The last time the mighty Whitesnake graced the pages of AltNation was back in the summer when they graced Glasgow’s Carling Academy. This album is the take-home product of that tour. The band have also been working in the studio on new compositions and four of these tracks are included in this offering. A band not short on live releases, this record follows on from 2004’s excellent “Live…In The Still Of The Night” DVD which omitted some of the songs found on this effort..
All the classics are here, kicking off with
Bad Boys, and excellent version of
Slide It In and the obligatory
Here I Go Again demonstrating that this new release is packed full of the songs that have made Whitesnake one of the all time rock greats. In terms of live performance these guys are untouchable and consistently deliver a great live show despite their collectively advancing years. A keen sense of how to entertain the fanbase is a valuable skill and ensures that the shows sell out. itf's a pleasure to find subtle changes to the arrangements that make many of the numbers sound pleasantly fresh. On tracks such as
Love Ain’t No Stranger the delight of the audience is evident as they sing along faithfully. David Coverdale handles the material remarkably well all these years on and is still what a good rock front man should be, still working hard to project the image that he’s the guy all the boys want to emulate and the girls want to take home. With the addition of new bassist Uriah Duffy they do lose some of the vocal assistance previously supplied by the excellent Marco Mendoza but this is a small consideration and really the only flaw in an otherwise superb group of musicians that are as tight as a drum.
The four new tracks are of course not subject to such critique, the bonus of these is being that Coverdale can write new material to accommodate the inevitable changes in his voice. Indeed it’s commendable that these guys still feel the need to push creatively instead of resting on their (somewhat significant) laurels of back catalogue based goodness. First offering
Ready To Rock is therefore a tad disappointing, generic riff-based rock by numbers that drops off the radar as soon as it’s over.
If You Want Me (I’ll Come Running) is a dramatic improvement with a killer pounding riff that would work superbly in coaxing a nightclub crowd to the dancefloor.
All I Want Is You strays dangerously to cheesy-anthem rock territory most commonly found in American romantic comedy montages but somehow pulls itself out of the fire with a superb vocal from Coverdale. Think later day Rod Stewart gravel-voiced goodness with a hint of a hard rock and roll life on each line. This one is a cracker that should work well live. Final offering
Dog is a bit anonymous but steady nonetheless, with all the cheeky swagger and sexual innuendo that make Whitesnake such masters of what they do.
So should you buy this? If you’re not sure whether you like the band, buy a greatest hits album instead and you’ll get a much better flavour of what Whitesnake are all about and will accurately gauge the contribution they’ve made to rock and roll as we know it. If you’re a fan then you’ll not be disappointed with this offering, it’s only failings being failings at all because of the high standards this band has already. Better still, break out your tight jeans and catch the guys when they next tour. I very much doubt anyone who appreciates a rock and roll show will be disappointed.
Whitesnake: Live...In The Shadow Of The Blues is released 27/11/06 on Steamhammer
www.whitesnake.com
