Whitesnake Saints & Sinners (1982)

What a difference a year makes. After releasing the thoroughly disappointing Come an' Get It, Whitesnake made up for it in spades with 1982's excellent Saints & Sinners, their best record yet…

Whitesnake are a hard rock band formed in England in 1978 by David Coverdale, after his departure from his previous band Deep Purple. Their early material has been compared by critics to the blues rock of Deep Purple, but they slowly began moving toward a more commercially accessible rock style. By the turn of the decade, the band's commercial fortunes changed and they released a string of UK top 10 albums, Ready an' Willing (1980), Come an' Get It (1981), Saints & Sinners (1982) and Slide It In (1984), the last of which was their first to chart in the US and is certified 2x platinum. The band's 1987 self-titled album was their most commercially successful worldwide, and contained two major US hits, "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love", reaching number one and two on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went 8 times platinum in the US, and the band's success saw them nominated for the 1988 Brit Award for Best British Group. Slip of the Tongue (1989) was also a success, reaching the top 10 in the UK and the US, and received a platinum US certification. The band split up shortly after this release, but had a reunion in 1994, and released a one-off studio album, Restless Heart (1997). Whitesnake officially reformed in 2002 and have been touring together since. In 2005, Whitesnake were named the 85th greatest hard rock band of all time by VH1.

Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entity, Coverdale is the only constant member throughout their history. Whitesnake enjoyed much success in the UK, Europe and Japan through their early years. Their albums Ready an' Willing, Come an' Get It and Saints & Sinners all reached the top ten on the UK Albums Chart.

Despite the massive talents of vocalist David Coverdale and his supporting cast of musicians (not to mention the unimpeachable resumé of producer Martin Birch), Come an' Get It was another maddeningly average Whitesnake album. A thoroughly boring set that played it too safe and yielded no lasting live favorites, Come an' Get It was competent to the max – in the hands of a debuting artist, it may have qualified as a classic – but for a near-supergroup of such experience and pedigree, it instead smacked of severe underachievement…

Whitesnake are a hard rock band formed in England in 1978 by David Coverdale, after his departure from his previous band Deep Purple. Their early material has been compared by critics to the blues rock of Deep Purple, but they slowly began moving toward a more commercially accessible rock style. By the turn of the decade, the band's commercial fortunes changed and they released a string of UK top 10 albums, Ready an' Willing (1980), Come an' Get It (1981), Saints & Sinners (1982) and Slide It In (1984), the last of which was their first to chart in the US and is certified 2x platinum…

Despite the massive talents of vocalist David Coverdale and his supporting cast of musicians (not to mention the unimpeachable resumé of producer Martin Birch), Come an' Get It was another maddeningly average Whitesnake album…