This is music of another place and time, before MTV mattered. David Coverdale's Whitesnake rose from the ashes of Deep Purple in the late '70s, the singer taking his love of blues and R&B and welding it to traditional hard rock in a defiant kiss-off to punk, disco, and New Wave.

"Snakebite" is one of their earliest efforts, actually an amalgamtion between a 4-track EP released and 1978 and 4 of the best tracks from Coverdale's solo album "Northwinds." The tracks show Coverdale at his vocal best and loosest, a sense of fun alternating with genuine pathos.

1. Come On--slower than the familiar live version, but still a keeper. Sets the tone for much Whitesnake to come.

2. Bloody Mary--a piano driven boogie tune, almost like Elf in a way, but with rather ribald lyrics to boot. "Bloody Mary" is not a drink made with vodka and V-8 but instead a woman who likes to have sex.

3. Ain't No Love In The Heart of The City--Coverdale puts much "heart" into this rendition of the minor Bobby "Blue" Bland classic. The minor key guitar figure fits in well with the well-tempered vocalisms.

4. Steal Away--slide guitar dominates this borderline camp tune.

5. Keep On Giving Me Love--this tune defies categorization. Not quite rock, not quite funk, not pop...a new genre is born, but never really expanded upon. One of the five best tunes Coverdale has ever sung.

6. Queen of Hearts--excellent ballad, with effective dynamics.

7. Only My Soul--the second best song on the album (after Keep On Giving Me Love). Coverdale sings of children who are lost but searching.

8. Breakdown--uptempo, tough rock with classical solos in it (perhaps the most Deep Purple-like tune found here). And this makes sense, for the lyrics concern the final breakup of Deep Purple in 1976.

All in all, a worthy little gem to add to your CD collection.

After his stint in Deep Purple, Coverdale went on to produce this album. The latter half of the album is produced by Roger Glover. Not surprisingly, "Snakebite" has a Purple quality to it, however, it is more bluesy than Purple's traditional sound. Overall, it's a good album; I can't think of a song that I don't like.

Coverdale, at times, seems to imitate Robert Plant (something that becomes more obvious in later albums). This is especially true in "Steal Away," which never ceases to remind me of Led Zeppelin's "How Many More Times," lyrically speaking, of course. However, this doesn't detract from the song.

This album appeals to me, not only because the songs are good, but because we see a different Coverdale here, one less concerned with makeup and Jaguars. As Coverdale says in the cd insert, this is his first solo production following the "twilight zone" of Purple's (temporary) demise. This album was born in the late 70's, when the musical tide was changing, and here we have an artist determined to keep true to his bluesy-rock roots. Give it a listen; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

When Deep Purple came to an end, David Coverdale began a solo career that later developed into Whitesnake. "Snakebite" is the third release from Coverdale and the first one under the Whitesnake banner. You can say that this album continues where Deep Purple's "Come taste the band" left off, and the songs are in the same musical vein. I would not say that this release is world class, but it sure has its good moments, especially in the slow "Only my soul", which perhaps is the most beautiful song ever from Coverdale - alongside with "Soldier of fortune". The guys are doing a great job in the cover "Ain't no love in the heart of the city", and they surely blast away in the closing "Breakdown". The overall approach is a blend of traditional rock `n' roll and rhythm & blues. Fans of the later heavy metal direction ("1987" and "Slip if the tongue") might be a bit disappointed in this album `cos it ain't heavy metal at all.

Snakebite is a super early album from Whitesnake one of the best classic blues rock band.This album features early bluesy rock songs and is a very good album.A must for every rock fan.Highly recommended.

I always remember an interview I read that David Coverdale did. Something about the music critics telling him that "his kind of music is dead and gone." When he got to the show and the line of people was down the street and around the bloke. One more time proving the so called music critics wrong. Thanks Dave for sticking with it bringing us such great guitar driven rock. We who still rocked during the Disco, Punk and New Wave years owe you much thanks. A great batch of music with a lot more to follow. Others have given great song reviews, so I will leave it at this.