Slip Of The Tongue bonbed - why?

[skinni]

Whitesnake's Slip of the Tongue remains a cherished album in my collection. I still find myself drawn to its powerful sound, revisiting it from time to time.

While the guitar style and tone undeniably differ from John Sykes' era, Steve Vai's virtuosity is undeniable and his guitar work on this record is nothing short of extraordinary.

Every concert I attended on that tour was an unforgettable experience. The energy and intensity were palpable, and Vai's stage presence was mesmerizing. It was a truly electrifying period for the band.

So I assume Nelson's "After the Rain" and Danger Danger "Screw it" round out your "top 3"?

Not even close, my top choices lean towards heavier bands like Kreator, Merciful Fate, Exodus, Maiden, Priest, etc.

But I do like most of the hair bands, Danger Danger included, especially their S/T.

To this day, my enduring admiration lies with Andy Timmons' exceptional guitar work. His technical prowess and melodic flair consistently impress me, regardless of the musical context.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

On Whitesnake '87, there was a certain warmth in the guitar tone and the reverb that just took the songs higher. There was an urgency. And it was all about love, lust and sex.

Slip had great singles. And they were MTV hits at least but the album tracks were weak. The songs aren't exactly heavier but they don't have the sexiness that the 1987 album had. And they weren't as girl friendly.

Somebody said "lightning in a bottle". That's what it was. John Sykes didn't write Slide it In but he joined the band at that time. It's like him and Coverdale took that record and turned it up to ten to come up with the 1987 record.

[Bono Nettencourt]

On Whitesnake '87, there was a certain warmth in the guitar tone and the reverb that just took the songs higher.

Amen to that. Sykes' tone was MONSTROUS. Top 10 all-time. Made the filler crap like Bad Boys and Gimme All Your Love listenable.

[DangerZone]

the truth is 87 wasn’t really that good.
‘Still of the night,’ especially the breakdown, is exceptional and ‘is this love’ is one of the era’s best ballads.
But the rest is just re-painted blues songs that weren’t successful the first time.
But Sykes adds a lot, especially since he went MIA soon after.
His solo on ‘crying in the rain’ elevates a meh track.

Slip of the tongue is just as good, but it doesn’t have a ‘still’ or ‘is this love?’
And vai was swapped in for Sykes.
It was a huge guitarist album at the time.

I’d say the 2 classics on 87 were worth their extra 4 million copies

[Bono Nettencourt]

Very few 80s albums were all killer no filler. 87 had 4 killers, which was 2 more than most of the stars of the day.

[Venus Flytrap]

C

ampbell then toured with them, and the story is that they re-convened and tried start SOTT with that band and Vandenberg's riffs. I'm guessing whatever Campbell brought was not felt to be up to snuff. Either that or he got the Riverdogs offer and saw a chance to be more involved in co-ownership. Of course, Riverdogs were more based on Rob and Nick's writing than Viv's.

Campbell didn't make it to the SOTT sessions. He quit right after the tour. He knew that David and Adrian were going to write the next album and he joined the band with that stipulation being in place. But as they got closer to that actually happening he started being less comfortable with it because he wanted to write too. So he decided to leave. Also during the '87-'88tour David told him to leave his wife home next tour because she and Tawny didn't get along and David didn't need the headache. Viv said that was just another thing that confirmed to him that he had made the right decision to leave. He did say though he left on good terms because David was up front with him about the writing thing when he joined. Unlike his departure from Dio,

[Love_Industry]

Campbell didn't make it to the SOTT sessions. He quit right after the tour. He knew that David and Adrian were going to write the next album and he joined the band with that stipulation being in place. But as they got closer to that actually happening he started being less comfortable with it because he wanted to write too. So he decided to leave.

Vivian Campbell, overestimating his importance and abilities since 1984.

[NeonKnite]

I’d say the 2 classics on 87 were worth their extra 4 million copies

Were you even there? "Here I Go Again" was the single that took 87 over the top and made it the massive success it was.

[MickeyG]

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say I prefer SOTT to 1987.

[Bono Nettencourt]

C

ampbell then toured with them, and the story is that they re-convened and tried start SOTT with that band and Vandenberg's riffs. I'm guessing whatever Campbell brought was not felt to be up to snuff. Either that or he got the Riverdogs offer and saw a chance to be more involved in co-ownership. Of course, Riverdogs were more based on Rob and Nick's writing than Viv's.

Campbell didn't make it to the SOTT sessions. He quit right after the tour. He knew that David and Adrian were going to write the next album and he joined the band with that stipulation being in place. But as they got closer to that actually happening he started being less comfortable with it because he wanted to write too. So he decided to leave. Also during the '87-'88tour David told him to leave his wife home next tour because she and Tawny didn't get along and David didn't need the headache. Viv said that was just another thing that confirmed to him that he had made the right decision to leave. He did say though he left on good terms because David was up front with him about the writing thing when he joined. Unlike his departure from Dio,

Funny thing about that is that Tawny started cheating on him during the SOTT tour.

[DangerZone]

I’d say the 2 classics on 87 were worth their extra 4 million copies

Were you even there? "Here I Go Again" was the single that took 87 over the top and made it the massive success it was.

Yes.
Still sucks
Still an overplayed reworking

[Van Ailin']

the truth is 87 wasn’t really that good.
‘Still of the night,’ especially the breakdown, is exceptional and ‘is this love’ is one of the era’s best ballads.
But the rest is just re-painted blues songs that weren’t successful the first time.

Disagree.

Crying In the Rain was massive and had one of Coverdale's best vocal notes.

Bad Boys and Children of the Night rocked - cheesy, but rocked

Still of the Night remains the best LedZep patiche of the era, and the breakdown in the middle back to the guitar solo is a great moment

Is This Love is one of the best rock ballads of the era and it has THAT vibrato on the solo

I didn't like the radio remix of Here I Go Again, but the album version was great (except the last note on the solo)

Straight For the Heart was a decent album track, good melody, but probably should have been replaced with "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again" a great riff and their best b-side

Don't Turn Away has one of Coverdale's warmest vocals. Really nice. This was probably the best he ever sounded as a singer, and I suspect the really long tour did a number on his voice. By the time you heard "Last Note of Freedom" or much of "Slip of the Tongue," it was really rough his higher range. Not rough = good, but rough = screech.

[FreddyFender]

1987 is a hell of a lot more than the singles. "Cryin in the Rain" is fuckin' perfection and nothing on SOTT comes close to it. Even what they left off of 1987 tells you everything you need to know:

Standing in the Shadows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVfbsM-WTRo
Looking for Love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eExismuWPbs

Most bands in the 80s would have killed to have stuff this good to release as singles. Whitesnake left em on the cutting room floor (in the US, at least).

If you don't like blusey stuff, you're listening to the wrong band.

[DangerZone]

I like 87. (Not a fan of ‘here I go again’)

I was only saying it’s not that much better than ‘slip,’
other than ‘still of the night,’ ‘is this love’ & cryin in the rain (mainly for the solo)

But those alone probably bumped it up 4 million

[Bono Nettencourt]

So, other than having 3 good songs (in your estimation) to 0, there's no difference between the two... great analysis.

[Anthrax442]

1987 is a hell of a lot more than the singles. "Cryin in the Rain" is fuckin' perfection and nothing on SOTT comes close to it. Even what they left off of 1987 tells you everything you need to know:

Standing in the Shadows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVfbsM-WTRo
Looking for Love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eExismuWPbs

Most bands in the 80s would have killed to have stuff this good to release as singles. Whitesnake left em on the cutting room floor (in the US, at least).

If you don't like blusey stuff, you're listening to the wrong band.

To be fair, that version of Standing in the Shadows kind of sucks. They had already gotten it right on Slide it In, it didn't need to be redone.

[NeonKnite]

I was only saying it’s not that much better than ‘slip,’

It's massively better than SOTT. Not even close.

Vai was the wrong guy for that band.

[Wild Obsession]

The shrill guitar intro on "Now Your Gone" is like nails on a chalkboard.........

Never mind "87", Slide it In, Good To Be Bad, Forevermore and Flesh & Blood are also all better albums than Slip of the Tongue.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Forevermore got more hype for some reason but I think Good To Be Bad was better.

[EuroJR]

I don't believe any of you saying FFYL is a good song.

[Bono Nettencourt]

I don't believe any of you saying FFYL is a good song.

Ikr? Textbook example of generic mid-tempo sludge.

[Anthrax442]

Fuck off. Flesh & Blood is just garbage.

The two Aldrich ones … maaaybe. Forevermore was a bit of a letdown outside two or three songs.

I disagree. The only thing garbage about Flesh & Blood is the title. How DC managed to release two original studio albums in a row that reused album titles from Tesla and Poison, I'll never know.

Is it as good as the two Aldrich albums? No, but it's far better than albums most people are releasing at that point in their career.

[Love_Industry]

I was only saying it’s not that much better than ‘slip,’

It's massively better the SOTT. Not even close.

Vai was the wrong guy for that band.

Probably yes. I like Vai in a band context, both Alcatrazz and DLR and to some extent on SOTT, but Vai doing his thing over Vandenberg's eurometal songs aren't what Whitesnake is about.
Like it or not, but SOTT is their Painkiller or Carnival of Souls, an album that is a lot more metal than their previous work but lacks key elements of what made the band popular.

Sure, 1987 was a step in a more metal direction too but Sykes still played bluesier than Vai or Vandenberg could ever imagine, and the rhythm section with an ex-John Mayall, Zappa and Journey drummer and a Whitesnake veteran who also played with Colosseum II and Gary Moore had a different groove than the Ozzy/MARS/Quiet Riot rhythm section on SOTT.

Strangely enough, Vandenberg and the SOTT rhythm section pulled off a groovy, bluesy 70s sounding album five years later with Manic Eden. Ron Young sang but didn't write any songs, in fact he was a last minute replacement for House of Lords singer James Christian - who could do Whitesnake well but had no business singing on the Manic Eden album.

[sirthx2]

Songs like kittens got claws and cheap & nasty are so cringeworthy they would make poison blush.

1,000%

[greengoblinrulz]

Timing Id say was bad for them, not grunge on horizon either
Bigger bands of past year were Skids, Warrant, Slaughter, etc. Lot of new younger acts taking off & several of older established bigger acts faced death in 89/90 like Dokken, Stryper, Ratt.....even acts likI e Alice & Priest were within a year of bombing new albums/tours.
I was 21 at time & I felt much more connected to new bands than many of established acts that werent putting out good material. Even the Pussycats & LAGs had strong second albums
Sure there were bigs having success that summer like Crue, Aerosmith & Kiss. Kiss was doin 70s revival & others had strong albums but also were taking out the top bands of time.
Coverdale & company were just kind of there. Nothing spectacular, kind of old & didnt feel like they had that hunger they had in 87 (proved right when they disbanded as soon as they werent hip anymore).

[Ryan81]

I've only heard this from a few people, but they were reliable...before Vai came aboard Coverdale was actually working with Malcolm Young. Young couldn't commit to the band though because The Razor's Edge was going to be coming out and his loyalty was obviously with his brother and AC/DC. Those were actually Malcolm's solos that Vai was just redoing pretty much note for note. I was surprised when I originally was told this, but if you listen carefully to SOTT you can definitely hear Malcolm's phrasing in a lot of those leads.

[Bono Nettencourt]

And whatever they are, please tell me so I may partake.

[FreddyFender]

I own every Whitesnake album….. except Flesh and Blood. Been a fan since middle school, but after hearing the lame singles I didn’t bother picking it up. I don’t think I even skimmed it on Spotify…. Reb and Joel are awesome, but Reb’s got that LA metal style that’s doesn’t fit with WS… “Shut Up and Kiss Me” sounds like something off SOTT, actually.

The Purple Album/Tour was the end of the band for me. Saw the tour and it was great, but the keyboard playing was doing a lot of the lifting, vocally.

GTTB and Forevermore both fucking rule.

[DangerZone]

I’ve never heard ‘good to be bad.’
Was looking at the vinyl & it came out in 2008 & then re-mixed in 2023?!

[joey78]

I've only heard this from a few people, but they were reliable...before Vai came aboard Coverdale was actually working with Malcolm Young. Young couldn't commit to the band though because The Razor's Edge was going to be coming out and his loyalty was obviously with his brother and AC/DC. Those were actually Malcolm's solos that Vai was just redoing pretty much note for note. I was surprised when I originally was told this, but if you listen carefully to SOTT you can definitely hear Malcolm's phrasing in a lot of those leads.

Malcolm is a rhythm player , not a lead player