Album of week 17: Whitesnake – Restless Heart (1997/2021)
Whitesnake started as a powerhouse blues-rock outfit before pivoting toward a polished hard-rock sound in 1984. After hitting their commercial peak around 1990, things went quiet for a few years. For me, the 1997 album Restless Heart represents a perfect middle ground: it has that »modern« Whitesnake production but leans back into those gritty, bluesy elements. Most notably, the hyper-technical guitar shredding of the Steve Vai era is gone, replaced by something much more soulful.
With David Coverdale officially retiring last year, I feel incredibly lucky to have caught their second-to-last show ever (June 21, 2022, in Zurich, see below).
The photo shows my original 1997 CD alongside the 2021 vinyl reissue. I have to agree with Coverdale himself: the tracklist on the 2021 »Redux« flows much better than the original release.
See the album here and the rest of my weekly album recommendations on Album Whale.
