Whitesnake - Slide It In

Originally dismissed as a Led Zeppelin knockoff, Whitesnake, fronted by ex-Deep Purple singer David Coverdale, clattered around their hometown of Yorkshire, England for about six years before being discovered in the U.S. Their U.S. debut (fourth album) Slide It In (1984) captured the libidinous, restless spirit of frustrated youth, and climbed to No. 40 on the Billboard album chart. Eventually, it went double platinum on the back of the stealthy, pulsing "Slow An' Easy" and the propulsive title track. Shortly before recording the album, Coverdale recruited former Thin Lizzy guitarist John Sykes, who provided the band with the flair and technical wizardry it needed to become a contender in the big-hair, pop metal sweepstakes. --Jon Wiederhorn Amazon.com

Whitesnake sliding from bluesy hard rock to flashy hair metal

This album forms the transition between the early, bluesy, Bad Co./Paul Rogers sounding Whitesnake that came before, and the flashy-guitar, Led Zeppish hair metal we all heard on the radio in America in the late 80's. The overall effect is a solid, somewhat bluesy mid 80's British hard rock. I've found this CD grew on me over time - it's a little more solid rockin' than the early days (which I now prefer, though) and a little more feeling and bluesy than the flashy later albums.
I have found out recently that there was a different version released in Britain first, with original guitarist Micky Moody and more organ (by the best organist in rock, Jon Lord - who, however, kind of sits back in his days w/ Whitesnake), which might be preferred by the fans of the earlier era of the band.
A note on the lyrics - whereas some bands (e.g. Aerosmith) are known for a bit of sexual-innuendo, Whitesnake really goes over the top, such as song titles like "Slide It In" and "Spit It Out" should indicate. But then, we're talking about a band whose name is a euphemism for "wang", so what should we expect :) That being said, Coverdale has a rich, bluesy voice with a lot of feeling and there is a fair amount of emotion in these songs (as well as horniness), and this is the last we hear of him before he goes for that screaming Robert Plant metal style. April 24, 2008

A classic rock album with John Sykes

You can listen for the first time John Sykes with whitesnake, but you can hear the first led zeppelin influences of David Coverdale!
This cd is one of my favorite! June 28, 2007

The peak of Whitesnake.

Slide It In represents (to me at least) David Coverdale and Whitesnake at their peak. While this album didn't quite set any sales records when it initially came out back in 1984, word of mouth spread about it and it reached respectable gold status here in the states. After the self titled 1987 album blew things wide open, people would go back and check out Slide It In and push it's overall sales to double platinum.

As a few other reviewers have already mentioned, this album was originally recorded back in 1983 and came out in Britain first. On the advice however of Whitesnake's new A&R rep with their new lable Geffen, David Coverdale would re-mix the album, add some flashier guitar parts on the tracks and re-sequence the song listing.

I have never heard the original British version, but most Whitesnake fans seem to agree that it's the superior version compared to the American version.

Even if you end up getting the more widely available American version, you'll end up getting one of the best hard rock albums to ever be made.

While David Coverdale's sexist at times lyrics can get kind of goofy here and there, his surefire delivery and amazing range manages to sell every single line with the utmost sincerity and authority.

The backing band is amazing as usual with keyboards by ex-Deep Purple member Jon Lord, seering guitar leads by John Sykes (on the American verion only) and thundering drum work by Cozy Powell. The bass work is a little lower in the mix compared to their prior albums to this, but it still is rumbling and moves things along quite nicely.

Slide It In represents to me a perfect balance between their blues/rock past and the much more commercial direction that they would go in with their next release.

Any discerning hard rock or 80's metal fan would do wise to snatch up this album as I feel that it greatly represents this band at the height of their musical prowess. October 26, 2006

Original release please?

This album is great. Admittedly. But the original, British mix, including Colin Hodgkinson (instead of Neil Murray) and Mel Galley (instead of John Sykes)is far, far superior. The music haad far more balls and less flash. The mix, with Cozy's drumming, was like atomic blast after atomic blast on my stereo. I remember that well 20-something years later! Release the British mix. American releases always suck by comparison. July 5, 2006

An underrated classic

This, in my opinion, was Whitesnake at their peak before getting less consistent with their next 2 releases 1987 & Slip of the tongue. It was where they combined their bluesy rock with commercialism to just the right balance. The previous release, Saints and sinners has also got that winning formula. Thats why they picked 2 songs off that album to make 1987 as popular as it was. Those songs of course being Here I go again and crying in the rain. Whitesnake were never as consistent as they were on this and Saints and sinners. It definitely would have been interesting to see what the follow up to this record would have been like had Coverdale's main collaborator, Mel Galley, not been forced out of the band due to an unfortunate accident (involving his successor John Sykes). Oh well. After that the guitars and overall production was given too much American hard rock treatment and its probably because of that that the majority of people remember the band for the 1987 album and being referred to as a "poodle rock, hair rock etc" band which isn't really accurate considering what the majority of their work consists of. March 13, 2006

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