Somehow in 2019 Coverdale’s still trying however and this album, Whitesnake’s first original material since 2011, is perhaps an improvement on the last two forgettable albums, but is saddled with too many tracks once again.
Written by: Dangerzone
ARTIST: Whitesnake
ALBUM: Flesh And Blood
LABEL: Frontiers
SERIAL: FRCD 950
YEAR: 2019
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: David Coverdale – vocals * Reb Beach – guitar *Joel Hoekstra – guitar * Michael Devin – bass * Tommy Aldridge – drums * Michele Luppi – keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Good To See You Again * 02 Gonna Be Alright * 03 Shut Up And Kiss Me * 04 Hey You (You Make Me Rock) * 05 Always & Forever * 06 When I Think Of You (Color Me Blue) * 07 Trouble Is Your Middle Name * 08 Flesh & Blood * 09 Well I Never * 10 Heart Of Stone * 11 Get Up * 12 After All * 13 Sands Of Time
RATING: 75/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
In my estimation Whitesnake haven’t released a great album since ‘1987’ – back in that very year itself. Granted there haven’t been many of them in the last 30 plus years, but what has appeared from David Coverdale and company has been mostly mediocre, depending on who you ask of course.
Somehow in 2019 Coverdale’s still trying however and this album is Whitesnake’s first original material since 2011, is perhaps an improvement on the last two forgettable albums, but is saddled with too many tracks once again.
It’s easy to sense more of a late 80’s approach to many of the songs, but that said there’s something about this lineup which fails to move me, despite their experience and accumulated years serving the band.
The Songs
Admittedly the opening pair of ‘Good To See You Again’ and ‘Gonna Be Alright’ are both catchy hard rock tracks, seeing Coverdale taking a trip back to 1989 with immediate impact. The poorly titled ‘Shut Up And Kiss Me’ is also energetic, Coverdale’s vocals belying his age.
‘Hey You (You Make Me Rock)’ would indicate Coverdale’s been listening to ‘Kashmir’ a bit too much again, the chanted chorus straight from the ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ album, that reference point hard to ignore. A tepid ballad is soon to follow however, coming in the form of ‘When I Think Of You (Color Me Blue)’ and it’s worn out sub-blues approach.
‘Trouble is Your Middle Name’ is an upfront rocker, in the spirit of ‘Bad Boys’ perhaps. The chorus is fairly uninspired, the melody not quite there, taking the song down a notch. The title track throws in some tried and tested riffs, this time from the ‘Slide It In’ era, sounding the most like classic Whitesnake in my opinion. It’s been a long time since Coverdale harkened back to this era.
‘Heart Of Stone’ is a slog to get through at over 6 minutes, not realty going anywhere in that time, as Coverdale copies the formula set by ‘Still Of The Night.’ There’s another fast romp in the shape of ‘Get Up’ and it’s enjoyable for sure, but as mentioned the guitar work just doesn’t do it for me.
As good as Beach and Hoekstra are, I still miss hearing the likes of Moody, Marsden, Vandenberg or Sykes. The acoustic ballad ‘After All’ isn’t needed here and the album closer ‘Sands Of Time’ has that epic feel again, barely getting a passing mark. There’s a couple of bonus tracks, not even worth mentioning, both being very average and dragging this out unnecessarily.
In Summary
I found this to be far more consistent than anything Coverdale and Whitesnake have done in a while, perhaps his most solid effort since the ‘Coverdale-Page’ album in 1993. If it had been ten tracks, it would have rated even higher on my end, but several weaker songs affect it marginally.
The best thing I can say is I wanted to hear some of the songs more than once, probably to do with the fact they sound 80’s inspired. Hardly a classic then, but at this stage it’s about as good as you’ll get.
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