Throwback Thursday (belated): Come An' Get It, by Whitesnake

By 1981 Whitesnake was gaining some serious traction in the world of rock n' roll both commercially and musically. They had three albums and an EP out that had gained them a reputation for being one hell of a loud and proud blues flavored rock n' roll band. The classic blues era of Whitesnake came to its climax when they released their fourth studio LP Come An' Get It, which at the time became their highest charting album yet, hitting the #2 spot in the UK charts.

Come An' Get It continues the blues rock sound that the band had been toting for the past few years, though took some of the gloss off in some areas while adding some in others. It was a pretty balanced record for the most part, with rockers like "Wine, Women, and Song", "Come an' Get It", "Hit and Run", etc. while also having soulful blues driven songs like "Don't Break My Heart Again". It is easy to see why this record did so well at the time.

Hot damn, does "Wine, Women, and Song" cook. It is very classic 50's sounding piano driven rockabilly tune at first, but then the guitars and the rest of the band come in and it cranks up the fun and attitude up to 11. This is definitely a tune to get up and dance to. It takes what was great about early rock n' roll, but adds on some serious gusto to it. You can tell that they were having a lot of fun when they performed this.

"Don't Break My Heart Again" is a heavy, yet soulful ballad. It is about the crumbling of singer David Coverdale's first marriage and you can hear the hurt and heartache he was dealing with in every last melancholy drenched lyric. It is rather musically dark for a Whitesnake song. No flamboyancy in the slightest. This is just straight up blues the only way that they knew how to play it and really mean it.

Personally I don't think Come An' Get It is Whitesnake's best records, but it still has its moments for me. When I was in college and jamming out to old school Whitesnake a lot this record was frequently in my rotation. No Whitesnake collection would be complete without it because otherwise you would be missing some of the best songs in their entire catalog. At the very least it is worth checking out at least once and deciding for yourself.

Come An' Get It, by Whitesnake receives 3.25 out of 5 stars.

Track List:

1. Come an' Get It
2. Hot Stuff
3. Don't Break My Heart Again
4. Lonely Days, Lonely Nights
5. Wine, Women, an' Song
6. Child of Babylon
7. Would I Lie to You
8. Girl
9. Hit and Run
10. Till the Day I Die

Buy the album on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Come-Get-WHITESNAKE/dp/B000K2Q5X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526715801&sr=8-1&keywords=whitesnake+come+and+get+it