Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad (Release Year - 2008)
Could 2008 be the Year of the Snake?
Whitesnake has returned with their first new studio album since the 1997 album, Restless Heart.
Before I go any further in this review, I will admit, I am biased towards Whitesnake. They have been one of my favorite bands for years, and I have been anxiously awaiting this disc. I am also a long time fan of guitarist, Doug Aldrich. I am quite familiar with his work prior to joining Whitesnake (Lion, Bad Moon Rising, House Of Lords, Hurricane, Burning Rain) and am also a little biased towards him as well.
With that being said, I have played Good to Be Bad several times, and have found it quite to my liking. Aldrich’s guitar sound on this record is fairly close to that of John Sykes playing on the Slide It In, and the multi-platinum, self titled album from 1987. John Sykes is not an easy guitar player to imitate, and I am not sure if that is what Adrich was trying to achieve with his playing. Nonetheless he shreds on this disc, and his guitar work is absolutely killer! He has achieved that signature guitar sound that was present on the two most successful Whitesnake albums of all time.
David Coverdale is no spring chicken at 56 years old, and yet his vocals are excellent as always.
The band could have a bunch of hits on their hands, especially with the tracks, Best Years, All I Want All I Need, All For Love and Good To Be Bad.
The song All For Love sounds so much like a lost Thin Lizzy tune, it is scary, and yet, incredibly cool. This is an amazing new song, and one of my new favorites.
I can hear some 70’s style Whitesnake in the songs, Summer Rain and ‘Til The End of Time. Both tunes have more of a bluesy feel to them. It is good to hear Whitesnake revisting their roots, even if it is an different set of musicians for this record. I can see the lighters and cell phones coming out, if the band chooses to play either one of these songs live.
The cool thing about Good To Be Bad is, I hear different things each time I listen to it. I will not tire of hearing guitar work this good in a long long time. This album is already on top of my play list and is going to take a monster of an album to surpass this disc in 2008!
Don’t hesitate to pick this one up! This is an awesome return to form for Whitesnake, and is easily one of their top discs ever! Good Job Whitesnake! Now bring your tour to the U.S. soon please!!
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
Disc: 1
1. Best Years
2. Can You Hear The Wind Blow
3. Call On Me
4. All I Want All I Need
5. Good To Be Bad
6. All For Love
7. Summer Rain
8. Lay Down Your Love
9. A Fool In Love
10. Got What You Need
11. `Til The End Of Time
Disc: 2
1. Burn-Stormbringer (live version)
2. Give Me all Your Love Tonight (live version)
3. Walking In The Shadow…. (live version)
4. The Deeper The Love (live version)
5. Ready & Willing (live version)
6. Don t Break My Heart Again (live version)
7. Take Me with You (live version)
8. Ready To Rock (enhanced video)
Whitesnake is:
David Coverdale - Vocals
Doug Aldrich - Lead Guitar
Reb Beach - Rhythm Guitar
Chris Frazier - Drums
Uriah Duffy - Bass
Timothy Drury - Keyboards
This was pretty much as bad as I expected. It just shows that David Coverdale is excellent if you like generic hard rock. Boring and old. You can get my detailed opinion (which I know everyone is dying for) over at Rock of Ages where I did a joint review:
http://rockofages.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/whitesnake-good-to-be-bad/
Just wonder what you would consider non-generic hard rock…
A good album and as I said on Rock Of Ages just about the album I expected. Funny how different people hear different things though - by far the most 70s sounding track to my mind is “A Fool In Love” which I termed a cross between “Love Man” and “Crying In The Rain”.
For me this falls short of “1987″ and “Ready And Willing” and I couldn’t stretch to a 9/10 if I wanted. Having said that though my concert ticket is here before me, the double vinyl edition arrived today, the 2Cd edition is on the way and I’ll be playing the damn thing all summer!
Putting my comments against Bob’s seemed a real chalk and cheese thing but I have to say it was a laugh! I can’t believe he’s got away without comment so far
Mind you putting my thoughts against this review makes for an interesting comparison too as I certainly don’t think its an album completely without fault either.
I just listened to it from start to finish and I thought it was a pretty good collection of songs. It completely reminds of 80’s Whitesnake, albeit with a few little twists to it. I especially liked; All I Want All I Need, Good To Be Bad, A Fool In Love, and Got What You Need. I didn’t particularly care for the last cut, Till The End Of Time. But all in all I would say if your a Whitesnake to definitely pick this CD up.
The Live songs on Disk 2 are great but its just a re-release of the live tracks on the 2006 CD Live - In The Shadow of The Blues. So if you already own that CD, you already have the bonus disk.
Rob, good point. I guess if you go back to the 70s and think about things like Zeppelin and the Nuge, that wouldn’t be generic. They were one of a kind when they came out. Obviously, they’ve been copied over and over ever since, but I wouldn’t label either of them as generic.
Bill, I am sorely disappointed that I haven’t stirred up any trouble. I thought I’d surely get someone going. Still, it was fun.
John, I hated the album, but the one song you didn’t like was about the only one on the album I’d even think of listening to again. Funny how that works.
Bob is full of garbage. This is, by far the best Rock CD of the year. I would love to hear what Bob thinks is a great Album. Maybe he gave KID ROCK 5 out of 5 stars? It’s apparent that Bob doesn’t like nor has he ever liked Coverdale, even though he post that he does. Anyone who could complain about Coverdales Voice at 56 does not and can not be taken seriously. This is not Slide it in, and I am glad! I wasn’t looking to hear the same ole tunes from yester-year. This CD is right on the mark! Name one 56 year old who can still sing like Coverdale! I will give you Tyler to save you from typing. Name one 56 year old rocker who can still put out a true Rock CD! W/S did an excellent job, and my hat is off to them for a job well done. So Bob you hated the CD, great, you’re entitled to your opinion, even if the majority disagrees with you. I am still curious; in what you feel is good CD, presently on the market.
I can name one that is older….. Ronnie James Dio. He is still getting it done too!
Correct, but how many CD’s has he sold in the last 20 years? Sorry, not good enough. I seen Dio several years ago, and his voice was nothing compared to Coverdales, but again, your opinion.
I saw him last year on the Heaven and Hell tour, and he sounded awesome. Sabbath (Heaven and Hell) is supposed to have a new CD out later in 2008. I am betting they will challenge for top marks in 2008, if they get the disc released.
To compare though…Ronnie has been much busier than David…
Ronnie James Dio
Magica (2000) - #10 (US) #1 (US independent)
The Very Beast of Dio (2000)
Anthology Volume 2 (2001)
Killing the Dragon (2002) - #199 (US)
Stand Up and Shout - The DIO Anthology (2003)
The Collection (2003)
Master of the Moon (2004) -#48 (US) #7 (US independent)
Evil or Divine - Live In New York City (2005)
Holy Diver - Live (2006)
Heaven and Hell - Live from Radio City Music Hall (CD & DVD) (2007)
David Coverdale
LIVE In the Still of the Night (DVD+CD Recorded on the 2004 UK Tour) (2006)
Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues (2 CD set Recorded during the 2005-2006 world tours) (2006)
Good To Be Bad (200
Don’t get me wrong though…I am not knocking David, I am just stating that Ronnie James Dio is also doing a great job as one of hard rock’s elder statesman.
Must admit i am looking forward to it, after enjoying “Snake” music for many years and we had the pleasure of seeing “Whitesnake” in concert in Australia 4 weeks ago, i can assure
you it was a killer concert too, and with the special edition,
but disappointingly the live tracks are from the recent dvd,
cannot understand why oh why it’s exactly the same tracks from
“Live In The Shadow Of The Blues what can you do?
Great Great album. Like the boss said this is the best album of 2008 so far. Be interesting to see if JORN can eqaul or even top this fine slab of hard rock excellency!!
If he does, it will be one awesome summer of music King!
SPV are pleased to announce the following first week chart-entries for Whitesnake’s Good To Be Bad opus:
Norway: # 5, Finland: # 5, Germany: # 6, UK: # 7, Sweden: # 10, Austria: # 11, Switzerland: # 15, Denmark: # 18, Canada: # 23, Czech Republic: # 27, Holland: # 33, Italy: # 57, France: # 69, US: # 70.
And here’s the new video: http://www.youtube.com/spv.
Classic album. I’m absolutely loving it.