WHITESNAKE — Whitesnake (review)

WHITESNAKE — Whitesnake album cover Album · 1987 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Negoba
The Best Power Glam Metal Ever

For a very long time, this album was my favorite CD regardless of genre. I listened to this things so many times in so many moods during early High School. For one album, the stars aligned and David Coverdale's bluesy voice matched with John Sykes' huge guitars to create a masterpiece.

The riffs of "Crying in the Rain" and "Still of the Night" are simply enormous. But the faster rockers are great as well, and the few ballads work well. Sure, the album used well-oiled songwriting formulas, but the actual sound was what made this sound great. Anyone who thinks that "Black Dog" would have done as well as "Still of the Night" if it had been released in 1987 doesn't understand how much culture had changed. The song's mainly instrumental midsection is an icon, and lends almost nothing to the might Led Zep. Instead, it was a creature of the times, when the rainy night ethos was part of metal. And as much as I love Jimmy Page, John Sykes' solo on "Crying in the Rain" is simply one of the wonders of the instrument, and beyond the shred ability of Page at his peak. (I am not claiming Whitesnake was better than Zep or Page, simply that they made a perfect album at the perfect time. Frankly, Zep made some albums that are timeless.)

Something essential on this album is the energy and production. Other versions of some of these songs exist, and both Coverdale's voice and the instrumental performances just aren't on the same level as this disk. Sykes, despite a long career, really only has one well known album to his name, but on this one album, he put himself down as a monster of his instrument.

Bottom Line: 80's MTV metal at its peak.
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