Friday, November 6, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Ready an' Willing, by Whitesnake

 



Once upon a time former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale lead band Whitesnake was not the sleazy heavy metal band teased up with enough hair spray to make anyone choke that the world knows them to be today. When Whitesnake started in 1978 they were a blues based hard rock band like Led Zeppelin and Bad Company. In 1980, the band was in top form and put out one of its finest albums (their third) in its catalog: Ready an' Willing.

Ready an' Willing is the old school line-up of Whitesnake at its best. There are so many tunes that move, groove, and brandish that bluesy soul with tongue in cheek lyrics. The songs range from hard upbeat rockers, to slower ballads, to bluesy jams. Of course it helped that this line-up of Whitesnake also included Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice.

Ready an' Willing is a fine title track and is actually one of my personal favorite Whitesnake songs. This song is the definition of music with a groove to it. That guitar riff is so simple, yet it instantaneously hooks itself into your brain while Coverdale is pounding out some pretty overtly sexual themed lyrics. The vocal harmonies however are what absolutely kill it for me (in a good way). It's great when other members of a band have singing talent as well.

Black and Blue is very Little Richard themed. It is a fun upbeat bluesy tune that is primary focused around Lord hammering away on a piano while the rest of the band is jamming out with him. You almost get the picture of the band being in a parlor all gathered around a piano with cigarettes lit their own instruments out just having a good old time. To most people this song would probably just fall by the wayside and be easily forgotten, but personally I feel it's one of the best songs on the album.

Ready an' Willing is a great place to start if you're looking to get into Whitesnake's older catalog. It does a pretty good job showcasing what their sound was like before David Coverdale decided to go in a more commercial direction and get an almost entirely different set of musicians to call Whitesnake. The music on here is earthy, honest, and fun. It's what a good rock record should be and then some. It's worth every last bit of money it costs.

Ready an' Willing, by Whitesnake receives 4 out of 5 stars.

Track List:

1. Fool For Your Loving
2. Sweet Talker
3. Ready an' Willing
4. Carry Your Load
5. Blindman
6. Ain't Gonna Cry No More
7. Love Man
8. Black and Blue
9. She's a Woman

Buy the album on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Willing-LP-Whitesnake/dp/B003ODL45K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446797940&sr=8-1&keywords=Ready+an%27+Willing+Whitesnake

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