Whitesnake - Slip of the Tongue

Whitesnake With A SnakeBite

Love this cd!! Very aggressive, heavy, whitesnake with a snakebite. Vai is awesome. Many hard rock n rollers.
Even the slow songs have bite. Glad I re-purchased this cd. Had the cassete version when it came out many years ago. Got rid of it because it wasn't the same as the Sykes cd. Listened to it on amazon, several times, purchased it. This is a great cd. I was blown away.
5 stars. October 31, 2008

Inferiority Complex

This album could have been considered one of "hair metal"'s finest performances. Slick production, great band, better than average songs, and guitar golden child Steve Vai. And it did quite well, generating a couple of hit singles and going multi-platinum.

And therein lies the rub. This album was Whitesnake's follow-up to the immensely successful "1987". As such, there is no way "Slip of the Tounge" could have measured up to the bar it's predecessor set so high. There is a palpable tension with "1987", as if it were now or never. If Whitesnake was going to obtain rock stardom after a decade of toiling in relative obscurity, they had to hit it out of the park with that album - and they did so brilliantly.

"Slip of the Tounge" is noticeably lacking that hunger. After selling 10 million albums, marrying the video vixen that inspired a thousand teen fantasies, and touring the world to sold-out audiences, Coverdale is obviously resting on his laurels. Throw a bunch of cash at the latest guitar god and record an album - life is good, right?

Unfortunately, John Sykes was a greater factor in the success of "1987" than anyone realized (well, perhaps Coverdale *did* realize it, explaining Sykes' undignified termination.) Vandenberg simply isn't as good of a songwriter, and while Vai is an incredibly talented musician, he's simply a poor fit for the material (hey, I love the guy, but you can't be great at *everything*). Listen to "Slip of the Tounge" and "Passion and Warfare" back-to-back. It's obvious where Steve's passion was during that time - and it wasn't with Whitesnake.

So if you're a fan of the genre, the album is certainly worth a listen and one of the better releases in the post-GnR/pre-grunge timeframe. But there's no escaping the fact that it's predecessor is far and away the superior album. February 7, 2008

The only with Steve Vai

I don't want to talk bad about this great rock band, I don't want to talk about Steve Vai in this record, but I want to say one thing, this is not the real sound of WHITESNAKE, this is not my favorite album of WHITESNAKE, this is not my favorite album of STEVE VAI, but the song judgement day is a great song, is like kashmir of led zeppelin! June 28, 2007

Slip of the Tongue = a mixed bag of snakes

The knives were out for this one. To tell the truth, no matter what this sounded like it was going to cop a hammering given the attitude of certain elements of the hard rock press - especially in the UK. Additional to this was the fact that Steve Vai had been drafted in on guitar for a very hefty fee and there were justified concerns his playing style was totally unsuited to Whitesnake. Not to mention that the cover artwork was similar to that of the 1987 album (a ruse repeated for the '94 Greatest Hits) and this smacked a little of desperation.

So at first glance it's a case of low expectations despite the hope for another great disc as per 1987. And once you get to the music it's pretty clear that this is a hit and miss selection of songs. No complaints with the title track or the follow up cut Cheap an' Nasty. Or the remake of Fool For Your Loving which some felt was sacrilegious in some way. But stuff 'em! Now Your Gone is a decent enough ballad and Vai gets to flex his guitar in all sorts of unnatural ways in Kittens Got Claws but things get a little sketchy as the album moves on. It's not that Slow Poke Music or Judgement Day (an attempt to write another Still of the Night) are poor, it's just that they aren't great. And the more shiny hollow - or gutless, take your pick - production job doesn't help given the awesome power in the recording of 1987 which had more grit and fibre in one song than any three or four of the tracks on display here.

Not to mention that while he's a great guitarist, Vai proved the critics right by not really fitting the more bluesy hard rock mould of the 'snake. Not his fault, the guy is insanely talented in my opinion, but his style just isn't right for these songs. Though at least his inclusion did mean that the 'snake boasted (count 'em) two guitar gods for the tour. Which for some six string aficianados probably made it worthwhile buying a concert ticket regardless of whether they liked the album or not.

The real deal? Not as good as 1987 but few albums are. Some good songs are here but not as well produced and lacking the feel of a Whitesnake record, sounding like this was a job for all involved as there is just no feel on this album at all. January 10, 2007

Love It

I have worn out several of these over the years. It is just that Good if you are into Hair Metal. July 16, 2006

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