Whitesnake – Good To Be Bad

David Coverdale’s Whitesnake released their 2008 album “Good To Be Bad”, more than a decade after their previous work “Restless Heart”. The new album is in many ways a classic Whitesnake album in its sound, style and production values. The band has obviously refrained from hampering with their natural sound, thus saving the album from having a plastic feel and look.

For this rocky ride, Coverdale jacketed in his fold some of the finest guitarists from the 1980s – Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich, who decorated the album with their glittering fretwork and played a large part in replicating the 80s loud and flashy vibe.

“Good To Be Bad” could be best described as a standard Whitesnake album, from which one would immediately expect an album filled with attitude of the right kind. “Can you hear the wind blow” and “Call me” are great tracks which carry with them powerful knuckle punches. “Lady down your love” sounds foolishly similar to Led Zeppelin’s “Black dog” and would most likely leave Led Zep fans gawking with their mouths wide open.

“Got what you need” along with the title track are both rolling foot shakers, with an element of hardness associated with them. The tracks also allow guitarists Reb and Doug to really show of their skills with some darting licks and trade offs.

Coverdale wrote a handful of love tracks in the 80s, which seemed tailor made for rockers for with an iron and steel exterior. With tracks such as “Is this love” and “Still of the night” Whitesnake infused a ton of sexuality into metal music. “All I want all I need” and “All for love” are tracks running down the same line as the tracks mentioned above, sharing the common lust factor.

It’s hard to fathom a Whitesnake album with the absence of some tasty acoustic ballads. “Till the end of time” is a bluesy track, which has Coverdale wearing a coarse voice to mask his rock and roll wails.  “Summer rain” another soft number is probably the only track that tends to a have modern sound to it, having a very 90s flaccid rock feel to it.

All in all, “Good To Be Bad” is not an album that is terribly different, or an album that might influence the current generation’s taste in music. It is simply another good album made under the guidance of one of the best voices to be out on tape. The band have played a style they are comfortable with and not tried to alter their sound to simply fit in, and hopefully that is what they would be doing for years to come.