Serpens Albus

I'm not sure if any album was better suited to launch me into a lifetime of enjoying hard rock and metal music than Whitesnake's 1987 release.  I had already been enjoying the sounds of Stryper and Bon Jovi, but in the late spring of my senior year in high school, Whitesnake released their self-titled seventh album, and  the soundtrack of my life would be changed forever.  Described in the Columbia Record and Tape Club's monthly catalogue as being "Zeppelinesque," I had to give it a try.  As soon as it played through my jam box once, I was hooked.

It is a minor point to some, but the Latin phrase serpens albus at the base of the amulet caught my attention.  I was a Latin student back then with plans to become a Latin teacher, so that was, in my mind at least, immediately cool.  Still, it is all about the music, so let's get back to that.

The opening track, "Crying In The Rain," reaches out with a fist of iron, grabs you by the neck, and then passes you on to the next song, with each successive track manhandling you as if you were a rag doll to be left spent at the end of an album that you can't wait to replay from the start.  The whole thing is a tsunami of sonic aggression, and the lyrics have a pure blues-rock pedigree.  It has been said that David Coverdale could not write a song if the word "love" were removed from his vocabulary, and tales of needing love, losing love, and seeking love fill this album.  There are the ballads, of course, such as "Is This Love" and "Looking For Love," which was originally released only on the European version of the album, but what sold the album for me were Coverdale's vocals.  He remains one of my all-time favorite singers, and his vocals here are strong, soaring at times into the hair metal scream zone, but clear and able to carry the emotional freight of the songs.

A few months after purchasing the cassette, I found myself a freshman in college and soon discovered that I only had the tip of the iceberg, for there were six other Whitesnake albums I had never heard of.  I quickly began acquiring those and going absolutely nuts for their blues-rock roots.  Still, it was the granite-fist-in-a-steel-glove-smashing-me-in-the-face sound of the '87 album that made me wish I actually had speakers that could be cranked to eleven, and nothing captures that better than "Still Of The Night."  I remember once walking with a friend past a dorm on campus and hearing the sounds of this album blasting from one of the rooms.  I shouted up, "Hey, Whitesnake dude, is that a CD?"  Compact discs were still new, and I was impressed with the sound making its way down to the sidewalk.  He stuck his head out the window and said that it was, then asked if there were a track I wanted to hear.  I shouted, "Still Of The Night!"  Moments later my buddy and I were rocking out, and I knew that a CD player would be in my near future, and in fact it was this album that was my very first CD to accompany the Sony Discman that I got just a few months later.  Although I never had the album on white vinyl, I did have this poster in my apartment my senior year, and it will always be one of those songs that I turn up to ear-bleeding level whenever it comes on the radio.

I have been fortunate to see Whitesnake in concert three times, twice in the '80s and once in 2016, and through this band I came to know the music of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and the rest of the rock legends, and their 1987 album was the start of it all.

For all these reasons, I had to get the 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition that was just released.  And yes, I tracked its shipment on Amazon, hardly able to wait to get home from work the day it arrived, which was also the day of its release.

When they say "super deluxe," they aren't kidding with this item.  It all comes in a handsome, hefty, well-made box that  feels in the hand as if you are holding a tome of literature. In fact, David Coverdale himself said it felt like holding The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and from a rock perspective it is just as epic.

As you can see from the picture I took moments after taking off the cellophane as eagerly as a kid at Christmas, there are lots of goodies.  There is a handsome poster of the album cover that will soon be framed and hanging with my other favorite rock posters.  Now, working our way counterclockwise from the top left of the photo, we see the exquisite 60-page, hardback book chock full of photos from the era and text detailing everything you could want to know about the meteoric rise of this multi-platinum stunnner.

Next is the disc called "87 Versions," which starts out with four remixes of "Still Of The Night," "Is This Love," "Give Me All Your Love," and "Here I Go Again."  I listened to these alongside the original releases and the 2017 remasters (more on these later), and I can honestly say the remixes bring something fresh.  You can hear individual tracks and instruments more sharply, and often the low-end sounds are clarified, which contrasts them with the high-end vocals.  It is as if the lines of a sculpture have been chiseled anew, not differently, but to make the cuts deeper and to bring the details into sharper relief.  The disc goes on to include "Standing In The Shadows," "Looking For Love," "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again," and "Need Your Love So Bad" from the Japan mini album.  This last track is a true gem, one that may be unknown, criminally and tragically so, to many.

At the bottom left you can see the DVD, which is the first item I played in this treasure box.  It starts off with the four MTV videos restored and remastered in 5.1 of "Still Of The Night," "Here I Go Again," "Is This Love," and "Give Me All Your Love."  For some of us, this is how we want our music videos...lots of shots of the band in action and a bit of the story line dramatized.  Watching these takes you back to that golden age of rock videos and music television.  Next comes  "Video Memories - The Making Of The 1987 Album."  Coverdale narrates in that rich voice of his, and coming in at a full half hour, this is a great look at what took place.  It examines everything from Hugh Syme's design of the now iconic Whitesnake amulet, Tawny Kitaen's replacement of Claudia Schiffer in the videos, and of course the making of the music.  After this is the Purplesnake Video Jam of "Here I Go Again," which for me was simply the most wonderful gift. Backstage and behind-the-scenes clips are interlaced with footage from various concerts on that tour, and the effect is that you are reminded just how much fun rock was in those days.  The hair is big, the costumes are flashy, and taking me back to the days of my youth as it did, it darn near brought a happy tear to my eye.  The DVD concludes with actual tour footage of "Crying In The Rain," intros of the band members, and "Still Of The Night."  It was if it I were back in Louisville, Kentucky's Freedom Hall on February 14, 1988, when I saw Whitesnake for the first time.  The showmanship of David Coverdale, Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell, Rudy Sarzo, and Tommy Aldridge really shine through in these glimpses from the 213-date tour that tore through the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Puerto Rico.

Next in the picture you see the disc of "Snakeskin Boots," which was the second disc I couldn't wait to open.  It contains twelve tracks recorded live in June of 1988 in Tokyo.  This is the mighty Whitesnake at the height of their hair-metal glory.  Songs are mostly from the '87 album, with "Slide It In," "Slow An' Easy," and "Love Ain't No Stranger" from their preceding album Slide It In.  Listening to the disc in 2017, the track I couldn't wait to hear was "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City."  Their cover of the 1974 Bobby Bland song appeared on their debut album Snakebite back in 1978 and became the featured song on all their tours.  I once asked David on the old Whitesnake bulletin board whether he had sung it or Deep Purple's "Mistreated" more often, and he replied that it would be hard to tell.  I love all of the countless versions I have listened to, and it is indeed one for the famous Whitesnake Choir that David loves and appreciates so much to join in on with full-throated abandon.  Of course the track that gets the crowd to blow the roof off the place is Track 10, "Still Of The Night."  There is nothing like this song, and nothing like it played live.

On on the bottom right is the disc "87 Evolutions," filled with demos and rehearsals.  I love this kind of thing.  It's like unearthing an original manuscript of a famous work and seeing how it changed over time.  We hear alternative arrangements and lyrics, and by gaining access to these works in progress, we are taken deep into the creative process.  If you are the kind of person who loves rockumentaries and the nitty-gritty of music development as I do, you will enjoy this disc.

The last disc in the picture is the complete '87 album remastered.  It includes the full eleven tracks from the European edition, but in a different order from either the U.S. or European release.  The sounds are a bit cleaner than the original, and anything that opens with "Still Of The Night" is going to be a scorcher.

In the upper right corner of the picture, you will notice a small, purple booklet.  It includes all the lyrics to the songs along with David Coverdale's own handwriting, including the crossing out of words he decided against.

So there you have it, a look at the 30th anniversary super deluxe edition of an album that truly shattered the darkness in rock and will always have a special place in the discography of this Roman Rocker.

A 30-Year Trip To Hell

Thirty-one years ago on October 24, 1986, Stryper released their third studio album, sending the devil to hell and launching themselves to the top of the charts.  It was the heyday of MTV and hair metal, and this album showcased what face-melting rock was all about.  It was the first Christian album to go platinum by selling over one million copies and prompted a 30th anniversary tour last year that saw the four original members performing the album in its entirety while wearing their original stage costumes.

So what makes this album so special?  Let's start with the cover art.  I had no idea how fortunate I was when I picked up my cassette copy from Beethoven's Records at Greentree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana, back in 1986.  The label on the back noted that this was a "special limited edition cover" and went on to explain that the imagery, while possibly evoking misinterpretations, was intended by the band to illustrate Revelation 20:10, which states the devil would one day be cast into a lake of fire for eternity.  This cover was changed for later pressings of the album and replaced with an all-black cover with the band's logo and the album title in red calligraphy, and while this was fine, the so-called "angel cover" remains the desired collector's item.

From its eerie instrumental opener "The Abyss," the album moves straight into the title track that to this day is a crowd favorite.  A swaggering drum beat, killer guitars, and Michael Sweet's signature, glass-shattering scream announce that this is '80s metal as it was meant to be, loud, bold, and in your face.

From there we're given a generous selection of what the genre did best.  There are the pop metal sounds of "Calling On You," "Sing-Along Song," and "Holding On."  There are the ballads, including the MTV favorite "Honestly" and the tragically overlooked "All Of Me," which Michael sings almost entirely in the upper part of his range and works equally as a statement of a Christian's commitment to Christ or an exquisite love song between a man and a woman.  And of course there are the no-holds-barred, sock in the chops, make-your-ears bleed rockers "Free," "The Way," "Rockin' The World," and "More Than A Man."

Enjoy some videos from this now classic album and if you're old enough, remember what hair metal was like in all it's glory.  And hey, if you're not old enough to remember, consider this a history lesson...a history lesson that rocks!

"To Hell With The Devil" live in 2016

"Honestly," Official Video

"Calling On You," Official Video

Falling To The Top

On October 16, 2015, Stryper released Fallen, their eleventh studio album.  Before I get to some thoughts on the music, I want to talk about why this album has a particular meaning for me that no other album has.

October 16th was a Friday in 2015, and since I was scheduled to fly out of town that afternoon, I asked my wife to purchase the CD for me and my teenage son to rip it for me so I could put it on my phone for listening on the plane.  At some point in the day, I felt my phone buzzing like mad with incoming text messages, and at my first break I pulled it to see what was going on.  My son had started texting me pictures of the album...CD cover front and back, liner notes, the disc itself, and the interior of the jewel case.

I have told him numerous times how much that meant.  Neither my wife nor daughter are the music nuts that my son and I are, and while Stryper may not be to his taste (he is a for King & Country, One Direction, Toby Mac, Harry Styles kind of guy), he knew that I would want to see what the album looked like.  I will never be able to listen to this album without thinking of the kindness of my son.

So, what does the album sound like?  What follows is the review I wrote of it two years ago on another blog.  As I listened to the album again today on the way to work, I can honestly say I would not change a word.  Oh, and at the end of the review, check out the two videos for the songs "Fallen," "King of Kings," and "Yahweh" that I put together with some classic art.

In October the metal band Stryper released their eleventh studio album since blasting onto the scene in 1984.  I have been a fan the whole time and am writing this review just so I can be part of the historical moment that is the re-birth of classic metal.  Stryper’s album Fallen proves what talented musicians can do who stay true to their roots, care about their fans, and have enough creativity not to live on the glory days but to create new ones in keeping with the times.

The opening track, “Yahweh,” begins like no other Stryper song.  It starts with an acapella choir sound that turns into a thundering, sonic guitar attack as Michael Sweet begins the story of Christ’s crucifixion.  It is an epic story, and the music stands up to it.  The entire album has a ten-foot deep, concrete foundation made out of Robert Sweet’s pounding drums and Tim Gaines’s aggressive bass.  On this track they combine to lend the perfect tone to this tale.  And let’s be serious.  If you are going to open your album with this story and a sound this big, the audience knows it is going to be a killer album in whole.

From there we get the title track, and one cannot help thinking of the epic poem Paradise Lost as we get the story of Satan’s fall from glory told in traditional Stryper guitar attack style.  Michael’s high scream opens the tale and resurfaces in the chorus, which always has me reaching for the volume to turn it up.

“Pride,” for which the band released their first official video, picks up the dark, heavy sound from “Yahweh” for the third track, and again we have the pounding rhythm section to open.  We are treated to a beautiful melody that morphs into a gritty scream during the chorus, and those who have never heard Michael Sweet simply accept his powerful vocals, but those of us who have heard him for three decades stand in awe at how he has continued to grow.

“Big Screen Lies” is a fun tune with another aggressive, rhythmic opening.  It talks of how Christianity is portrayed in popular media, something the boys in Stryper know a little about.  It has that in-your-face, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” it feel of “Loud ‘n’ Clear” off their debut album.  The chorus features thundering guitars, and the song ends with a gritty, greasy, snarling vocal.

The next track, “Heaven,” would have been at home on the Sweet & Lynch album Only To Rise.   This is another song of rebellion against what others think is the way to go.  Michael has strong, soaring vocals without going into the stratosphere.  It is again an in-your-face lyric.

“Love You Like I Do” almost has a Whitesnake feel in the very opening.  It is a call-and-response song that could be seen as a lyric between a man and a woman, but is more likely, and more reasonably, a lyric between God and His creation.  I could not help thinking of Oz Fox’s wife, Annie Lobert, in this one, as she leads the fight against sexual exploitation of women.  No one will ever see us as God sees us, certainly not those who see us only as means to an end.  And speaking of Oz, his guitar work has been killer on ever track, and the guitar solo on this song begs to be seen live in concert.

“All Over Again,” for which the band and their wives have released the album's second official video, is a country-rock ballad and may be the best of their career.  Let’s face it.  A fair portion of their fan base is of a maturing age.  This lyric hits home.  It is not a rose-colored glass view of the past, but one that can honestly say that with the good and the bad, we would not change a thing, but would do it all over again.  It is a big sound, worthy of the cowboy rocker of the ‘80s and perfectly suited for today.

“After Forever” was the track a lot of people were eager to hear.  It is a cover of Black Sabbath and, despite that this may get me negative comments, I will go on record as saying the cover is better.  It is sharp, clean, and aggressive.  It is a perfect fit for Stryper, and the boys carry it off perfectly.

The next song, “Till I Get What I Need,” is a fast, blistering number that seems directly born from Michael’s autobiography Honestly.  It has the classic Stryper guitar sound that would have been at home in the ‘80s, yet sounds in no way dated.

I’m not sure what it is, but I often like the last two or three tracks of an album the best.  Time and again for a variety of artists, these seem the heaviest.  "Let There Be Light" would have gone well on their last album, No More Hell To Pay, and is musically in that vein.  Again we have a strong, epic sound to the epic story of Genesis.

"The Calling" may be my favorite.  It is a chest-beating, bold, head-thrown-back anthem, with a fast and aggressive rhythm.  It has almost a classic rock sound at points.  Matthew Arnold, the famous scholar of Homer, said the Greek poet had a fast-moving, forward-driving feel to his poetry.  The same is true in this song.  It grabs you and drags you along at Mach I.

The final track, “King of Kings,” is another that would have gone well on the last album.  Stryper has always given us anthems, and this is one that calls to mind the expansive chorus of “Passion” from the Reborn album.  We have a sonic race at the beginning that slows and hits a slower, powerful stride in the chorus, forcing us to listen and, if so inclined, to belt out the lyrics, too.

And speaking of lyrics, I have to say these are some of Stryper’s best.  The stories are epic, yet the lyrics have a way of speaking directly to us.

If you did a word count, you would see I used “epic” and “aggressive” more than any other.  This is how I like my music.  In one of hissongs, country singer George Strait sang, “I don’t want you under my roof with your 86 proof watered down ‘til it tastes like tea.  You’re gonna pull my string, make it the real thing for me.”  I couldn’t agree more, and Stryper delivers better than ever.

The Future of Rock

Who needs mo' cowbell when you've got Mo Formica?  Thanks to a recent episode of The Voice, the world is coming to know teen rock phenom Moriah Formica.  Her performance of Heart's classic "Crazy On You" wowed the judges and has garnered nearly 400,000 views on YouTube in just a few days.  Take a listen and see if you can believe that this powerhouse is just sixteen years old!

I first started hearing Moriah Formica's name a year or so back when Michael Sweet of Stryper started talking about her.  He was impressed enough with her sound when she was still fifteen (just pause and ask yourself what you were doing at that age) that he invited her onstage with Stryper to sing their epic "To Hell With The Devil."

Now, let's just take a moment to consider all this.  This young lady has a voice that can belt out rich, punch-in-the-face songs like "Crazy On You."  She has a range that can hit the high notes of Michael Sweet.  Oh, and she has stage presence.  Seriously, go back and look at the video of her singing "To Hell With The Devil" again.  Does she not look as if she absolutely belongs on stage with those veteran rockers?

Michael Sweet knows a good thing when he hears it, and that's why he asked her to sing lead on "Can't Take This Life," the final track on his monstrously successful One Side War album, which went to #1 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums in October of 2016.

As readers of this blog know, I am a high school Latin teacher at a large public high school in Indianapolis.  I see almost 4,000 students walking the hallways each day, and nearly two hundred of them pass through my classes.  I have the privilege to know what many adults do not or simply ignore.  Teens are amazingly capable people.  I have seen leadership skills in teenagers that surpass those of adults in titled positions.  One of my students while still in high school once presented a paper at a medical conference of doctors and scientists based on research she had completed.  And I have known many talented young musicians and artists, one of whom, Brandon Signorino, is now a teacher himself at our local School Of Rock.  It is easy to comment on the shortcomings of the current teenage generation when social media makes the foolishness of all generations trending news.  Yet I can tell you from more than a quarter century of direct experience, teens have amazing abilities and can do incredible things if adults will just check them out.  Whether it is covering the classics of rock or recording her own material, like "Time," Moriah Formica is taking her place in the pantheon of music.  The good news for us is that she has many, many years of powerful recording and performing ahead.