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May 16 2008
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Elly Roberts reviews
Whitesnake: Good To Be Bad
Distributed by
SPV/Steamhammer Records
- April 2008
- Rating: 2/10
- Vote and comment on this album:
Hairy rockers return – after a decade. Old hat.
Fronted by one of rock’s greatest singers – David Coverdale, Whitesnake
have been knocking around for 31 years. During that time there have been 29
former members including ace drummers Cozy Powell, Ian Paice, and ex-Deep
Purple organist John Lord amongst others.
One of my claims to fame is meeting ex-guitarist Adrian Vandenberg at a
friend’s wedding in Enschede Holland in 2000.
It now consists of ever present founder member David Coverdale (vox), Doug
Aldrich (guitars), Reb Beach (guitars), Uriah Duffy (bass), Timothy Drury (keyboards)
and Chris Frazier (drums).
To celebrate their 30th anniversary, they release their first album in 10
years which features 11 new songs – eight rockers and three ballads.
For me Whitesnake always delivered the goods with power ballads. Their rockers
seemed to fall short of real quality and that still applies now. They failed
to hit the spot as much of their work left me cold, though Top 10 singles
Is This Love and Here I Go Again (1987) were top class, though
as hard as they try, nothing here matches them.
Predictably they deliver an adrenalin rush from the get-go: Best Years
is just average rock fodder; thumping riffs and horrible gratuitous solos in
attempt to create a new anthem. Dirty guitars keep the momentum going on Can You Hear The Wind Blow?,
but again it fails to impress. Call On Me has more of a commercial
appeal, but again those gratuitous solos are grating – I hate them.
Inevitably they’re looking to match past glories (and seeking a new anthem),
so All I Want All I Need is probably going to tick the box, though it’s
too reminiscent of their '80s efforts. You know its Whitesnake but that’s about
it. Sounds like they’re trying to compete with George Thorogood’s blistering
Bad To The Bone on Good To Be Bad (they even mention the lyrics)
but it’s a pitiful attempt.
The classiest moments are heard on soaring rocker All For Love, but
guess what? Those solos are back and it’s infuriating. Summer Love is nice
enough a ballad, even if it’s forgettable. Its no secret Coverdale had a thing
about Led Zeppelin in the '80s with Lay Down Your Love an undisputable
homage to them.
Got What You Need is trash rock: unbelievably bad. The best of the lot
is Till The End Of Time, a lightweight ballad. To be truthful, after a
10-year hiatus, this bitterly disappointing. Much of Whitesnake’s repertoire
was always style over substance, like a poor man’s Led Zep or Deep Purple.
Things haven’t changed.
File under: Call it a day lads.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Best Years
2. Can You Hear The Wind Blow?
3. Call On Me
4. All I Want, All I Need
5. Good To Be Bad
6. All For Love
7. Summer Rain
8. Lay Down Your Love
9. A Fool In Love
10. Got What You Need
11. ’Til The End Of Time
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online,
email Elly
or call 07765 862017.
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