709. Whitesnake / Slide It In. 1984. 4/5

The path of Whitesnake’s road to fan favourite band had been a long and winding one to the point in their career that they had reached in the early 1980’s. What had become more obvious was band leader David Coverdale’s desire to make a big break in the United States, and it was with this in mind that he was pushing the band into a further derivation of their core bluesy sound. The band’s previous album, “Saints ‘n’ Sinners”, which you can find an episode on in Season 3 of this podcast, had still been a success on many levels, but the band had changed personnel from the early days of the group, and more was to come with the completion of “Slide It In”. Bernie Marsden’s absence had been filled by Mel Galley, who was also co-writer of half of the material for the new album. This had left original guitarist Micky Moody on the outer, co-writing only the opening track of Side 2 on the album. Moody was quoted as the time as saying that when the band had started, he and Coverdale had been best friends, but by this stage of the band, they barely spoke to each other. Moody was also at odds with the way the band now sounded, especially in the live environment. With the addition of Cozy Powell on drums and Colin Hodgkinson on bass, Moody suggested that the band had more of a heavy metal feel that the original blues rock sound the band had started with, and he felt it did not match how he believed the band should be.
It is interesting that the band once again had problems with the production, and when original producer Eddie Kramer was relieved of his duties, they fell back to their longtime producer Martin Birch to complete the job. Birch of course by this time had recently been working with the Dio-fronted version of Black Sabbath as well as Iron Maiden, which perhaps exacerbated how Moody felt about the sound being produced. Once his guitar parts were completed, Moody left Whitesnake with no argument from Coverdale himself. This also proved to be the final album with Jon Lord on keyboards, as he had been called back for the Deep Purple Mark II reunion that came to pass that year. It left Coverdale himself as the only original member left standing, and with a new band, he was also heading in a new direction – to hopefully conquer the final frontier of the United States.

If you’ve ever listened to Whitesnake then you know that the lyrical content of the songs can be a bit promiscuous. As it turns out here on “Slide It In”, Coverdale loads up on the sexual innuendo even more than previously, laying it on like a really thick spread of butter on toast, innuendo not forthcoming. There's not a lot of imagination required when it comes to the lyrical side of songs like "Slide It In", "Slow & Easy" and "Spit it Out", in order to decipher the double entendre that seep through the title and songs. That doesn’t dissipate the enjoyment of the tracks. “Slide It In” acts as a real bridge between “Saints ‘n’ Sinners” and self-titled 1987 release in terms of style and possibly substance. The production is not as stone-wash polished as future albums were, because that was never Martin Birch’s style, and what he does offer is that same bluesy feel in the production despite the fac that Coverdale was probably looking for the American hard rock style of production at this point in time. That’s what stands out here on this album more than anything else. This is an album produced for the same market the band had played in since its inception, but the primary component wanted something else.
None of this detracts at all from the songs. The opening side of the album is as good as ever, with “Gambler” moving into the title track that really kicks off the energy of the album, and then into the terrific triumvirate of “Standing in the Shadow”, “Give Me More Time” and “Love Ain’t No Stranger”. For me this is the superior half of the album. While I enjoy the second side as well, with great tracks such as “Slow an’ Easy”, “Spit it Out”, “All or Nothing”, “Hungry for Love” and “Guilty of Love”, it isn’t quite as engaging as the first half.
What can detract slightly is the repetitive nature of the lyrics on some of the songs. "Standing in the Shadow" and "Hungry for Love" really let you know what the title of the song is, and while that is fine in a chorus perspective, sometimes it drags things down. Then there is a song such as "Guilty of Love" (in the first degree), where the lyrical content is slightly gag-worthy. But hey, it was the '80's, and it was a different world. Someone out there probably though this was beautiful and thought-provoking, most likely Coverdale himself. Sometimes it almost gets like singing along to Kiss songs, the lyrics can become a bit cringe-worthy.
After this was released in the UK, there were articles and reviews put out that the recording and production was ‘flat’, and that it didn’t sound the way previous Whitesnake albums sounded. This brought about a third producer coming in after the fact, with the band’s American record company Geffen bringing in Keith Olsen to remix and, in some cases, re-record. The drums and keyboards are lowered in the mix of what became the ‘American Remix’ version of the album, and the band’s replacement for Mickey Moody, John Sykes, also recorded some further guitar pieces to be mixed in over the top. This proved a hit in the US, but to be honest, I have both versions of this album, the original UK version, and the remixed US version, and personally I prefer the UK version because it gives a fuller presence to Jon Lord and Cozy Powell which I think suits the album better, but the reality is there isn't much changed.

My discovery path of Whitesnake the band came from their 1987 album, titled either “Whitesnake” or “1987” depending on where you live, and then the follow up “Slip of the Tongue”, two albums I love to this day. Eventually I went backwards and listened to the back catalogue, something that was difficult to begin with because of the completely different style of music the band played on those early albums and what they produced later on.
What became paramount to enjoying both “Slide it In” and those other albums was consistent listening, putting the album on and getting used to what it was that the band wrote and played. Because there is a difference between what I first heard of the band and this album. So it took some getting used to from my perspective, and just letting the album flow through me and find its equilibrium. Which, over the years it has done. And while some of it may feel dated now 40 years on, there is still plenty here to enjoy. And I think Mickey Moody is right. This album actually comes across as a heavier album than those before it, and probably due to the influence of Cozy Powell’s drumming tyle compared to Ian Paice’s, and the bass, drums and keyboard combination that is harder rather than a lighter influence. Moody and Galley’s guitaring is the counterpoint to this with their more bluesy tinge, compared to Sykes and later guitarists of the band. And Coverdale’s vocals here are still honey smooth, not looking to reach the highs that came on later albums. My attitude to this album over the 25+ years that I have been listening to it has remained the same, that it really has always depended on the mood I'm in. This can be an album I really enjoy listening to, or it can be one that loses my interest rather quickly. Over recent years it has been much more the former than the latter. My favourite songs still rank as "Love Ain't No Stranger", "Give Me More Time" and "Slide It In".
More than three years stretched between the release of “Slide It In” and its follow up, with more changes to the band line up and certainly a different take on the music the band wrote and recorded. The first era of Whitesnake certainly came to its conclusion with this album, and the arrival of the pop rock juggernaut was just around the corner.