Whitesnake - Come And Get It (1981)

Whilst during the late 1980s David Coverdale may have stretched his musical credibility a little too far being at the forefront of the ‘cock rock’ minefield, back in the early 1980s Whitesnake were a hard rocking blues-tinged band producing unsurprisingly Deep Purple-esque rock numbers – albeit with largely one-dimensional lyrics courtesy of Mr Coverdale – as the band featured ex-Purple drummer Ian Paice, ex-Purple keyboardist Jon Lord and, of course, Coverdale himself.

Come An’ Get It is a prime example of this era of Whitesnake and is a very strong album. Coverdale is vocally in very good form, Ian Paice hadn’t descended into the plodding metronome that would blight his later career (checkout the drum breaks on Hot Stuff, for example) and Jon Lord had remembered where he kept his Hammond. The twin-guitar work of Bernie Marsden and Mick Moody also provided some great riffs and bluesy, soulful and harmonic soloing.

The title track kicks-off Whitesnake’s fifth studio album in style, followed by the up-tempo Hot Stuff and ‘hit’ single Don’t Break My Heart Again which reached number 17 in the UK charts with the album itself attaining the number 2 spot.

Other standout tracks are the Quo-esque rock and roll Wine, Women And Song (that’s Quo-esque when Quo were at their ‘Hello’ period), the powerful Child Of Babylon and the semi-acoustic ‘Til The Day I Die.

Quite what happened to Whitesnake a couple of albums later is a moot point but certainly for those of you who wish to hear them at their bluesy and most credible best, this album is essential listening.

• David Coverdale – Vocals
• Micky Moody – Guitar
• Bernie Marsden – Guitar
• Jon Lord – Keyboards
• Neil Murray – Bass
• Ian Paice – Drums