Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The past may be a foreign country, but that does not mean you shouldn’t visit it every now and then to re-evaluate the effect it has had on your present day mood or appreciations; if we left everything only to the ears of audio archaeologists then all our discoveries, all our loves, and sometimes aversions, are only to be interpreted by the sales and the critics words at the time.

A notable anniversary is one such occasion in which to delve into the backstory of life, love and music. It is a moment in which the Freudian Slip of the Tongue may have been the truth delivered, the sentiments of anguish turn to long distance admiration, or when you understand the complexities of the time clouded your judgement, your insistence of greatness devalued to one of regret, one of omission.

For David Coverdale and Whitesnake, Slip of the Tongue was always going to be hard album to deliver, not least because of the phenomenal success of the 1987 self-titled release, with its progression of updated classic tracks, Here I Go Again and Crying In The Rain, as well as the scorching inclusion of Is This Love, but also because of the inclusion of the seminal guitarist Steve Vai to the line-up, a maestro indeed but one to whom it could be argued was not the right fit for the band at the time, but who gave the lift needed on the back of the gracious Adrian Vandenberg’s unavailability to record the new album.

Seen at the time as one of the weaker albums recorded by Whitesnake, in retrospect, and with the benefit of re-mastering, the recording of Slip of the Tongue should not be omitted by the fan or the seeker of meaningful interaction with the band, it may not have the gravitas of the excellent Saints & Sinners, or the buoyant celebration that comes hand in hand with Lovehunter, or indeed the history associated with Deep Purple with Come An’ Get It, but it is a set of songs that delves deep into the heart of the listener without too much error or over-burdening of the band’s appeal in the search for a more distinct sound and a further moving away from the hard rock Blues of previous albums.

With Steve Vai’s searing guitar, the edge of Whitesnake was able to take a different turn, one arguably not foreseen with Adrian Vandenberg at the helm, it is one that refuses to sit quietly in the corner and wait for the change, instead it comes out bursting into flame and the ashes of transformation catapulted into the air and allowed to fall where they will.

Across songs such as Now You’re Gone, Kittens Got Claws, The Deeper The Love and the 1989 rediscovery of the song Fool For Your Loving, as well as alternate mixes on the double album of Slip of the Tongue, Judgement Day and Cheap An’ Nasty, the album takes on a new air of appreciation, one perhaps denied it originally, but as always with Time, one that can find a new way to express itself, like fine whisky it grows upon you the longer it has to settle.

A fine way to rediscover the virtue and power behind Whitesnake’s discography, the Slip of the Tongue never sounded so good.

Ian D. Hall