Sail Away: Whitesnake's Fantastic Voyage (34 page)

“I played with the Allman Brothers
last Friday,” continues Marsden, illustrative of Whitesnake’s lasting power —
and even more so, the inclusion of Bernie on the new Jack Bruce album. “That
was at the Beacon. That’s the kind of thing I’ve been doing, you know, with Joe
and playing with other people, just to kind of put myself around as a solo act
a bit. Getting involved in that level of people. Which is fantastic, really
good, because I’m a fairly unknown quantity, in New York, especially. So it was
great; when I came out I was amazed at the reception I got. It was really,
really positive; just one of those special nights.”

Side-projects aside, Whitesnake “proper”
did indeed return to record-making, with
Good To Be Bad
, issued April
21, 2008, featuring a line-up anchored to the past, again, by Coverdale and
Tommy Aldridge. The album was welcomed with open arms, and it rocks, rolls and
roils as no less than the continuation of the goliath blues metal that shook the
world back in 1987. Alas, in keeping with our mandate to create for you a book
about the original continuous run of the band, the making of this album and its
contours must be a tale for another time.

“I just do the best I can in every given
situation,” Coverdale told
Radio Metal
, as a brief comment. “But yes, it
is funny. I had no plans to do this, so this is all a new adventure, and it’s
very fresh for me. When I revamped Whitesnake in 2003, I had no intention of
going back into the music business. I just wanted to be in the
business of making music live. That has always given me the most pleasure. So I
put together a fantastic band, and then we had so much fun touring, I said,
‘Let’s do this for a couple of months, four months maybe, each year.’ Many
years ago, I would only tour every three years, so a lot of my songs stayed
fresh. But if you tour every year, some of those songs start to feel old. And I
thought that if they feel old for me, then they’ll feel old for some of my
audience. And at the same time, the synchronicity was that Mick Jagger told me the
Stones made albums to promote tours. And I thought, ‘Oh, the other
way around to how I started!’ And he was absolutely correct: we made a new
album of fresh material, it was received incredibly well, it was very
successful. And when I toured in ‘08 and ‘09, we had 50% new music in our
shows, which energized the older songs. It was a win-win situation.”

“We were a bit apprehensive about putting
our feet back in the water for that CD,” mused Coverdale in conversation with
Rob Cavuto, mapping the transition from
Good To Be Bad
to yet another
walloping studio record,
Forevermore
, issued March 9, 2011. “
Good To
Be Bad
was so well received; it gave us a big shot of confidence, not only
for Doug Aldrich and I as the creators of the music, but the production team of
the Los Bros Brutalos, Doug, Michael McIntyre and myself. That kind of success
gives you the courage to take a step off the edge. There is no way you are
going to get some progressive silliness as we used to say in the
‘70s: ‘We must progress from the last LP.’ All of these songs are bloodline
relatives of the others. Our mission is: can we tell the story quicker and make
the songs better? The circumstance is that Doug Aldrich and I have an amazing
friendship which transitions into a fucking amazing writing partnership. It’s
almost telepathic and it has been noticeable for us in rehearsal where Doug and
the band are picking up on things immediately; there is no labour involved. To
me the consistency and versatility of the CDs are the things that are immensely
rewarding to me. Something I generally look forward to getting into the
car and cranking.”

“I think it was my co-writer Doug
Aldrich, my amazing guitarist and song-writing partner,” continued David, asked
by
Radio Metal
about the increased level of “rhythm and blues and soul”
on
Forevermore
over its predecessor. “He and I were given a boost of
confidence by the success of
Good To Be Bad
. So we just went, ‘Fuck it!’
The most important thing people know is that Whitesnake writes, plays and
performs the kind of music that we like to do. We are not creating music for
anybody else — unless you like those elements! The identity of Whitesnake
embraces hard rock, rhythm and blues, soul, melodies, amusement, fun…
Hopefully, it’s good melodies that you can remember. That’s what we do; if you
like those things, you’re probably going to like Whitesnake.”

But in the spirit of the Jagger-to-Coverdale comment above, the real work of the band was in its regular touring,
along with attendant live CD and DVD sets that kept reminding the
fans of the rich back catalogue to be mined.

Illustrating the mood and terrain of the
band as it exists as a tireless concert entity, Aldrich had told me in the
midst of 2005’s The Rock & Roll Rhythm & Blues Show Tour, “‘Ain’t No
Love In The Heart Of The City’ is one I’m really excited about playing. When we
were talking about the set, David was interested in maybe pursuing that one.
And at first I thought, well, it’s a great tune and it’s fun to play, but I’m
not sure how it’s going to go over, because it’s a different sort of vibe, you
know? But man, it went over great. That’s one of those old Bobby Bland songs
that David did, I guess on his first record? But we play it greasier than what
you would expect.”

“In North America,” continues Aldrich,
framing the modern band, “you think about ‘Is This Love’ or ‘Here I Go Again,’
and that’s killer, but there’s a whole ‘nother side to Whitesnake that people
haven’t really been familiar with, which is, it’s really a blues-based band.
And Dave is obviously one of the great blues rock singers, and it’s great to
see that song go over, so I think we’re going to keep that. And then
some stuff from
Ready An’ Willing
. There is a song from the
first Whitesnake called ‘Take Me With You,’ which is a real rocking blues song.
And then there are some surprises and little things we’re doing, like little
pieces of Coverdale Page songs. And then obviously one of the
coolest things is, we’re doing some Deep Purple stuff. We did ‘Burn’ last year,
but we didn’t do it in 2003. So as of right now, ‘Burn,’ and ‘Stormbringer,’
we’re doing a cool little medley thing. And I’ve been working on an arrangement
for ‘Mistreated,’ but that’s probably going to be down the line. Because right
now the set feels really good.”

Commenting on the material that would be
showing up on
Good To Be Bad
, Aldrich qualified, “Well, I am an old
Whitesnake fan. Obviously everyone loves what he did from
Slide It In
on, I really feel like that’s only telling half the story of Whitesnake. And I
feel that there is a way to incorporate the vibe of the early Whitesnake with the commercialism of the ‘80s Whitesnake. And that’s kind of what David and I have been banging
around. So I think, if there’s a way to have the integrity of the
old and new at the same time, that’s kind of what we’re doing. It’s
blues-based, simple, riffy, guitar-based stuff — I guess that would be the
best way to describe it. There are a couple things in the set where... there’s
a little piece of music that David and I wrote called ‘Snake Dance,’ and it’s
originally something that I was just kicking over leads and stuff, but then
I just asked David if I could kind of incorporate more of Reb in it. I was
trying to make it more like Allman Brothers-y, because I love Allman Brothers.
It’s heavier obviously than Allman Brothers, but I’m really excited about it.
It’s kind of got harmony parts, and we trade off and square off a little bit;
it’s really a positive space were in.”

At the time of writing, Whitesnake has
made no plans for a follow-up to the fine
Forevermore
record. It seemed
that David was more in the zone of victory lap, issuing live product and
celebrating anniversary reissues. There has also been an increased level of grumbling
that his leonine and legendary voice was deteriorating. There’s no shame in
that: retirement must come to us all. Although, of course, really, David — and
Robert Plant for that matter, who is somewhat within the same genre and age
range — can conceivably keep singing into their 70s, but there should be newly
written songs to reflect the richer, lower realities of the human ageing
process. And maybe they should both ditch the old songs, although in David’s
case, that may not be too practical. In other words, fortunately for both of them,
they are blues men, so ageing could open new doors to each, vocally speaking.

Meanwhile, David keeps touring, and
usually attached to retro bills with hair metal bands, most egregiously, the
Rock Never Stops tour which found Whitesnake sharing the stage with Warrant,
Kip Winger and Slaughter.

“It was very disappointing,” noted David
to our site,
BraveWords
, concerning one recent configuration. “It
created an opportunity for me to fire my management and my agent. It was
definitely not the kind of tour I was familiar with doing. And when I came
back, the first thing I did was fire the management and I’ve recently fired the
agent because he’s brought nothing to my table. I’m trying to avoid this
perception by Clear Channel of me being basically a big hair package artist. I
was in Deep Purple for God’s sake. I’ve sold 70 million records which means
more to me than three MTV videos. I’m headlining every major festival in
Europe, so what the fuck is going on over here?”

“When I was calling it a day with my
agent recently I said look, there’s no difference between people in Norway and
Chicago. There’s no difference between people in fucking Athens
and Detroit. So, why can you not get the kind of work that I’m familiar with
elsewhere? If my car won’t do 60 miles an hour, then I’ve got to buy a car that
will. It’s that simple and it’s not his fault. He’s got a particular vision and
I don’t share that vision. If it means I don’t get to tour the
States then that’s very sad, but I will not... there are some bands from the
‘80s that I really enjoy, like Tesla. Big fan of theirs; I would love to go out
there with them. In the rest of the world, I’m attracting very young... 14,
15, 16-year-olds and I’m thinking, isn’t there anything else to do in Gothenburg
on a Tuesday night? But they were singing the words to the songs and the
reason they’re coming to Whitesnake shows is because the new rock isn’t giving them
what they need. A lot of the venues they put me in in the States had a 21 years
old age limit, so anyone who was younger couldn’t get in to see me.”

And so don’t look for this old rock ‘n’
blues warhorse to hang up his microphone anytime soon. His fantastic voyage,
straddling two rich music heritages and traditions —the UK to the
US — has taken him too far to stop celebrating the trip, the Atlantic crossing
toward a world of impossible riches.

“No, no, I think retirement will be
dictated... I can’t even say that,” laughs Coverdale. “I’m still the
front man in a rock ‘n’ roll band that is still successful. Go figure. I just
got the news that my daughter had a safe and perfect delivery of our second
granddaughter. Life is rich. It is perfect. It is balanced and it’s an onwards
and forwards scenario. The songs I’m writing with Doug are terrific. The guy is
a partner made in heaven and it’s our destiny to work together
and I think I can guide this to a very successful conclusion.”

And so even if David struggles at singing
the old high energy hits — as many of these furious and feverish front gods do
— he will endeavour to stay in the spotlight. He’s too proud, too much the
entertainer, too eager to keep his youth, too ambitious for a favourable
placement in rock history. There’s good and bad wrapped up in all of that, but
mostly there’s the inspiration of the intense human spirit that resides within
the heart of a born entertainer, in this case, a man tall of self-worth
because, as John Kalodner so hyperbolically gets across, Coverdale is in
possession of a regal stature and constitution impressive enough to the point
where believing in himself that forthrightly merely reflects the reality of the
situation.

The tense bit for and against that
placement in rock history... well, that’s going to be up to David and how he
conducts the rest of his career, in effect, how he writes his retirement. Stay
too long and the old tart opens himself to ridicule; bow out with a perfect
sense of timing, and the legend of the astute and British square-jawed howler
is well an’ assured to grow, slow an’ easy, for decades to come.

Selected Discography

A few qualifying notes for you: I’ve
made a few executive decisions to keep this tight an’ tidy. First, I’ve left
off the double quotation marks around songs just to keep it neat. Also, I’m
well aware the level of detail here doesn’t match exactly the focus of the
book, in the fact that I’ve not given extensive listings for
White Snake
,
Northwinds
and
Live... In The Heart Of The City
, but then listed
all songs for
Good To Be Bad
and
Forevermore
. The reason is that
I wanted the discography to stand alone as a standard Whitesnake discography,
whereas the focus of the book is very much the first solo album through
Slip
Of The Tongue
. As well, albums released in the vinyl era get a side 1/side
2 designation, and CDs, just a straight numbered track list.

Studio
Albums

Snakebite
(September 1978)

Side 1
:
1. Come On (3:31) 2. Bloody Mary (3:18) 3. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The
City (5:07) 4. Steal Away (4:16)

Side 2
:
1. Keep On Giving Me Love (5:13) 2. Queen Of Hearts (5:15) 3. Only My Soul
(4:33) 4. Breakdown (5:12)

Notes:
Credited to David Coverdale’s Whitesnake. Tracks 1 – 4 are the
David Coverdale’s Whitesnake songs, issued on their own as an EP in the
UK to constitute the band’s inaugural output. The full album listed here
comprises those tracks plus four David Coverdale solo tracks. The album was
issued in non-UK territories as the band’s inaugural output. Personnel on the
David Coverdale’s Whitesnake EP tracks is David Coverdale – vocals, Micky Moody
– guitar, Bernie Marsden – guitar, Neil Murray – bass, Pete Solley – keyboards,
Dave Dowle – drums. Producer on EP tracks: Martin Birch.

Trouble
(October 1978)

Side 1:
1. Take Me With You (4:45) 2. Love To Keep You Warm (3:44) 3. Lie Down (A
Modern Love Song) 3:14 4. Day Tripper (3:47) 5. Nighthawk (Vampire Blues) 3:39

Side 2:
1. The Time Is Right For Love (3:26) 2. Trouble (4:48) 3. Belgian Tom’s Hat
Trick (3:26) 4. Free Flight (4:06) 5. Don’t Mess With Me (3:25)

Notes:
First output under the truncated band name Whitesnake; debut full-length album
by the band. Keyboardist Pete Solley is replaced by Jon Lord. Producer: Martin
Birch.

Lovehunter
(October 1979)

Side 1:
1.
Long Way From Home (4:58) 2. Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues (4:26) 3. Help
Me Thro’ The Day (4:40) 4. Medicine Man (4:00) 5. You ‘n’ Me (3:25)

Side 2:
1. Mean Business (3:49) 2. Love Hunter (5:38) 3. Outlaw (4:04) 4. Rock ‘n’ Roll
Women (4:44) 5. We Wish You Well (1:39)

Notes:
Producer: Martin Birch.

Ready An’
Willing
(May 31, 1980)

Side 1:
1. Fool For You Loving (4:14) 2. Sweet Talker (3:36) 3. Ready An’ Willing
(3:42) 4. Carry Your Load (4:04) 5. Blindman (5:05)

Side 2:
1. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More (5:48) 2. Love Man (5:01) 3. Black And Blue (4:03)
4. She’s A Woman (4:05)

Notes:
Drummer Dave Dowle is replaced by Ian Paice. Producer: Martin Birch.

Come An’
Get It
(April 11, 1981)

Side 1:
1. Come An’ Get It (3:59) 2. Hot Stuff (3:22) 3. Don’t Break My Heart Again
(4:03) 4. Lonely Days, Lonely Nights (4:16) 5. Wine, Women An’ Song (3:45)

Side 2:
1. Child Of Babylon (4:48) 2. Would I Lie To You (4:29) 3. Girl (3:55) 4. Hit
An’ Run (3:23) 5. Till The Day I Die (4:23)

Notes:
Producer: Martin Birch.

Saints
& Sinners
(November 20, 1982)

Side 1:
1. Young Blood (3:30) 2. Rough An’ Ready (2:52) 3. Bloody Luxury (3:23) 4.
Victim Of Love (3:33) 5. Crying In The Rain (6:00)

Side 2:
1. Here I Go Again (5:08) 2. Love An’ Affection (3:09) 3. Rock An’ Roll Angels
(4:07) 4. Dancing Girls (3:10) 5. Saints An’ Sinners (4:25)

Notes:
Mel Galley is shown as official member of the band, but as only backing vocals.
Produced by Guy Bidmead and Martin Birch.

Slide It
In
(January 1984)

Side 1:
1. Slide It In (3:20) 2. Slow An’ Easy (6:08) 3. Love Ain’t No Stranger (4:18)
4. All Or Nothing (3:40) 5. Gambler (3:58)

Side 2:
1. Guilty Of Love (3:24) 2. Hungry For Love (3:28) 3. Give Me More Time (3:42)
4. Spit It Out (4:26) 5. Standing In The Shadow (3:42)

Notes:
The above track list order is for the widely distributed US version. UK version
is produced by Martin Birch and the US version is essentially produced by
Martin Birch and Keith Olsen. Personnel for the above listed US version is
David Coverdale – vocals, John Sykes – guitar, Mel Galley – guitar, Neil Murray
– bass, Jon Lord – keyboards, Cozy Powell – drums, with additional keyboards by
Bill Cuomo.

Whitesnake
(April 7, 1987)

Side 1:
1. Crying In The Rain (5:35) 2. Bad Boys (4:07) 3. Still Of The Night (6:38) 4.
Here I Go Again (4:36)

Side 2:
1. Give Me All Your Love (3:30) 2. Is This Love (4:42) 3. Children Of The Night
(4:22) 4. Straight For The Heart (3:37) 5. Don’t Turn Away (5:08)

Notes:
The above track list and order is for the widely distributed US version, simply
called Whitesnake. UK version of the album is entitled 1987 and features two
additional tracks, “Looking For Love” and “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again.”
Official line-up for the record is David Coverdale – vocals, John Sykes –
guitar, Neil Murray – bass, Aynsley Dunbar – drums. Produced by Keith Olsen and
Mike Stone.

Slip Of
The Tongue
(November 18, 1989)

Side 1:
1. Slip Of The Tongue (5:20) 2. Cheap An’ Nasty (3:28) 3. Fool For Your Loving
(4:10) 4. Now You’re Gone (4:11) 5. Kittens Got Claws (5:00)

Side 2:
1. Wings Of The Storm (5:00) 2. The Deeper The Love (4:22) 3. Judgment Day
(5:15) 4. Slow Poke Music (3:59) 5. Sailing Ships (6:02)

Notes:
Personnel for the album is David Coverdale – vocals, Steve Vai – guitar, Rudy
Sarzo – bass, Tommy Aldridge – drums, Produced by Mike Clink and Keith Olsen.

Good To
Be Bad
(April 21, 2008)

1. Best Years (5:16) 2. Can You Hear The
Wind Blow (5:03) 3. Call On Me (5:01) 4. All I Want All I Need (5:40) 5. Good
To Be Bad (5:13) 6. All For Love (5:13) 7. Summer Rain (6:10) 8. Lay Down Your
Love (6:01) 9. A Fool In Love (5:50) 10. Got What You Need (4:15) 11. ‘Til The
End Of Time (5:32)

Notes: Japanese version contains two
bonus tracks; European version includes a bonus disc with four bonus tracks.
Personnel for the album is David Coverdale – vocals, Doug Aldrich – guitars,
Reb Beach – guitars, Timothy Drury – keyboards, Uriah Duffy - bass, Tommy
Aldridge – drums. Produced by David Coverdale, Doug Aldrich and Michael
McIntyre.

Forevermore
(March 9, 2011)

1. Steal Your Heart Away (5:18) 2. All
Out Of Luck (5:28) 3. Love Will Set You Free (3:52) 4. Easier Said Than Done
(5:13) 5. Tell Me How (4:41) 6. I Need You (Shine A Light) 3:49 7. One Of These
Days (4:53) 8. Love And Treat Me Right (4:14) 9. Dogs In The Street (3:48) 10.
Fare Thee Well (5:18) 11. Whipping Boy Blues (5:02) 12. My Evil Ways (4:33) 13.
Forevermore (7:22)

Notes: Issued with five different bonus
versions. Personnel on the album is David Coverdale – vocals, Doug Aldrich –
guitars, Reb Beach – guitars, Michael Devin – bass, Brian Tichy – drums.
Produced by David Coverdale, Doug Aldrich and Michael McIntyre.

Live Albums

Live… In The
Heart Of The City
(November 1, 1980)

Starkers In Tokyo (September 9, 1997)

Live: In the Shadow Of The Blues
(October 27, 2006)

Live At Donington 1990 (May 20, 2011)

Made In Japan (April 22, 2013)

Compilations

Greatest
Hits
(July 9, 1994)

20th Century Masters - The Millennium
Collection: The Best Of Whitesnake
(June 27, 2000)

Best Of Whitesnake
(March 24, 2003)

The Silver Anniversary Collection
(May 20, 2003)

The Early Years
(March 1, 2004)

30th Anniversary Collection
(June 9, 2008)

Little Box ‘O’ Snakes: The Sunburst
Years 1978-1982
(May 13, 2013)

Miscellaneous

This is a selected list of albums
acceptably close to the Whitesnake story, each for its own specific connection
— and yes, be mindful, there are also David’s records with Deep Purple. I
thought it might be instructive to present them in chronological order to help
with context. Note: I’ve kept this pretty tight, excluding other
Moody an’ Marsden projects, not to mention records from Powell, Lord, Sykes,
Vandenberg, Campbell and Aldrich.

David Coverdale -
White Snake
(February 9, 1977)

David Coverdale -
Northwinds
(March 4, 1978)

Bernie Marsden –
And About Time Too
(1979)

Bernie Marsden -
Look At Me Now
(1981)

Coverdale Page -
Coverdale Page
(March 15, 1993)

David Coverdale & Whitesnake -
Restless
Heart
(March 26, 1997)

The Snakes –
Once Bitten
(August
1998)

David Coverdale –
Into The Light
(September 25, 2000)

The Company Of Snakes –
Here They Go
Again
(February 27, 2001)

The Company Of Snakes –
Burst The
Bubble
(February 4, 2002)