Snakebite is the first official release by the British hard rock band Whitesnake. The original EP initially featured only four tracks and was released in the UK in June 1978 and never published in the US. Snakebite was re-released in September 1978 as a Double Extended Play containing four extra studio tracks taken from David Coverdale's second solo album Northwinds.[5] The EP sleeve is entitled David Coverdale's Whitesnake and features photographs of the live band in concert.[6] All tracks from the original EP also were used as bonus tracks on the 2006 remaster of Whitesnake's debut studio album Trouble.
| Snakebite | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Original 4 track EP sleeve | ||||
| EP by | ||||
| Released | 2 June 1978 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 10–19 April 1977; 7–13 April 1978 | |||
| Studio | AIR and Central Recorders, London, UK | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 36:25 | |||
| Label | United Artists (North America) EMI International (Rest of the world) | |||
| Producer | 1-4 by Martin Birch, 5-8 by Roger Glover | |||
| Whitesnake chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Double EP cover | ||||
 | ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10[3] |
| MusicHound Rock |  [4] |
Background and writing
editShortly after producing and then touring in support of Northwinds, Coverdale found that his new band was already producing and testing new material. Thus they returned to the studio to capture this newfound energy.
The resulting mini-album (Snakebite EP) features the cover song "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", originally performed by Bobby Bland. Although it is now considered a classic Whitesnake song, according to Coverdale it wasn't planned that way: "Originally I had no plans to actually record ‘Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City’… if you can you believe it… a song that connects so deeply with so many that I still play it today, 25 years later."
Some of the songs from this album would be captured later in 1978 and released on the 1980 Live...In the Heart of the City live album.
Track listing
editSide A
edit- "Bloody Mary" (Coverdale) – 3:16
- "Steal Away" (Coverdale, Micky Moody, Marsden, Neil Murray, Peter Solley, Dave Dowle) – 4:15
Side B
edit- "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" (Michael Price, Dan Walsh) – 5:05
- "Come On" (David Coverdale, Bernie Marsden) – 3:25
David Coverdale's Whitesnake – Snakebite
edit- "Come On" (David Coverdale, Bernie Marsden) – 3:31
- "Bloody Mary" (Coverdale) – 3:18
- "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" (Michael Price, Dan Walsh) – 5:07
- "Steal Away" (Coverdale, Micky Moody, Marsden, Neil Murray, Peter Solley, Dave Dowle) – 4:16
- "Keep On Giving Me Love" (Coverdale, Moody) – 5:13
- "Queen of Hearts" (Coverdale, Moody) – 5:15
- "Only My Soul" (Coverdale) – 4:33
- "Breakdown" (Coverdale, Moody) – 5:12
- Tracks 1-4 are from the original EP, recorded 7–13 April 1978 at Central Recorders, London.
- Tracks 5-8 are from the Northwinds album, recorded 10–19 April 1977 at AIR Studios, London.
Personnel
editTracks 1-4
edit- David Coverdale – vocals
- Micky Moody – guitar
- Bernie Marsden – guitar
- Neil Murray – bass guitar
- Dave Dowle[7] – drums
- Pete Solley - keyboards
Tracks 5-8
edit- David Coverdale - vocals
- Micky Moody - guitar
- Tim Hinkley – piano
- Alan Spenner – bass
- Tony Newman[8] – drums
- Lee Brilleaux – harmonica
- Roger Glover – clavinet, cowbell, Arp 2600
- Graham Preskett – violin
Charts
edit| Chart (1978) | Position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart[9] | 61 |
References
edit- ^ Popoff, Martin (2016). The Deep Purple Family, vol 1 (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-908724-42-7.
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Whitesnake - Snakebite review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 311–312. ISBN 978-1894959025.
- ^ Graff, Gary, ed. (1996), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, p. 728, ISBN 9780787610371
- ^ Snakebite ad: "David Coverdale's Whitesnake and their debut album Snakebite.". Billboard (16 September 1978) - p. 1. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
- ^ Palm, Anders. "David Coverdale's Whitesnake: Snakebite". Soldier of Fortune website. Archived from the original on 13 December 2000. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- ^ CD Liner Notes
- ^ CD Liner Notes
- ^ "Whitesnake The Official Charts Company". Official Charts.