''Snakebite'' is the first official release by the British hard rock band

Whitesnake 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 entit ...

. The original EP initially featured only four tracks and was released in the UK in June 1978 and never published in the US. ''Snakebite'' was re-released in September 1978 as a Double Extended Play containing four extra studio tracks taken from

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after ...

's second solo album '' Northwinds''. The EP sleeve is entitled ''David Coverdale's Whitesnake'' and features photographs of the live band in concert. All tracks from the original EP also were used as bonus tracks on the 2006 remaster of Whitesnake's debut studio album '' Trouble''.

Background and writing

Shortly after producing and then touring in support of '' Northwinds'', Coverdale found that his new band was already producing and testing new material. Thus they returned to the studio to capture this newfound energy. The resulting mini-album (''Snakebite'' EP) features the cover song " Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", originally performed by

Bobby Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was des ...

. Although it is now considered a classic Whitesnake song, according to Coverdale it wasn't planned that way: "Originally I had no plans to actually record ‘Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City’… if you can you believe it… a song that connects so deeply with so many that I still play it today, 25 years later." Some of the songs from this album would be captured later in 1978 and released on the 1980 '' Live...In the Heart of the City'' live album.

Track listing

Side A

# "Bloody Mary" ''(Coverdale)'' – 3:16 # "Steal Away" ''(Coverdale,

Micky Moody Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden ...

, Marsden, Neil Murray, Peter Solley, Dave Dowle)'' – 4:15

Side B

# " Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" ''(Michael Price, Dan Walsh)'' – 5:05 # "Come On" ''(

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (born 7 May 1951) is an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as "Fool for Your Loving" ...

)'' – 3:25

David Coverdale's Whitesnake – Snakebite

# "Come On" ''(

)'' – 3:31 # "Bloody Mary" ''(Coverdale)'' – 3:18 # " Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" ''(Michael Price, Dan Walsh)'' – 5:07 # "Steal Away" ''(Coverdale,

, Marsden, Neil Murray, Peter Solley, Dave Dowle)'' – 4:16 # "Keep On Giving Me Love" ''(Coverdale, Moody)'' – 5:13 # "Queen of Hearts" ''(Coverdale, Moody)'' – 5:15 # "Only My Soul" ''(Coverdale)'' – 4:33 # "Breakdown" ''(Coverdale, Moody)'' – 5:12 * Tracks 1-4 are from the original EP, recorded 7–13 April 1978 at Central Recorders, London. * Tracks 5-8 are from the ''Northwinds'' album, recorded 10–19 April 1977 at

AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

, London.

Personnel

Tracks 1-4

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

–

* Neil Murray –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

* Dave Dowle –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Pete Solley Peter Solley (born 19 October 1948, London) is an English musician and record producer. He has recorded with Eric Clapton, Al Stewart and Whitesnake as well as producing records for Ted Nugent, Oingo Boingo, Motörhead, The Romantics, Jo Jo Z ...

- keyboards

Tracks 5-8

*David Coverdale - vocals *

- guitar * Tim Hinkley – piano *

Alan Spenner Alan Henry Spenner (7 May 1948 – 11 August 1991) was an English bass player who performed with Wynder K. Frog, the Grease Band, Spooky Tooth, ABC, David Coverdale, David Soul, Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Lynda Carter, Peter Frampton, Ted N ...

– bass * Tony NewmanCD Liner Notes – drums * Lee Brilleaux – harmonica *

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

– clavinet, cowbell,

Arp 2600 The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Allen R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 ...

* – violin

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snakebite (Album) Whitesnake EPs 1978 debut EPs United Artists Records albums Albums produced by Martin Birch Albums produced by Roger Glover EMI Records EPs Hard rock EPs Blues rock EPs