Lightsnake? “Shut Up and Kiss Me”

Today's post is from our friend HIM.
 
Hmmmm . . .

Let's start with the fun stuff. Liked the humorous nods to past videos and glories. Also liked, though it is becoming a bit formulaic these days, the more inclusive nod to fans of all ages and types. Nice to see yourself in a video, right? But you wonder: is this the new, inclusive, version of Whitesnake? Is this “Still of the Night” with a dose of “Hands across America” and a side of “We are the World,” visually-speaking? It seems out of sync with even the most recent live performances. Coverdale isn’t flinging third-wave feminism essays into the audience. He is still trying, and I mean trying, to act the rogue. So the message is a bit mixed when you reflect on things a bit.
 
Let’s go just a bit deeper. This really is just a continuation of the sound that ‘Snake has been mining since around the time of “Kittens Got Claws” on Slip of the Tongue (1989). Mind you, the kitten didn’t have (as in, “has got”) claws, per se or punctuationally-speaking. So this is just keeping the pace with a trend that some fans love and some fans don’t. Personally? I am still a fan of the older stuff, even pre-Slide It In. But that’s just me (not thats just me). If you are going to dig in well-tilled fields, then dig, baby! When you got the blues, even as an affectation, best you go with it. Everything post-Slip made me sorta’ blush . . . a deeper shade of purple (to borrow and butcher).
 
I also notice some interesting wrinkles. No, that isn’t an age joke. You can hear a decidedly Night-Ranger-ish shift in guitar sound. I am (I repeat, ad nauseam) no musician. But that certainly seems to be the case. And why wouldn’t it be? Hoekstra did admirable service in said band for five-plus years. Not a bad thing at all.
 
But I also found the overall sound very, very sterile. The choruses sounded big but thin. It sounded like all the parts were recorded in different rooms and then shoveled through a computer, spit-polished with digital sandpaper, and reassembled from the bit and bytes after pushing the button that say “mix this to sound like a rock n’ roll song.” I fear I am approaching some sort of “analog” argument while shooing young people off my lawn . . . but I couldn’t muster the specifics to make that case stick. It is also the case that the song might sound much better upon official release, in either the standard or video-mix versions (the latter available as a bonus track).
 
I guess what I am saying is this: it ain’t bad. I wasn’t expecting much at this point in Lord Coverdale of Tahoe’s career. So that is faint praise for a recorded song. And that is the best way for me to judge Whitesnake these days.  Otherwise, I really get ornery.