WHITESNAKE -

WHITESNAKE - GOOD TO BE BAD - SPV  
“Good To Be Bad is vintage Whitesnake, with a modern, contemporary edge.” The record label is wrong. Very wrong. Thankfully.
These marketing types should really learn a lesson and stop trying to make Whitesnake appeal to Staind fans. It just isn’t in the cards. Not that David Coverdale is even trying, but unless the 16-year old crowd is into genuine hard rock this is not the album for them.
Good To Be Bad is a new recording line-up for Whitesnake, which, next to David Coverdale, features guitarists Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach, bassist Uriah Duffy, drummer Chris Frazier and keyboardist Timothy Drury. This is vintage Whitesnake with all the rocking, sexy sass, pretty hair and balladry that comes with it. The newer guys do make their marks though. Good To Bad begins with Reb’s trademarked guitar sound and organs. The vocals are pure Coverdale with the bluesy rasp. He still has it. Got What You Need and the six-minute long Lay Down Your Love are grand rockers. Coverdale sounds like Robert Plant on the latter song as he is apt to do from time to time. The album ends with the emotional and Led Zeppelin-ish strum of 'Til The End Of Time. Were this a better time this song would be all over the radio.
Good To Be Bad is not “these are the best years of my life,” but it is almost, which says a lot about the eleven tracks here. The album is a conscious effort to recreate and maintain the definitive Whitesnake sound (and boring cover artwork) and that is cool by us. - Sheila Wes Det