323 Hello Whitesnake* - Snakebite EP

(*  as  David  Coverdale's  ... )

Chart  entered : 24  June  1978

Chart  peak : 61

Number  of  hits  : 19

More  metal  and  we've  already  told  part  of  this  story.

In  1973  Ian  Gillan  quit  Deep  Purple  and  the  band  auditioned  respondents  to  an  ad  in  Melody  Maker  for  a  replacement. The  man  chosen  was  22-year  old  David  Coverdale  from  Redcar  who  had  been  in  numerous  bands  in  the  north  east  since  the  late  sixties, one  of  which  had  shared  a  bill  with  Deep  Purple. He  was  working  in  a  boutique  at  the  time. He  and  fellow  newbie  Glen  Hughes  on  bass  brought  a  big  blues  and  soul  injection  into  the  band's  music  which  after  two  albums  prompted  the  departure  of  guitarist  Ritchie  Blackmore. David  persuaded  the  band  to  carry  on  with  American  guitarist  Tommy  Bolin  but  the  album "Come  Taste  The  Band" sold  relatively  poorly  and  the  tour  for  it  was  a  disaster  with  the  self-destructive  Bolin  turning  many  of  the  gigs  into  a  shambles. David  handed  in  his  resignation  at  the  end  of  the  tour  in  1976  and  was  told  that  Ian  Paice  and  Jon  Lord  had  already  terminated  the  band.

David  got  to  work  on  a  solo  album  aided  by  a  group  of  musicians  he  christened  The  White  Snake  Band.   The  guitarist  was  Mick  Moody  from  Middlesbrough. He  was  in  The  Roadrunners / Wildflowers  with  Bruce  Thomas  ( see  the  Attractions  post )  then  formed  his  own  group  Tramline  in  1968. They  were  signed  by  Island  and  released  two  albums  in  the  late  sixties. Their  competent  but  uninspiring  mix  of  Yardbirds, Them  and  Fleetwood  Mac  didn't  get  off  the  ground  and  they'd  split  by  the  end  of  the  decade. After  brief  spells  with  Mike  Cotton  and  Zoot  Money  he  joined  Juicy  Lucy in  1970   and  played  on  their  second  and  final  hit  "Pretty  Woman"  and  their  latter  three  albums. The  first  "Lie  Back  and  Enjoy  This"  made  number  53  in  the  charts  but  the  tide  was  going  out  for  sturdy  blues  rock  and  subsequent  releases  made  little  impression. In  1973  Mick  quit  the  band  to  form  a  new  one  Snafu   with  vocalist  Bobby  Harrison  on  whose  solo  album  he'd  just  played.

Snafu  were  more  interesting  than  their  predecessors, open  to  other  influences  like  funk,  synthesisers   and  country  and  letting  Mick  loose  on  slide  guitar. There  are  some  good  moments  across  their  three  LPs  between  1973  and  1975   but  success  continued  to  elude  Mick. He  was  poached  by  David  during  a  tour  of  Germany.

Mick   co-wrote  four  of  the  tracks  and  played  guitar  on  David's  first  solo  album  "White  Snake"  in  1976,   a  rather  low  key  and  downbeat  affair  which  passed  almost  unnoticed. His  services  were  retained  for  the  second  "Northwinds"  , released  at  the  beginning  of  1978.  This  excursion  into  soft  rock  fared  no  better  than  its  predecessor  and  its  failure  seems  to  have  convinced  David  that  he  should  fashion  a  band  to  front  and  go  heavy  once  more.

Mick  was  an  obvious  choice .The  other  guitarist  was  Bernie  Marsden  from  the  Home  Counties. He  first  emerged  in  a  brief  stint  with  the  under-rated  Wild  Turkey  in  1974. He  moved  on  to  Babe  Ruth  fronted  by  the  gorgeous  rock  chick  Jennie  Haan  who  unsurprisingly  were  better  regarded  in  America  ( especially  Canada ) than  their  home  country. They  were  a  pretty  good  band , like  an  earthier  Curved  Air, although  their  best  songs  came  before  Bernie  joined  them. He  played  on  their  fourth  album  "Stealin  Home"  which  was  the  last  ( for  32  years )  to  feature  Haan  and  the  last  to  make  the  US  charts.  The  single  "Elusive"  is  an  uncomfortable  take  on  disco  with  Bernie  coming  up  with  a  highly  inappropriate  solo. Bernie  recorded  one  more  album  with  them ,  "Kids  Stuff"  in  1976  featuring  a  new  singer  but  it  was  ignored.

Bernie  joined  forces  with  Paice  and  Lord  in  the  ill-fated  supergroup  Paice, Ashton  Lord. They  released  one  album  "Malice  In  Wonderland",  a  reasonable  collection  of  Purple-flavoured  rock  although  Tony  Ashton's  R &  B  vocals  don't  always  suit  the  material. The  band  came  to  a  dramatic  end  when   a  drunken  Ashton  ( one  of  their  songs  was  "I'm  Gonna  Stop  Drinking " )  fell  off  the  stage  and  broke  his  leg  leaving  Bernie  free  to  hook  up  with  DC.

The  bassist  was  Neil  Murray. He  was  born  in  Edinburgh  in  1950. He  was  in  bands  at  school  as  a  drummer  but  his  first  adult  stint  was  as  bassist  in  a  jazz  fusion  group  called  Gilgamesh  in  1973 . He  soon  switched  to  the  funk  rock  outfit  Hanson , playing  on  their  second  LP  "Magic  Dragon" in  1974 ;  the  couple  of  tracks  I've  heard  sound  somewhat  Santana-ish. Band  leader  Junior  Marvin  then  dismissed  the  others  and  Neil  went  touring  with  Cozy  Powell's  Hammer  where  he  met  up  with  Bernie.

Neil  then  joined  another  jazz  fusion  group  Colosseum  II  featuring  Gary  Moore  though  it  was  led  by  the  drummer  Jon  Hiseman.  He played  on  their  1976 album  "Strange  New  Flesh"  which  doesn't  have  much  to  interest  the casual  listener. When  it  failed  to  sell  Neil  and  vocalist  Mike  Starrs  were  sacked  by  the  record  label.

Neil  moved  on  to  another  prog  rock  outfit  National  Health  featuring  the  other Dave  Stewart  as  keyboard  player  and  main  songwriter. Flying  in  the  face  of  punk  their  self-titled  debut  has  just  five  mainly  instrumental  tracks  and  Neil  drifted  away  to  hook  up  with  Bernie. He  played  on  a  couple  of  tracks  on  "Stealin  Home"  and  Bernie  remembered  him  when  rehersals  for  Whitesnake  began.

The  drummer  chosen  was  Dave  Dowle   , a  Londoner  born  in  1953.  He  also  came  from  the  prog  rock  scene  starting  in  1968  with  the  band  Canterbury  Glass  who  also  featured  future  Genesis  guitarist  Steve  Hackett. Their  idea  was  to  fuse  prog  with  ecclesiastical  music  but  their  recordings  didn't  see  the  light  of  day  until  2007. Dave  then  became  a  session  drummer   before  forming  a  band  Curly  that  did  a  session  for  John  Peel in  1973  but  never  made  it  on  to  record. He  then  joined  Brian  Auger's  Oblivion  Express  a  jazz  fusion  outfit  led  by  the  sixties  survivor. Dave  played  on  their  1975  album  "Reinforcements"  then  moved  on  to  the  Streetwalkers  led  by  ex-Family  singer  Roger  Chapman. He  played  on  their  third  and  final  studio  album  "Vicious  But  Fair"  in  1977  but  it  disappeared  amid  the  punk  maelstrom  and  the  band  had  folded  by  the  end  of  the  year.

This  then  was  the  line  up  that  recorded  "Snakebite"  under  the  name  "David  Coverdale's  Whitesnake " with  Pete  Solley  guesting  on  keyboards ( he  would  be  replaced  by  Jon  Lord  shortly  afterwards  making  the  band  a  sextet ).  The  first   tracks  is  "Bloody  Mary"  a  Faces- style  bar-room  boogie. Then  you  have   "Steal  Away"  a  group  composition   based  around  Micky  impersonating  Alvin  Lee  on  his  slide  guitar. It's   not  easy  listening  and  contains  some  highly  incongruous  Anita  Ward/ Rose  Royce  syndrum  noises  for  no  apparent  reason. The  third  track  is  the  moody  cover  of  Bobby  Bland's  "Ain't  No  Love  In  The  Heart  Of  The  City"  which  became  their  signature  song. The  final  track  is  the  straight  ahead  rocker  "Come  On"  which  reminds  us  that  they  were  basically  picking  up  where  Free  left  off , David's  bluesy  vocals  sounding  like  a  more  gutteral  Paul  Rodgers. At  over  sixteen  minutes  the  EP  was  good  value  for  money  and  EMI  pushed  the  boat  out  with  a  first  pressing  on  white  vinyl, this  being  the  beginning  of  the  golden  age  of  sales  gimmicks  with  records.  The  very  modest  chart  placing  probably  reflects  a  lack  of  airplay  and  the  band  wouldn't  really  flourish  until  the  eighties  but  here's  where  they  started.