Hidden Treasures - Early Whitesnake

For whatever reason, I’ve been intrigued about bands who didn’t get big early in their careers. Bands that were allowed to grow through their creative processes, lineup changes and business dealings before striking it big. Lots of bands were afforded this growth period - REO Speedwagon, Rush, ACDC, KISS, Journey, Kansas etc...

But something’s always been true about these bands, something was special about them that were allowed to continue to work, so there’s got to be something very cool about the albums that were made during this time in their careers. So that’s where were going this week...

I recently read a comment about the band Whitesnakes albums that predated their success and how good they are. I'm guilty of being a "Popular" Whitesnake fan. I love the album "Slide It In" the most, and they're latest 2 albums, "Good To Be Bad" and "Forevermore" are really quite good as well. So I poked around for a while, listened to some sound bytes, and so I took a shot and ordered a couple of their albums, "Saints an' Sinners", and "Come and Get It". I figured since they were on sale and remastered I didn’t have much to lose. WOW! These guys were better than their hey-day! So I order two more, "Trouble" and "Ready an' Willing". So good are these albums that they re-recorded a few of their tracks later on and they became hits. Here I Go Again, Crying in the Rain, and Fool For Your Loving were all tracks originally recorded before the band hit it big.

So here we are... Take listen let me know what you think about this topic and Whitesnakes albums leading up to their greatest success.

PS: Jon, I know I didn’t represent "Lovehunter" but they were out of stock when I ordered from Amazon, so tell us what we’re missing!!

PLAYLIST --> http://snack.to/adtp0jc1

	TROUBLE 1978 1 - The Time Is Right For Love The first full "Whitesnake" band album which came after an EP. This album featured Jon Lord so there’s a bit if Deep Purple influence in these early albums. Bernie Marsden and Mick Moody handle geetar duties quite capably. Marsden actually joined the band on stage at the Sweden Rock Festival in June 2011 making him only 1 of 2 former band members to play with Coverdale again, the other? Adrian Vandenberg. The album did pretty good in the UK, reaching #50 in the charts, but made no impact in the US. Tracks from the EP titled "Snakebite" were included in the 2006 reissue of the album.
	READY AN' WILLING 1980 2 - Black and Blue Marsden and Moody continue to be the dual guitarists in the band for this album as well. Jon Lord is still there and Ian Paice joins in. Pretty solid line-up! The album hit the Top 10 in the UK and actually broke into the Top 100 in the US. And Fool For Your Loving reached #13 on the UK singles charts. If you were to pick one album from this era of the band, this would be the one I recommend.
	COME AN' GET IT 1981 3 - Don't Break My Heart Again This track hit the Top 20 in the UK as the album reached the #2 spot. But the band couldn’t break in the US as this release went unnoticed. The band worked non-stop and kept recording, but Coverdale had to attend to his sick daughter and put the band on hold.
	SAINTS AN' SINNERS 1982 4 - Victim of Love Saints an' Sinners had been recorded but tension in the band had taken its toll. Moody quit, Marsden quit and only Jon Lord remained. Coverdale fired the band management and took on the business side himself. He put together a new band that included Cozy Powell and hit the road. Saints & Sinners was another Top 10 UK album and contained the hit "Here I Go Again" which featured guest keyboard player Malcolm Birch from Chesterfield based band Pegasus. The new lineup toured in 1982–83, headlined the Monsters of Rock Festival at Castle Donington UK.

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Permalink Reply by Niels (Mod) on March 6, 2013 at 7:04am

Hmmmm, maybe I DID smoke that joint after all, because this is a picture of the band on the evening of the concert, and that looks like Cozy Powell and not Ian Paice

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Permalink Reply by Scott on March 6, 2013 at 8:13am

Good catch! I also seen them on the Slide It In tour opening for Quiet Riot and it was definitely Cozy Powell playing drums. They blew QR off the stage. I am enjoying the early albums, but your probably right, if I would have heard them at the time they were released, they wouldn't have been as interesting as they are now. Thanks for chiming in!

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Permalink Reply by TageRyche on March 6, 2013 at 6:58am

I'm already a fan of the band's early days.

My favorite early day tracks include "Love Hunter", "Wine Women and Song" and "Walking In The Shadow of the Blues".

Their Live in the Heart of the City album is an excellent live release as well.

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Permalink Reply by Scott on March 6, 2013 at 8:14am

Why did I know that omitting Lovehunter would be an issue! hahahahaha...

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Permalink Reply by Gordon Williams on March 6, 2013 at 5:42pm

Jon mentions pre-Schenker era UFO. After I became a huge Schenker-era UFO fan, I went back and got "UFO 1", and I believe another one called "Flying"? Listened to them once or twice, and they've been buried in the vinyl collection...never to see the light of day again. But who knows...IF I were to go back and find them, you just never know...

I'll throw in ZZTop as a band whose early stuff is awesome, for me. I still like the 80's MTV era ZZ, but the 70's stuff is their best.

On to this:

Track 1 - the only track I dont like that much. It's not bad, it just does not rock that much for me. I like the twin guitar leads, but the guitar tones for me on this are just a little too clean.

Track 2 - Really like this one. I love this honky tonk style RJHog mentioned...including the honky tonk piano...fits this track really well. I'm diggin' it. NIce bass line on this one, too. Did anyone already mention that? And in the middle section, a keyboard lead on piano! I usually dont like keyboards that much, but this is a great little piano section.

Track 3 - Someone may have already mentioned this...but this track sounds like classic Whitesnake. I like the steady, solid pace of this track. It's thumpin'!! Great chorus to me.

Track 4 - Another classic sounding track. Another great chorus. Great pace and groove again.

"Slide It In" was also my first Whitesnake, but this is some good stuff. 3 out of 4 very enjoyable for me.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on March 6, 2013 at 5:51pm

I don't think I have listened too much to the pre-Schenker UFO but I have heard bits somewhere. From what I remember it's a far cry from what they turned out to be.