This time around the tone reflects a side of Whitesnake not seen for decades, with a slight return to the bands sound during the early years when Micky Moody and Bernie Mars den were providing the riffs.
Written by: Dangerzone
ARTIST: Whitesnake
ALBUM: Forevermore
LABEL: Frontiers
SERIAL: FRCD 509
YEAR: 2011
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: David Coverdale – vocals * Reb Beach, Doug Aldrich – guitars * Michael Devin – bass * Brian Tichy – drums
Additional Musicians: Timothy Drury – keyboards * Jasper Coverdale – vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Steal Your Heart Away * 02 All Out Of Luck * 03 Love Will Set You Free * 04 Easier Said Than Done * 05 Tell Me How * 06 I Need You (Shine a Light) * 07 One Of These Days * 08 Love And Treat Me Right * 09 Dogs In The Street * 10 Fare Thee Well * 11 Whipping Boy Blues * 12 My Evil Ways * 13 Forevermore
RATING: 60/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Despite the mediocrity of 2008’s ‘Good To Be Bad’ it was successful enough to ensure another go around for old David and whoever happens to be in Whitesnake at any given time.
This time around the tone reflects a side of Whitesnake not seen for decades, with a slight return to the bands sound during the early years when Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden were providing the riffs.
That’s not to say the album is ‘Lovehunter’ revisited, as there are nods to every era of their history, only this time the ‘Americanized’ Whitesnake isn’t quite as prevalent. Does this result in a great album though? You’d think so.
The Songs
‘Steal Your Heart Away’ sees Coverdale rambling away with his usual lyrics about stealing love any way he can and the blues leanings recall the ‘Coverdale/Page’ release from the dark days of 1993. A promising start, even if we’ve heard it all before.
There isn’t much separating ‘All Out Of Luck’ musically and the most notable aspect is Coverdale’s vocals, which sound as good as ever and are a return to his style of singing back in the Deep Purple days.
Recalling the late 80’s is ‘Love Will Set You Free’ and I’m trying to count how many times I’ve heard Coverdale sing the line ‘try to understand, my heart is in your hands’.
There has to be a ballad and it doesn’t take long to materialise, ‘Easier Said Than Done’ treading familiar territory only lacking prominent keyboards to give it an AOR feel.
In all honesty ‘Tell Me How’ and ‘I Need You (Shine A Light)’ are both stale hard rock workouts and knowing there’s still seven tracks left is pretty disconcerting.
‘Dogs In The Streets’ is one of the better tracks, perhaps the ‘Bad Boys’ of the album, with Coverdale singing about staying out all night in the neon heat until the sun comes up. The lyrics actually provide more amusement than the music, although the lack of ‘black sheep of the family’ is a let-down.
The drawn out acoustic nature of ‘Fare Thee Well’ sounds like a Rod Stewart track from 1975 and seems rather forced, again it’s all been heard before and better from Coverdale.
The weakly titled ‘Whipping Boy Blues’ is another blues based excursion as you’d expect, but there’s something missing, a compelling chorus perhaps? Definitely.
The marathon continues with ‘My Evil Ways’ which is an attempt at a fast paced rocker, not bad thanks to the guitar work but that’s about it.
With so many tracks to digest placing the seven minute title track last was unwise and melodically this is a blatant copy of Led Zeppelin‘s ‘The Rain Song.’ I don’t know what Coverdale was thinking here, especially at the 1:54 mark. It’s note for note stuff. It doesn’t matter that the song gets heavier, it’s already tainted.
In Summary
This has been getting rave reviews all over the internet but I find it to be incredibly dull. I can’t put it more plainly.
Perhaps if it had been trimmed to ten tracks it may have been more tolerable, but this 13 song business doesn’t work for me. Even with repeated listenings deciphering songs from each other is a challenge.
True it’s heavier than the last few Whitesnake efforts and more traditional, but that doesn’t translate into musical success. Maybe I’m just jaded but this doesn’t cut it.
Whitesnake on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
