Forevermore

Since the "Good To Be Bad" album Whitesnake released their 11th album Forevermore, and David Coverdale has secured that he is a legend in my mind after listening to Forevermore. It's typical Whitesnake so you won't feel cheated although it got released in 2011. Each song on this album is good, and the songwriting is up to par to anything done decades ago. Coverdale's voice has aged a bit and you can hear it in the last two albums, but he still has his highs and their is a youthful fire in the heavier songs. This album shows that after all those years their is still that bluesy element complimented with metal riffs that Whitesnake is known for. The band have to be credited for it's refreshing sound, and we know that Coverdale always had top musicians in his staff so Forevermore will not disappoint. The title track "Forevermore" is one of my faves on this album. It starts slow then it goes into a heavy middle eastern riff that reminds me of Led Zep or Coverdale/Page album. It starts strong and ends strong. If you are a Whitesnake fan you are not complete without this album.

It really is great that Whitesnake is still around. With all that is new in the world there is something comforting in the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Despite its revolving door of band members over the years David Coverdale has always managed to somehow keep the spine intact, and in fact one could argue that the current line-up is as good as it ever was. Certainly they have the chops and the energy, which Mr. Coverdale himself seems to feed off because he really is in fine form here vocally. Yeah, he might not quite be able to comfortably manage all that he used to be able to, but as far as effort, energy, and singing to the best of his ability goes, he really is on top of his game.Whitesnake have taken the winning formula of their last album Born To Be Bad (cracker of an album that) and attempted to deliver the same sort of album here, full of songs in styles recognizable from albums throughout the band's consistent, yet at the same time diverse history. So we get a big dose of great blues based rockers like the opening two songs Steel Your Heart Away and All Out Of Luck (two of my favorites on the album), Tell Me How, Love And Treat Me Right, and some with an even bigger dose of blues like Whipping Boy Blues and My Evil Ways. I love the bluesy stuff and could well do with a bigger slice of harmonica and slide guitar!For a more traditional Whitesnake hard rock type song we get Dogs In The Street with its big tip of the hat to Slip Of The Tongue era snake. Then there's also the tunes very reminiscent of MTV era snake, but to me this is where the album falls down a little. Songs like Love Will Set You Free and Easier Said Than Done really sound too much like they are a deliberate attempt to recycle that formula that brought the commercial success in the late 80's, but definitely lack the passion needed to totally pull it off. I Need You (Shine A Light) sounds like a mid-late 80's Whitesnake commercial rocker and is far more convincing.Surprisingly, it's the more commercially mellow songs that I find most appealing. One Of These Days sounds like something Rod Stewart would have sung in the late 70's with its radio friendly acoustic rhythm, foot tapping pace and catchy sing along chorus. But I am quite a bit of a closet-Rod fan so a song like this has huge appeal to me, especially when the voice is David Coverdale, undoubtedly one of the finest ever rock voices. Fare Thee Well is another acoustic song which hits the mark for me for the same reasons mentioned for One Of These Days. In fact, I could handle a whole album of this kind of mellow stuff no problems at all.The ultimate highlight of the album for me though is the title track. The acoustic opening before it goes all Led Zepplin sounds very much in the vein of Sailing Ships from Slip Of The Tongue, and is simply sublime. The fact that it goes Kashmir is part of the brilliance of it. This song really is on another level altogether.I do have some criticisms of the album though. One of these I've already mentioned in the couple of MTV formula songs, but more annoying to me is the repeated use of "love" and "baby" in the lyrics. I'm not usually too fussed about lyrics if the song rocks, but this is something that really stands out to me on this album. It isn't until we get to track 11 Whipping Boy Blues that we get a song that doesn't have "love" in the lyrics, but even this one has repeated use of "baby". In fact track 12 My Evil Ways is the only song that thankfully doesn't have either of these words in the lyrics at all!!Another gripe I have is in regard to the general sound of the album. Yes it is a big guitar album. HUGE guitar album in fact which is something to be grateful for, but there is just something about the overall sound that I struggle with. I find that after I've played the album through I need to switch it off and play something else a little less demanding on my ears, which is rather unusual. I don't have this issue with previous Whitesnake albums, but find with this one that sonically it is quite demanding, perhaps dare I say it... too loud?Still it is quite an enjoyable album nonetheless and one that any Whitesnake fan can be extremely happy about.P.S. The digi-pack is cool and the DVD is a nice bonus. The acoustic mix of the ttile track is a good bonus but the other 2 alternative mixes aren't very exciting really. Worth getting in this format if you can.

I am thoroughly impressed with the Snake's new album. I really enjoyed the band's last release "Good to be Bad" and was anxiously awaiting this one as well. What you get is an album that sounds like what could have been released between "Slide it In" and the gazillion selling commercial success "1987" known in the states as simply "Whitesnake." The sound strays a bit from the last release, in that the album seems to be a reach back to Whitesnake's blues based origins. There are fewer fast paced "barn burners" on this album, but almost all the songs just have an infectious heavy blues groove to them, you just can't help but throw the horns up and bang your head like the days of old. Coverdale's voice sounds phenomenal, and he seems to be 100% recovered from his throat infection a few years back. Doug Aldrich just continues to amaze, and the dual guitar sound with Reb Beach continues to work well. The new rhythm section seems very suited to this bluesy sound. Highlights for me are "All out of luck" "Tell me how" "Love will set you free" "Forevermore" and "Love and treat me right" This album is custom built for a summer night cruise with the sun roof and windows down. Crank it to 11 and rock out.

Whitesnake return with a slightly new lineup to deliver a fan pleasing and very bluesy sounding rock album. For the past few years the combination of David Coverdale and Doug Aldrich has been very successful in forging ahead with a reinvigorated Whitesnake sound that has produced two great albums in a row. Forevermore delivers a more bluesy version of their sound while maintaining the big production of the previous album. Coverdale's voice has lost a little in power and range but it's barely noticeable with such great music backing it up. Highlights include the big riffs of "All Out Of Luck", the massive chorus of "Love Will Set You Free", the classy ballad "Easier Said Than Done", the hard rocking "Whipping Boy Blues", and the epic final song "Forevermore". The deluxe edition comes with 3 bonus tracks consisting of alternate versions of songs from the album plus a DVD with a very short making of featurette and a cool film clip for the lead single. Despite Forevermore not containing as many killer songs as Good To Be Bad, fans should love hearing the classic Whitesnake sound presented in all its glory. By the way, there are more than a few nods to previous Whitesnake guitar legend John Sykes - check it out!

It's three years now, since the return of Whitesnake with their Top 5 UK album, "Good To Be Bad". It wasn't the best Whitesnake album ever, but it was by no means the worst. Yes, there were a few too many nods to the glossy American rock of the late eighties, but there were more than enough throwbacks to the early eighties to keep me happy.This latest album sees them slipping further down the pecking order of record labels, as their association with SPV is no more, with this one appearing on Italian indie, Frontiers. They've obviously decided to give up on chart action, as it's one of those infuriating multi-format / release date thingys, which sees it coming out in the UK as a "Fan-Pack", which seems to involve a magazine, with the CD, and a badge, with the CD getting two bonus live tracks from 1990. The album will then come out properly three weeks later.. I say bonus tracks, but they're actually from the forthcoming "Live @ Donington 1990" DVD and double CD to be released in summer 2011. So I'll be giving that a miss, and just stick to this vanilla edition.We're now up to version sixteen of Whitesnake, as the time since "Good To Be Bad" has seen bassist Uriah Duffy, drummer Chris Frazier and, most recently, keyboards man Timothy Drury all heading off to pastures new. So this heralds the recording debut of a new rhythm section in the shape of former Lynch Mob bassist Michael Devin alongside Whitesnake's new drummer Brian Tichy, ex Foreigner, Pride & Glory, Billy Idol and more. And despite (or perhaps because) of yet more lineup changes, this is actually a better album than its predecessor.As with the last album, this sees Sir David Coverdale attempting to fuse the various eras of Whitesnake into a new whole, but with less emphasis on the glitter years, and more on what came before and after, it's a better all round offering. It's not as heavy as the last album, with more room for some mellow moments, alongside the rabble rousing crowd pleasers. But it's one of those crowd pleasers that kicks things off, with `Steal Your Heart Away' swaggering into action with an actual, genuine harmonica riff! Something that will please all the old school fans out there.All Out Of Luck', `Tell Me How' and the first single `Love Will Set You Free' are all straight out of the top drawer, before the first wild card arrives in the guise of `I Need You (Shine A Light)', a tune that would have sat happily on Sir Davids solo album 'Into The Light'. `Love And Treat Me Right' would have fitted nicely on 'Slide It In', whilst the acoustic number `One Of These Days' is a ringer for "Restless Heart" era Whitesnake. There's only one out and out dud, and that's 'Dogs In The Street', which sounds like a reject from "Slip Of The Tongue".. Yes, you read me right, it's that grim.However, 'Fare Thee Well' is an utter delight, another acoustic based number, before `Whipping Boy Blues' takes us back to the days of his Jimmy Page collaboration. 'My Evil Ways' is another rabble rousing crowd pleaser, before the title track turns into an instant Whitesnake classic. Seven minutes long, it builds slowly as a gentle acoustic ballad, before exploding into a quite marvellous power ballad epic.Lyrically, Sir David hasn't advanced one inch over the years, as he still slips in enough double (and single) entendres to keep the nineteen seventies in business for a wee while yet. But on the mellower tracks he reminds us what a good lyricist he can be, when he gets his head out of his crotch. The guitar of Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich seem to have finally found a happy medium, and are reined in much more than on "Good To Be Bad". The production is also warmer, and the whole record hangs together really well.Whitesnake completists, however, are in for a bit of a nightmare. As well as the aforementioned "Fan Pack", the Japanese version has a different mix of 'Whipping Boy Blues' as a bonus track. There's a deluxe edition which is coming with alternate mixes of 'Love Will Set You Free' and 'My Evil Ways', as well as an acoustic version of 'Forevermore' and a DVD with the video of 'Love Will Set You Free', a making of the 'Love Will Set You Free' video and a short making of "Forevermore" documentary. If you're an iTunes person you get the 'Love Will Set You Free' alternative mix and the acoustic version of 'Forevermore'. Finally, deep breath, Amazon.com digital buyers get the alternate version of 'My Evil Ways'.That's a lot of versions, but whichever one you plump for, you can be assured that Sir David Coverdale and his latest version of Whitesnake have come up with a superb mix of Snake old and new.

Heard Forevermore on Planet Rock and was bowled away by the track. The album is up to Whitesnakes high level. Just buy and enjoy.

This is one of Whitesnake's best albums. Great mixture of tracks including rockers, ballads and some superb acoustic tracks.The song writing has definately gone up a notch or two since the last album. Recommended!

Continual line up changes dont really help, The song Forevermore is awesome. but felt the rest was a bit tired, not as good as good to be bad, or the classic albums of the 80's. Love your voice David, but sometimes you just got to know when to give it up,

What I want!