Search - Whitesnake :: Saints & Sinners

The best of the early Whitesnake albums - now remastered

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 07/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like many people, I first discovered Whitesnake in 1987 when they released their smash hit self-titled album. Growing up with that album and the band's 1989 follow-up Slip of the Tongue made listening to the band's early works a challenge. It's a challenge that paid off though. I'm not a huge blues rock fan, but something about these early Whitesnake albums really works for me, and I've come to love them (almost) as much as the later albums I grew up with.



Originally released in 1982, Saints & Sinners is the last real "old school" Whitesnake album before the band evolved into their better known "hair metal" phase. At this point the band had pretty well perfected their bluesy, soulful hard rock sound. All they were really missing was a wider audience. They had the technical chops, an amazing vocalist in David Coverdale, and some potential singles in "Here I Go Again" and "Crying in the Rain". Hearing the original versions of these familiar 1987-era hits is a real eye-opener. Unfortunately, when you consider the more popular new wave, arena rock and metal sounds at the time, even an album as impressive as Saints & Sinners sounds out of touch and dated.



Popularity issues aside, Saints & Sinners is a completely infectious blues rock album. Unlike previous albums, the songs on Saints & Sinners are much more up-tempo and generally "rock out" more. This may have been due to the departure of guitarist Bernie Marsden. I love the rockin' "Young Blood" and "Rock `an Roll Angels" is a great old school party rock anthem, but honestly the whole album has a charged, energetic vibe that's impossible to resist.



Saints & Sinners is probably my favorite of the early Whitesnake albums, and one that I'd definitely recommend it to all serious Whitesnake fans, as well as anyone into old school blues-based rock & roll. I'd also recommend it as the perfect starting point for fans of the later Whitesnake albums to start exploring the band's roots.



NOTE: Saints & Sinners was reissued by EMI in 2007. The reissue features digitally remastered sound, expanded liner notes and three bonus tracks. The bonus tracks are a pair of "monitor mix/early vocal" songs ("Young Blood" and "Saints an' Sinners") and an unfinished, previously unreleased song called "Soul Survivor" that's very rough and has no vocal track added. The bonus tracks are interesting enough, but the real reason to buy this import reissue is the digitally remastered sound, which is worlds better than the original release. EMI has been on fire lately with great sounding reissues (see: Blind Guardian, MSG, Scorpions, UFO and Saxon) and the Whitesnake reissues may be the best of the bunch."