Review Whitesnake 'The Blues Album'

Whitesnake

By Mike O’Cull

Eternal rock gods Whitesnake celebrate the blues-influenced sound that launched the band into its multi-platinum orbit with a new release called The Blues Album. Released February 26, 2021 by Rhino Entertainment, the record is a collection of remixed and remastered versions of the group’s best blues-rock songs. It’s the third and final release in the band’s Red, White and Blues Trilogy, a series of compilations organized by musical themes that began this year with Love Songs (red) and The Rock Album (white). The compiled tracks stretch from the 80s well into the 21st Century and each has been revisited in the studio to get primed for this new setting.

Band founder, vocalist, and songwriter David Coverdale selected these songs because they reflect the enormous effect blues artists including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the three Kings (Albert, B.B. and Freddie) have had on his creativity and career. In the album’s liner notes, he writes, “It’s hard to find the words to show how profoundly they connected with my soul. But ‘blues’ to me is a beautiful word that describes emotional expression… feelings, be it feelings of sadness, loneliness, emptiness… but, also those that express great joy, celebration and dance, sexiness and Love!!!”

Whitesnake has been making big sounds since being formed in England in 1978. The group was originally conceived as a backing band for singer Coverdale, who had recently taken his leave from Deep Purple, but the band quickly became a creative entity in its own right. The first Whitesnake records did well in the UK, Europe, and Japan but it was the group’s iconic self-titled 1987 effort Whitesnake that broke them in North America. The album sold over eight million copies and produced the hit singles “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love.” The band is considered to be one of the greatest hard rock outfits of all time and has a massive following that reaches around the world.

The Blues Album is jammed with killer material taken from six Whitesnake studio albums and Coverdale’s solo album Into the Light. The set opens with the stomping guitar and harmonica track “Steal Your Heart Away.” The song digs down into the power of the blues and takes that energy further than the Old Masters could have imagined. This is stadium-worthy rock and roll that packs a hip-shaking wallop and a fist-pumping soul. “Give Me All Your Love,” originally part of that famous 1987 album, adds its high-energy rock shuffle groove to the party and, in this context, articulates its obvious blues roots. Like all the songs here, the remix/remaster work is outstanding and adds a new crispness to this collection of hits and deep cuts.

“Slow An’ Easy” also speaks from its blues heart on the set, channeling the kind of British blues/rock sound that set us all off back in the day and running it into an indelible radio chorus. In any discussion, this is one of Whitesnake’s finest moments and its grinding presence makes the new record feel complete. Be sure to dig the moody heaviness of “The River Song,” originally released on Coverdale’s 2000 solo album Into the Light. It’s a stronghold of blues/rock power and may be brand new to many fans. Other highlights featured on the set include “Too Many Tears” and “A Fool In Love.” Any way you spin it, The Blues Album is a positive, rocking experience for Whitesnake loyalists and anyone else who lives for pumped-up, big-amp blues. If that’s you, it’s time to get loud.

Listen to “Good To be Bad”