Hair I Go Again

Whitesnake were lumped into the "hair metal" explosion of the 1980s, but they were a classier, more classic rock band than most of their peers. So the songs that populate this hits collection hold up better than the work of many of that era's MTV-boosted groups.

Whitesnake were lumped into the "hair metal" explosion of the 1980s, but they were a classier, more classic rock band than most of their peers. So the songs that populate this hits collection hold up better than the work of many of that era's MTV-boosted groups. Vocalist David Coverdale took flack for sounding like Robert Plant, but his booming, confident voice is more temperate than the Zep frontman's caterwaul. From roaring epics such as "Still of the Night" and "Here I Go Again" to the blatant, sexy "Slide It In" to the memorable power ballad "Love Ain't No Stranger," the expected hits from the band's commercial heyday are included in this comprehensive CD, which skips over Whitesnake's several hitless discs of the '70s. Three decent unreleased songs fill out this 14-cut collection, which, much like the band itself, is solid and timeless.

An English hard rock institution founded by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale, Whitesnake emerged in the late 1970s with a style steeped in the driving British blues-rock of bands like Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, and of course, Deep Purple. After recalibrating their sound to better adapt to the burgeoning '80s hair and pop-metal scene, they found commercial success with 1984's Slide It In and then cannonballed into the mainstream in 1987 with the release of their multi-platinum-selling eponymous seventh effort, which spawned the power ballad "Is This Love" and the massive crossover number one hit "Here I Go Again."

An English hard rock institution founded by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale, Whitesnake emerged in the late 1970s with a style steeped in the driving British blues-rock of bands like Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, and of course, Deep Purple. After recalibrating their sound to better adapt to the burgeoning '80s hair and pop-metal scene, they found commercial success with 1984's Slide It In and then cannonballed into the mainstream in 1987 with the release of their multi-platinum-selling eponymous seventh effort, which spawned the power ballad "Is This Love" and the massive crossover number one hit "Here I Go Again."

Though they eventually rose to enormous success in the hair metal era, Whitesnake toiled long in hard rock purgatory as a hard-working, road-ragged group. Little Box 'O' Snakes: The Sunburst Years 1978-1982 goes deep into the band's early catalog for the Sunburst label, offering up five studio albums and three live albums from various concert broadcasts, not to mention the 1978 Snakebite EP, which was previously available only on vinyl. Studio albums include Trouble (1978), Lovehunter (1979), Ready an' Willing (1980), Come an' Get It (1981), and Saints & Sinners (1982).