HARDWARES

Eleven years in the making and despite the recent spate of cheesy '80s nostalgia (thanks VH1, thanks Rocklahoma), David Coverdale has been touring the good ship Whitesnake for the last few years. Now we get a couple of worthy additions to the vintage-laden setlist. Don’t worry about them trying to keep up with the times, this is a backwards looking effort, sampling (most of the) better moments from Coverdale’s post-Deep Purple career. Although recognized throughout North America predominately for the power ballads/Tawny Kitaen videos, Whitesnake was a thriving blues-based entity before ever stepping foot on US soil (and reworking some old tunes in the process of recording for Geffen). So it may dumbfound some that all 11 sex dripping tracks don’t walk the pedestrian pace and simple, repetitive vocal line of ‘All I Need’ (where the titular phrase comprises 90%+ of the by-the-numbers “song”). In fact guitarists Doug Aldrich (ex-Dio) Reb Beach (Winger) are given room to showcase plenty of fretwork on ‘Can You Hear The Wind Blow’, potential single ‘Call On Me’, the opening groove of the title cut and the up-tempo rocker, ‘Got What You Need’. Did the late Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) bequeath Coverdale an unreleased tune, in the form of ‘All For Love’? Scary similarities! Apart from ‘Summer Rain’, an acoustic guitar dominated ballad, the later half of the album flows best. “Lay Down Your Love” is the album’s best track, a pumping/humping, hip gyrating pole dancer’s anthem, complete with Coverdale’s trademark spoken lyrics and plenty of bluesy guitar. Follow-up, the self-deprecating ‘A Fool In Love’ harkens back to pre-USA Snake, ala Come N Get It or Ready N Willing. A nice, if somewhat surprising return to (old) form. F the era of American commercialism!