always respected Keifers deal at writing ballads. Perhaps as he did it out of the gate on Night Songs with Nobody’s Fool and he has a knack for doing it. Sure he’s playing the game but in doing so he didn’t make it so obvious! Thanks Thomas!

EASY COME EASY GO- Tyler and Pery would have killed to have had written this track themselves! I will declare right here folks this is one of my all time fav Cinderella tracks! It’s Big !Bombastic! It Cranks! It Has Class! Ha ok,ok! Seriously though this is a absolute end of the album Gem! It sneaks sleaze and cool all over the place! Big power riffs and a hook so catchy it just grabs you and makes Ya scream for more! Ha! This is a Arena Rock Junkie delight! The song in the verses sounds like a page right out of Aeroville! The chorus when Kiefer belts “Easy Commmmes……Easy Goooooooooes!  The music underneath his voice is the Shit! Snap happy piano honkytonk mixed with hard rock guitars drums and cowbell! I’m tripping on a musical Ecstasy here folks….God this is gonna get ugly!

THE ROADS STILL LONG-think Coming Home from Long Cold Winter. It’s a mid tempo kinda tune! Not bad really and give these guys credit they stuck to there formula even in GrungeMania! That’s saying something!

HOT AND BOTHERED- hey man before Fred Coury bolted he stuck around and recorded this tune which was on the Wayne Worlds soundtrack! Hot And Bothered is a  straight ahead rocker! Listen to the video!

IN CONCLUSION-Cinderella stepped up huge when the chips were down and delivered a straight ahead rock record at a time when no one gave a Crap about 80s rock! Even Nikki Sixx changed the course of The Crue and we all know what happened there! (Motley Corabi great album,no one cared must have been the year 1994!) Scoff all you like but Tommy got his voice back ramped up his songwriting, gave the other guys in Cinderella (Lebar and Brittingham) some employment and by golly I will say this may just be my fav output of  theres……

SONIC WAVES….Whitesnake/Slide It In

Who here by a show of hands has heard Slide It In the song?? Hahahaha…we all have but let me tell ya now in 2014 you  can snicker,hoot and howl but back in 84 this was a classic piece of hard Blues Rock and I’m gonna tell ya all about it!

Some background history with this release this is the album that got the Snake a foothold in North America. Gone is Bernie Marsden,Gone is Micky Moody,Gone is Mel Galley(r.i.p)Gone are both Jon Lord(r.i.p) and Ian Paice back to the reunited Deep Purple,returning is Neil Murray on bass and say hello to hot shot new guitar dude John Sykes,he of later day Thin Lizzy fame! And the great Cozy Powell on drums(r.i.p)Got it?

As you can see form the vid above this is the band with Lord( who went back to Purple shortly after this show)) playing Gambler in a hotel bar in Sweden?? These guys kick ass and from all accounts The Snakes blew off headliners Quiet Riot on there North American tour nightly.

So the deal is this, Cov I guess recorded a British version with a different mix for the faithfull diehards but in North America more specifically my house we got the North American remix but at the time I did not know this bit of tiny info but now 30 years later we may just get some debate going on this subject! In the European Version Corner we have Scottish blogger HMO and representing the North American side is Captain Canuck,Mr Ladano. Gentlemen let it rip in print !! Seriously,though these tunes especially the first three songs received a ton of vid play and still do!

But with me as always its the other songs like the vid for Gambler that I really dug and hey this my blog so enjoy the video..Hahahaha ….my rules!

Lets check on Coverdale before he bought fast cars and had that crazy ol wing nut slipping and sliding on the hood of his car 3 years later In 1987!

SLIDE IT IN- some neat guitar and bam Cozys drums kick in and man Cozy kicks ass and drives the Coverdale ship into tough seas on this and hey these lyrics have 1980s written all over em! But at the time I’m like who cares “I’m gonna slide it in right to the top! Slide it in I ain’t ever gonna stop,” seriously does it get any better than this? Cool solo now it could be Sykes,or is it Mel Galley or is it Bernie Marsden? I guess the story goes is Sykes is on the North American release as the others by this time were booted. Who the hell knows but I dig it!

SLOW AN EASY- some sleazy old school slide guitar starts off with Cov crooning and gasping for air and Cozy slams into heavy action on the drums …da da bam..dada bam..you know what I’m talking about you’ve heard this song a million times! Cool solo once again and the Snake has totally stepped up in to the big leagues with this album! 2 tracks in a were already into sleazeyville with  Mr Coverdale and his cronies!

LOVE AINT NO STRANGER- Jon Lord opens the song with his magical keys and he’s joined by Coverdale and Sykes and boom here comes Cozy kicking the song from becoming a sap ass power ballad and giving me hope and well that’s three songs in and three songs with Cozy Kickin ass! Coverdale could have used Cozy on those sappy tracks like Now Your Gone on the Slip Of The Tongue record but than again Cozy would have probably puked in his bass drum at the thought!

ALL OR NOTHING – this is a slammer of a hammer tune! Basically it’s Coverdale and his Snakes picking up a crowbar and crackin ya in the noggin and telling ya to listen up! You know the trick. Coverdale says ‘your gonna burn’ and bam were into a Jon Lord big ass sounding Hammond B3 rip snortin solo! Along with Cozy and Sykes driving the song! F’n Bravo !

GAMBLER- Shit I just love this tune and this was the tour opener for the Slide It In Tour if your keeping score! Great time changes,great solo and love the lyrics on this. It’s a tune about standing on the outside lookin at love! Ramblin,Gamblin Man Ol Coverdale was….

GUILTY OF LOVE – is the Whitesnake Xpress headed for destruction at break neck speed! You want a fast bluesy rocker. We’ll sign yourself up man and hop aboard the bus! Great synch of the keys and guitars and Coverdale gives it all on the pipes while Cozy slams those Yamaha drums into submission!

HUNGRY FOR LOVE- basically this tune is the Whitesnake Xpress slowing down due to construction ahead and it’s a different kind of groove! Love the drum mix on this record by Martin Birch! Man I miss those 1984 sounding records! But Hungry For Love  is just that! Cool I don’t need a University education to figure this stuff out! Thanks Dave!

GIVE ME MORE TIME- this track and the next two after this  are solid tunes as well and man I just love how the album doesn’t let up with this hard rock blues vibe! The Snakes say you can show different aspects of your sound and people will be cool with it like me! Neat guitar solo and solid drums,keys a great track!

SPIT IT OUT- If you don’t like it sez the Cov! Hahaha,30 years later yeah man the lyrics are corney but who the hell cares! I don’t! Back in 84 is no different than 2014 except that I’m balding/I’m broke/ I have a mortgage/ I have bills to pay .Cool catchy chorus even after all these years and Sykes/Murray and Powell drive the song! Hey u wanna be the cool guy whose pushing 50 at your next staff Christmas party! Throw on Spit It Out! Go ahead do it! ( and yeah invite me will ya!)

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS- so we go from Spitting it Out to Standing In The Shadows. This is a great song to end a great record. Cool backing vocals push the tune into super catchy status and I remember back when I received this album from parents at Xmas time 1984 that how it was awesome when bands ended albums on high notes! This is one of em!

IN CONCLUSION- don’t do it man,don’t laugh but this album is a scorcher from start to finish! David Coverdale,John Sykes,Jon Lord,Neil Murray and Cozy Powell made a super deadly slab of vinyl which I really wish i woulda kept cuz the cover of the vinyl did not feature any writing just the girl and the snake slithering down her (ahem) chest! This album is my fav all time Snake album. Also of note the touring unit of this album Powell/Sykes/Murray and Coverdale is my fav…….Next