1989 was for me a truly great year for hard Rock music. I can repeat that fact until I am blue in the face. Though strangely, Whitesnake’a album wasn’t counted among them. It did not move me one iota.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Whitesnake
ALBUM: Slip Of The Tongue
LABEL: Geffen
SERIAL: GHS 24249
YEAR: 1989
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue list
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: David Coverdale – vocals * Steve Vai – guitar * Adrian Vandenberg – guitar * Rudy Sarzo – bass * Tommy Aldridge – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Slip Of The Tongue * 02 Cheap ‘an’ Nasty * 03 Fool For Your Loving * 04 Now You’re Gone * 05 Kitten’s Got Claws * 06 Wings Of The Storm * 07 The Deeper The Love * 08 Judgement Day * 09 Slow Poke Music * 10 Sailing Ships
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Here’s another review of Whitesnake’s ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ originally reviewed by Jeff H a few years back. I’ve had this in draft form for ages and have only recently dragged it out of the archives.
1989 was for me a truly great year for hard Rock music. I can repeat that fact until I am blue in the face. Though strangely, Whitesnake’a album wasn’t counted among them. It did not move me one iota.
I think by this stage, David Coverdale had moved so far to the right that the band became totally unrecognisable from their origins a decade earlier. The flashy clothes, poodle hair, over the top videos, it was all about excess. It’s no wonder the flannel brigade from the grunge years took over a short while later on the time line.
No doubt the ‘1987’ record was a massive selling LP with hit singles included. The key to that album (for me at least) was John Sykes.
No matter how hard Coverdale tried to paper over the cracks after Sykes was dismissed, the album was all about his guitar wall of sound. The bloke might be hard to work with, but he is a musical genius.
There’s no Sykes on ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ but here is Steve Vai. Another creative genius if slightly oddball and technically left of center. Coverdale and Vai sounds like a great pairing, but the collaboration sank like a stone.
By 1989, Vivian Campbell had left for The Riverdogs, Adrian Vandenberg had sustained a hand injury and though credited, did not play one note on this album. Vai instead undertook all guitar duties.
The Songs
So what of the songs? A mixed bag and certainly not as consistent as the material found on ‘1987’. I think that much of what was written previously by Jeff still applies to this article, particularly around Steve Vai not being a good fit.
As with many releases reviewed at GDM, some songs work, some don’t. For instance, I’m not quite sure why ‘Fool for Your Loving’ was given a end-of-the-decade update. To me that was a totally pointless exercise.
The title track is an out n out rocker, a high energy blast to set things off. ‘Cheap An’ Nasty continues the hi-octane innuendo. ‘Now You’re Gone’ is a decent power ballad which I quite liked. However, the pure AOR wimphem which is ‘The Deeper The Love’ I’ll admit is pretty classy stuff.
Even the mind bending guitar work on ‘Kittens Got Claws’ knows how to leave a scratch mark. The slow burn grind of ‘Judgement Day’ didn’t quite convince, nor did the cheesy bump n grind of ‘Slow Poke Music’ which as you might have guessed has nothing to do with cowboys. The album closer ‘Sailing Ships’ has the obvious nautical theme for a ballad, the sitar makes for an unusual flavour though the lyrics were good.
In Summary
Despite my overall indifference to this album, it did reach high into the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The following year, the band headlined Castle Donington, and after commitments were completed, Coverdale put Whitesnake in mothballs, returning in 1997 for their ninth studio album ‘Restless Heart’.
Whitesnake on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
