Harry Paterson

First published by Midlands Rocks, www.midlandsrocks.co.uk March 2011

With only two releases since ‘89’s Slip Of The Tongue, it’s been a long time since that revolving musical collective dubbed Whitesnake, have released any new product. It’s been even longer since a Whitesnake album could justifiably be called ‘great’.

The huge commercial success of 1987 saw the reinvented, perma-tanned, back-combed, newly-Americanised King of the Cock Rockers, and his troupe of hired minstrels, scale hitherto undreamed of heights.  And while the runaway success of that album is beyond dispute, critically, it wasn’t a patch on either Ready an’ Willing or Come an’ Get It. Still Coverdale’s greatest post-Purple achievements.

Slip Of The Tongue, the follow-up to 1987, was, frankly, dreadful with only Sailing Ships, and possibly Wings Of The Storm, worthy of praise. Superstar shredder, Steve Vai, didn’t so much breathe new life into the ‘snake as kill it stone dead with gratuitous fret board pyrotechnics ruining even bona fide classics like Fool for Your Loving.

Since then Whitesnake has been little more than a nostalgia package, albeit one playing to packed houses, as interest in the band has risen sharply over the last few years. With live shows being little more than a greatest hits cabaret, if ever a band was in desperate need of some new material it was Whitesnake.  And so, with much anticipation, it has arrived. But is it any good? Well, first the bad news…

Dogs in the Street really ought to be renamed Dog Of A Song. It really is that poor. If you’re going to plagiarise your own material then pick one of your classics, not third-rate filler like Bad Boys, which this obviously rehashes.

Kashmir is plundered yet again and provides the source material for much of the title track, Forevermore. Credit where it’s due, though, it’s a much more subtle steal than the blatant grand larceny of Still Of The Night and, to be fair, it’s a bloody good song, judged on its own merits.

Rod Stewart’s Maggie May has more than a nodding acquaintance with the acoustic whimsy of One Of These Days but once the intro is finished the song stands on its own worth and is a refreshing counterpoint to the bluesy bombast on offer elsewhere.

We might also suggest Easier Said Than Done would be better named, Is This The Deeper Love, so cheekily does it bolt together those two earlier compositions.

Fortunately there is far more good than bad here and, overall, this is an impressive and solid reinvention from one of classic rock’s last great names.

Six string assualts are deployed by Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich and there are meaty riffs, sublime licks and scorching solos scattered all over the album. Their contributions to the excellent Whipping Boy Blues, for example, cannot be overstated.

The departed Tommy Aldridge’s drum stool is now occupied by Brian Tichy and if he lacks a little of the technical finesse of his predecessor, he more than compensates with a huge arena rock sound that meshes neatly with bassist Michael Devin’s four sting excursions.

And so to the good news: lead-off single, Love Will Set You Free, is a cracking commercial rocker. Elsewhere, the band even touchdown briefly in AOR land on, I Need You (Shine A Light), a classy, polished gem of a number that will garner approving nods and much kudos from melodic rock fans.

Pleasingly, the cock rock excesses and priapic self-indulgences are ditched, in the main, in favour of a partial return to the blues soaked territory where Coverdale has always been most effective. For a man who turns sixty in September, the famous larynx is on impressive form and is the perfect vehicle for the best collection of Whitesnake songs for decades.

There is a great deal here to enjoy and admire and Coverdale and co can justifiably feel proud of Forevermore.  And if it doesn’t match the sheer class of Ready an’ Willing or Come an’ Get it, it sure comes close. The best of the rockier aspects of 1987-era ‘snake are married perfectly to the bluesier elements of Coverdale’s earlier work and the result is a credible contender for album of the year.