A snake of the lightest shade

Let’s take a short moment to talk about something completely unrelated to that one thing that I’m always blogging about.

Unfortunately, my diversion is headed right into talk about music, that most loathed topic of the TE readership. Or so I’ve heard. From one person. Years and years ago.

I haven’t bought or even illegally downloaded any music in what seems like forever now. In reality, my iTunes receipts show that I bought two albums in early June: Freezepop’s Future Future Future Perfect and Whitesnake’s… Whitesnake. The second one is the one I want to talk about.

whitesnake

I’ve never been a really big Whitesnake fan, but I suppose that’s because I’ve only ever known “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love,” which were never really enough to make me want to explore more. Then one morning, I had the song “Still of the Night” stuck in my head, but I didn’t know the artist. I Googled it, and that set off a chain reaction of events that led to me purchasing the album through iTunes.

I think that made it sound a little more exciting than it actually was, yes?

Anyway, I fell for the album from song one. I had always assumed that Whitesnake was just another hair band, but honestly, I think that their music, at least on the Whitesnake album, is a lot more impressive than the likes of Poison or Def Leppard. Heavier and more technical at the very least. I don’t know if I’ll be buying any more of their stuff, but I’ll certainly be more inclined to consider it.

The opening song, “Crying in the Rain” is great, a bluesy track that normally you’d expect to see closer to the end of an album. I think it works pretty well as an opener, though. “Still of the Night” is my jam. And my favourite track is “Straight for the Heart,” which is probably the most upbeat song on the album. It sorta makes me think of Van Halen for some reason, though it doesn’t really sound like Van Halen. It’s also got my favourite guitar solo on an album that is absolutely laden with guitar solos.

I’ll keep it brief. I think that’s already more than enough of my amateurish musings on a 27-year-old album. If you like guitars and 80’s music at all, then this is something you’ll definitely like. In fact, if you’re into those things, you’ve probably already well aware of this particular album. I’m quite late to the party on this one.

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