David Coverdale proves that being an elder statesman in a quintessentially-accepted young man’s game is a shot in the arm to these young whippersnappers; these young alpha-male rules simply don’t apply to him. After the fine 2008 effort Good to Be Bad the legendary and unfairly stigmatized band made famous for its ballads in the mid-80’s has re-emerged with Forevermore, an even better venture than its predecessor. The shame of Whitesnake is its constant association with an AOR-friendly album from ’87 that seems to be the band’s most noted or important work as opposed to its stellar hard rock efforts like Lovehunter, Ready an’ Willing and Come an’ Get It from 1979 through 1981. Still and all, Forevermore takes the best of both eras and offers a strong rockin’ album.

Mister Coverdale once again gathers guitarists Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach to assume the musical backdrop, but replaces bassist Uriah Duffy with Michael Devin and drummer Chris Frazier with Brian Tichy respectively. Timothy Drury also returns to keyboard duties for the recording as well. While the Good to Be Bad lineup was just as solid as it could be, the changes seem to be only a positive because this album is simply great all around.

The opener “Steal your Heart Away” hits pretty hard and that classic Coverdale vocal rises up and over the music so effortlessly that I’m impressed beyond reason that he still manages to sound so great. Granted, the Deep Purple Burn days are long gone, but Mr. Coverdale knows just how far to push his voice and to what degree, and his delivery is just fine, even retaining that smoky, potent stretching of his lines as he is famous for doing. The harder-edged ballad “Easier Said Than Done” is one of my favorites on the album; it almost has an “All the Young Dudes” feel to it, and this makes for a perfect moment of slowing down the tempo without totally giving over to the ballad-from-AOR-hell quota. However, just as you’re enveloped in the mood of that song, “Tell Me How” kicks your ears back into ‘rock mode’ just as quickly. I went into the album expecting somewhat typical Whitesnake and it’s what I got, yet with a harder edge that will delight some fans with a slight trepidation and satiate the longtime fan that expects nothing less.

The pitiful part of this is that Whitesnake could have no less than three, maybe four singles on the radio if the times were different and we weren’t drenched in an endless syrupy sea of pop star mediocrity. I was one of those that complained loudly when the band started getting radio play back in 1987, and I can only long for those days some 20-plus years later; seriously, who truly saw the music industry pimping itself out to this degree? Well, the good thing is that long-standing fans of Whitesnake will relish this release, as well they should, and hopefully some wayward fans or drips like me will venture back and see what a tremendous album this is for what it is - straight forward rock without compromise or apology.

“One of These Days” is a very typical “reminiscing” track that makes you want to just jump in the car and take a long ride with the windows open and air blowing your long, metalhead hair around as you abandon you ‘kvlt” status for an afternoon. It’s right up there as one of my favorites on the album; it’s simple, yet strong and not utterly drenched in a plastic or expectant tone, either lyrically or musically. “The bluesy, Zeppelin feel from “Whipping Boy Blues” is just a breakneck pace for Whitesnake, and it is flat-out terrific! As the rest of the album moves forward, I’m really amazed at the powerful guitar work that really updates the ‘snake to the modern day while retaining its ingrained style from its early days into its mid-80’s heights of success. In fact, I dare say that the dual axe attack on this record is the best since Slide it In back in 1982. I’ll be surely reacquainting myself with those records after this one, that’s for sure.

The band is playing the Rocklahoma fest in Oklahoma this summer, as well as releasing an, old but classic 1990 Castle Donington performance by mid-summer, so try and check them out if you’re close by. No other U.S. dates have been confirmed just yet, but this show will be well worth checking out not just for nostalgia’s sake, but because they’re still kicking serious backside with this record.                     

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Steal Your Heart Away
2.  All Out of Luck
3.  Love Will Set You Free
4.  Easier Said Than Done
5.  Tell Me How
6.  I Need You (Shine a Light)
7.  One of These Days
8.  Love and Treat Me Right
9.  Dogs in the Street
10.  Fare Thee Well
11.  Whipping Boy Blues
12.  My Evil Ways
13.  Forevermore

Total playing time: 61:31

Release Date: March 29, 2011
Label: Frontiers Records

Whitesnake - Forevermore

Reviewer: Chris

March 27, 2011

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