Whitesnake - Snakebite

Great!

Ain't no love in the heart of the city......ain't no love in the heart of town, the first ep of the band Whitesnake, i love this cd, you can listen some songs of the fist 2 albums of Coverdale. June 25, 2007

Underestimated classic

In reply to some earlier reviews, actually Snakebite DID come out (at least in Europe) in the late seventies/early eighties as a full album, exactly as it is presented here on CD. It contained the original four-song Snakebite EP plus four of the best songs from Coverdale's solo album Northwinds.

Snakebite is different from Whitesnake's other work, because it is mostly a mixture of Southern Rock and Deep Purple-style early Metal, while later Whitesnake is more blues rock/boogie influenced and even later Whitesnake is pop metal/hair metal oriented.

So this is really an unique effort. It is true that Northwinds is also worthwhile buying separately and that half of the tracks featured here you already get on Northwinds. But between them the full Snakebite album is better than Northwinds, and Snakebite is a superb album in its own right, not just a loose amalgamation of songs.

The heart of this album is formed by three fantastic mid-tempo steamrollers of early metal ("Come On", "Keep On Giving Me Love", and "Steal Away") that gracefully avoid the hard rock cliches (because they weren't invented yet!), and three equally fantastic heartfelt ballads (the awesome power ballad "Queen of Hearts", and the classics "Only My Soul" and "Ain't No Love (In the Heart of the City)").

If they had added a few more songs of this high standard instead of the less convincing "Bloody Mary" and "Breakdown", then Snakebite would have been one of the all-time masterpieces of metal, on a par with, let's say, Sad Wings of Destiny (Judas Priest) or Iron Maiden's debut album. As it is now, I would say it's in the same league as classic-but-not-perfect hard rock albums like Toys in the Attic (Aerosmith) or Fly to the Rainbow (Scorpions). Don't get me wrong, that's extremely good company to be in. Also, in my opinion, Snakebite is just as good as Whitesnake's later top albums, Saints & Sinners and Slide it in. So this IS highly recommended indeed! January 23, 2007

way too cool and really hip!!!

A really good CD by Whitesnake, and is really great as it was
one of their early works. Almost every song is good and you
wouldn't think that they played this stuff before they became
more well known in the late '80's. Still, this is a gem to have
in anyone's collection where a lot of groups in the late '70's
had started to emerge, and where most of the band members were
from Deep Purple and Trapeze. Give it A+++++. March 11, 2006

Lethal Snakebite

You gotta give David Coverdale some kind of credit for name-dropping two of his old Deep Purple classics right there in the first song on this album, "Come On".

"I'm just a SOLDIER OF FORTUNE,
Must be the GYPSY in me..."

Maybe David just wanted to remind people who he was, that this was not some "new" band, but in fact featured the talents of Deep Purple's old lead singer. Either way, it's a very solid outing despite the fact that it was patched together from various players and recording sessions.

Songs 1-4 (or "side one" if you remember the days of vinyl) featured his new band which he dubbed Whitesnake, named after a post-Purple solo album that he had done. Purple producer Martin Birch ensured a solid sound, and Coverdale & Co. provided four solid tunes. The aformentioned "Come On" sounds like latter Purple and features three players who would stay through most of Whitesnake's history: Neil Murray (bass), Bernie Marsden (guitar) and Mickey Moody (guitar). Track two, "Bloody Mary" is driven by a boogie piano, one of the best songs on the album. Then Coverdale gets bluesy. "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City", previously a hit for Bobby "Blue" Bland, ended becoming Whitesnake's live centerpiece. "Steal Away" ends this side with some slide guitar courtesy of Moody, and some very very bad synth tom drums by Dave Dowle.

Tracks 5-8, or "side two", featured some miscellaneous Coverdale solo material produced by ex-Purple bassist Roger Glover. Although Mickey Moody plays on these songs, all the other players are just studio musicians. Unfortunately, these songs show a distinct lack of direction. "Keep On Giving Me Love" was funky, like the kind of stuff Glenn Hughes was always trying to push on Deep Purple, but with a sub-par riff. Although it boasted a killer pre-chorus, the rest of the song is pretty stock. In fact the only standout song on this side would be "Only My Soul". Coverdale has often done these incredible soul-searching pieces, such as Purple's "Soldier Of Fortune", and Whitesnake's later "Sailing Ships". This time out we're treated to some very appropriate violin, and Glover on synth.

The CD itself includes lyrics, liner notes, and photos. Coverdale himself provided a brief blurb about the material at the start of the booklet.

Although David Coverdale was still searching for direction after leaving Purple, the Snakebite album is an enjoyable (albeit brief) listen from front to back. Some material really showed what David was capable of, and he certainly would deliver in full in the future. Whitesnake diehards should not do without Snakebite, as it provides in interesting set of snapshots of what Coverdale was up to in between his bouts of fame and glory. January 15, 2006

Great songs, but they're not enough

Snakebite (1978.) Whitesnake's first album.

INTRODUCTION:
When Deep Purple disbanded, David Coverdale's future wasn't looking very bright. At only twenty-one years of age, Coverdale became Ian Gillan's replacement singer in the legendary classic rock band... and then everything went horribly wrong. After only three albums with the rock powerhouse, they disbanded in 1976. With the exception of Burn, the first album he recorded with the group first, none of the work got any major publicity or credit. His two solo releases from 1977 didn't fare any better. While excellent, they too never got the proper publicity. Likewise, some people were not satisfied with this shift in sound from the Deep Purple albums he played on. What Coverdale needed was a new beginning... a new band. And that's just what he did - formed a new band. In 1978 David Coverdale released the four-track EP, Snakebite. Read on and see how Whitesnake's first album measures up!

OVERVIEW/REVIEW:
The songs on the first Whitesnake release are nothing short of excellent. Unfortunately, this album is only EP-length. The songs are good songs, but there are only four of them on here! That said, let's have a look at the songs this release serves up. Come On, a straight-up hard rocker, kicks things off. Even way back in the mid-late seventies, long before Whitesnake got any real popularity, they could rock hard with the best of them. The song is Bad Company-styled rock at its very best. It's almost a shame Whitesnake didn't follow this direction more. It's followed up by the piano-heavy bluesy rocker, Bloody Mary. This is a song that sounds like it would have been at home on one of the solo albums Coverdale releases prior to this EP. You've gotta love the piano in this song, and the classic bluesy feel the song conveys. And next up is the slow and soulful tune, Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City. Slow, melodic, and soulful, this song features Coverdale in one of his most unique sounds of all. You'll find many fans of his praise this song, and really, it isn't hard at all to see why. Closing out this four-song release is the guitar-heavy, classic-style rock of the fourth and final track. Of all the songs on the album, this one probably has the best guitar playing, and that backing piano track only adds to the song's overall charm. There are only four songs here and I would have liked to see more, but what little this package does offer is nothing short of excellent!

EDITION NOTES:
When this album was released on CD, in an effort to make the album worth the full price places usually charge for albums, the record company put on four bonus tracks - all of which were previously available on Northwinds, David Coverdale's second solo album. In my opinion this was a stupid move. Why do that when they could have combined these four tracks with Trouble, the full-length Whitesnake album that followed this one up? Not to mention the fact that this forced many fans to buy those Coverdale solo tracks twice. Here's my advice - buy Coverdale's Northwinds solo album to get those tracks. But rather than buy this version of the album, download the four unique tracks on iTunes. And then burn a copy of Northwinds with the four songs unique to this EP on it as bonus tracks. That way you'll save yourself some real money, and not be screwed over by the record company.

OVERALL:
Overall Snakebite is a very good first release for Whitesnake, I just wish there had been more songs unique to the EP. As I previously stated, this is good music but I DO NOT RECOMMEND BUYING THIS EP. Instead buy Northwinds and get the four tracks unique to Snakebite on iTunes. You'll save yourself some money this way, and get a listening experience that isn't redundant. Whitesnake in the seventies was radically different from their eighties power rock incarnation - and in a GOOD way. Check out this album and other early Whitesnake albums, and you'll see what they were REALLY about. August 7, 2005

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