There are two different ways of remembering Whitesnake. For many of us in the UK, the name brings to mind the blues-rooted band of Trouble, Lovehunter, Ready an’ Willing and Come an’ Get It. For many American listeners, the story begins with the bigger, heavier sound that took David Coverdale and the band around the world.
Craft Recordings has reissued three albums from that second chapter on vinyl: Slide It In, Whitesnake—which many of us simply call 1987—and Slip of the Tongue. Playing them together has reminded me how much changed between 1984 and 1989. It has also made me rethink my ranking of the three.
First, the records themselves
These editions follow the original US single-LP configurations. The pressings in my review copies were fine, with no imperfections that I could see, although the records arrived with some dust and benefited from a clean. They also come in glossy printed inner sleeves, and I found the discs rather tight to remove. Take care when you first slide them out. I would put the records in separate poly-lined inner sleeves for long-term protection; as regular Now Spinning readers will know, this is something I would like to see included with every new vinyl release.
There is another interesting point about the presentation. For a band so closely associated with the image and videos of the late 1980s, these three sleeves leave the musicians largely out of sight. You are free to meet the music without a band portrait telling you how to place it in time.
Slide It In (1984): the album I nearly missed
I did not rush to buy Slide It In when it appeared. I had started to pull away from Whitesnake after Saints & Sinners, and titles such as “Slow an’ Easy” and “Spit It Out” made me think I knew what I was going to hear. What brought me back was the single “Love Ain’t No Stranger”. I played its B-side, “All or Nothing”, first and realised I had missed a trick.
This reissue presents the US version of the album, and that is the version I prefer. The guitars give the songs an extra push, while Jon Lord’s Hammond organ still connects them to an earlier Whitesnake. John Sykes was an exciting presence around this time. I remember being a guitarist in the 1980s and hearing people talk about him in Birmingham: the look, yes, but above all the talent. Revisiting the album now, I hear a stronger and more satisfying record than I gave it credit for in 1984. My affection for it has grown over the years.
Whitesnake (1987): the one that still takes my breath away
I can remember a friend bringing round the 12-inch single of “Still of the Night”. That opening stopped me in my tracks. It felt far too immense to be a single, and that was precisely its power. Through a good pair of speakers, the riffs and the rise and fall of the arrangement still sound extraordinary to me. If I made a list of my hundred favourite rock tracks, it would be on it.
There is far more here than that one song, of course. “Crying in the Rain” features a magnificent John Sykes guitar solo, and the album captures what Coverdale and Sykes achieved together, whatever happened between them afterwards. “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love” introduced the band to a vast new audience. Yet the performance I return to most is “Don’t Turn Away”. In its closing minutes, Coverdale reaches somewhere especially soulful and moving. It remains my favourite vocal performance of his.
Some listeners understandably prefer the earlier blues band. I was there for that music too, but I cannot reduce this album to its hair-metal image. When I put the record on, I hear a huge, dramatic hard rock album whose songs and performances justify its reputation. It is still my number one of these three.
Slip of the Tongue (1989): the surprise of this revisit
This was the album I expected to leave in third place. I have never played it as often as the other two, and the new version of “Fool for Your Loving” still feels a little forced to me. I understand why Coverdale wanted more listeners to hear songs from Whitesnake’s earlier years, but this particular remake has never been the reason I reach for the record.
Spending time with the whole album again changed my mind. Steve Vai’s guitar brings a different kind of scale to the music, and there are more songs here that I want to revisit than I had remembered. “Now You’re Gone” is wonderful; “Kitten’s Got Claws” is exuberant rock and roll; and “Wings of the Storm” drives everything forward. “The Deeper the Love” gives us the melodic side of the band, while “Judgement Day” and “Sailing Ships” show its appetite for something more epic.
What I hear now is Coverdale continuing to expand his idea of Whitesnake. He wanted drama, melody, guitars and a voice that could fill a vast space, without losing the blues feeling underneath it all. Slip of the Tongue may be the most bombastic of the three, but hearing it alongside its predecessors makes that ambition easier to understand and enjoy.
My ranking now
Before this review, my order would have been 1987, Slide It In, then Slip of the Tongue. After playing all three several times, 1987 stays at the top, while Slip of the Tongue moves into second place. Slide It In is still a terrific album; the change says more about what I have rediscovered in its successor than about anything it lacks.
Together, these records tell a story of a band moving from its British blues-rock beginnings towards a vast, theatrical hard rock sound. They also remind me why it is worth taking an album off the shelf again, even one you think you have already made your mind up about.
What is your ranking of the three? And did you come to Whitesnake through the early albums or through the records that made them a global name?
BUY WHITESNAKE : SLIP OF THE TONGUE ON VINYL HERE
BUY WHITESNAKE : 1987 ON VINYL HERE
BUY WHITESNAKE : SLIDE IT IN ON VINYL HERE
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
