Listening to the first three tracks on this album had me sold on it right from the first listen. I loved the full blown, even retro sound that blasted from the speakers and, in a the way, felt like I was being transported straight back to the late 1970’s, when Whitesnake came into being. As the opening track “Best Years” kicks in, the early influence of Deep Purple can be strongly felt through the keyboard sound and that heartfelt Coverdale vocal is as powerful as ever. It’s a strong start and “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” maintains that early pace, with Doug Aldrich’s guitar driving things along, building to a great squealing solo. “Call On Me” has a fairly similar feel to it in the way the song is constructed and is another blues-rock belter, where you can almost feel the pain as Aldrich squeezes everything out of that poor guitar. 

The pace is finally slowed down for the first ballad, “All I Want All I Need” and it’s a pleasant enough song, with more of a 1980’s stadium rock feel to it than any of the other material but, if I’m honest, this is probably the weakest song on the album. “Summer Rain” is the other out-and-out ballad and for me is a far stronger song, mainly due to the way it is constructed both vocally and musically, with some very clever little guitar tweaks, complimenting the emotion filled vocal. 

“All For Love” is interesting in that you would swear it was Thin Lizzy when you first hear it start, both in terms of the guitar sound and the way in which the vocals are delivered. Coverdale really is a master of those subtle vocal changes that has his voice sounding like Phil Lynott one moment, then Robert Plant the next depending exactly what the song demands. This thought neatly brings me on to “Lay Down Your Love”, a wonderful Led Zeppelin inspired piece that, for me at least, just edges out “Good To Be Bad” for best track on the album. Oddly enough, the other band this song brought to mind was early Reef but I would hazard a guess that Reef were similarly influenced by Zeppelin! “Lay Down Your Love” simply has everything that a decent rock song should, with all sorts of things going on and some interesting changes of pace that will see it go down a storm live. 

I wondered at this point whether things would start to tail off but no, they simply stepped up another gear. Two classic Whitesnake songs followed, with “A Fool In Love” being blues influenced and about always falling in love with the wrong person. Next up is “Got What You Need” which is a frantic, over the top rocker that I’m convinced will become a live favourite. The final track surprisingly slows the pace once again, to bring things to an interesting climax. “’Til The End Of Time” again has something of a Zeppelin feel to it, being a slightly stark but emotion filled and extremely powerful way to round off the album.  

In summary, whilst “Good To Be Bad” cannot be said to be treading any new ground, it has a great sound and feel to it and if, as rumoured, it could be the final Whitesnake studio effort, then they can happily go out on a high and in the meantime the summer tour really should be a blast.

Dave McKenzie