(Stomp)

First new record in 10 years from the David Coverdale-led strutters

The return to these shores of all sorts of ‘80s curios, everyone from Toto to W.A.S.P. and, indeed, Whitesnake themselves, has revealed that there is still clearly an audience for unfashionable 20+ year-old long-hair power ballads and champagne-on-ice riff rock. So the arrival of Whitesnake’s first new album in 10 years is somewhat apt. The group, led by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale, reached their peak in the 1980s, with the aid of Coverdale’s then-wife, the plentifully-maned maiden Tawny Kitaen, who famously writhed around in a series of iconic hair metal videos for the group. With Coverdale the one original member still in the band, the pouting frontman has chosen to combine the elements that characterised both ‘70s and ‘80s Whitesnake, with mixed success. The early blue-rock inspirations for the group are effectively showcased in the Zeppelin-esque screamer Lay Down Your Love and the Hammond Organ-charged opener Best Years. The record does, however, suffer from a number of overly pedestrian, cliché-ridden and unmemorable dinosaur rock anthems. All I Want All I Need, for example, is a poor cousin to the classic MTV-era power ballads like Is This Love? and Here I Go Again. But their ability at effective slowies hasn’t entirely deserted them, with Summer Rain a far more palatable and likeable acoustic-based lighter waver. Got What You Need does a not-bad job at reliving Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart and hardcore fans will overall be quite thrilled with the album’s chunky riffs and Coverdale’s full-throated wail. A 1987-style breakthrough, however, is very unlikely to happen this time over.

**½

MATT THROWER

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