I WAS BORN
A GAMBLER'S SON
AND BEFORE I COULD WALK
I HAD TO LEARN HOW TO RUN
Trouble
is the debut
studio album
from British
rock band
Whitesnake,
led by former
Deep Purple
vocalist
David Coverdale
released in
October 1978.
It reached No. 50
on the
UK Albums Chart.
This followed the
four-track
Snakebite EP,
later available
in the US
as an import album
from continental Europe.
It received a
CD release
on April 8th 1988
in the UK.
EMI remastered
the album in 2007,
adding six bonus tracks,
mainly rough mixes.
The album later received
a reissue by
EMI/Parlophone in 2006,
containing bonus tracks
from their previous EP
not counting four
David Coverdale's
Northwinds tracks
previously on
the double EP version
Background
In March 1976,
David Coverdale
had left the English
hard rock group
Deep Purple
and retreated to
record two of his
solo albums,
White Snake
and
Northwinds.
One of Coverdale's
solo albums
featured former
Snafu guitarist
Micky Moody,
whom Coverdale had known
since the late 1960's.
Moody was the first
to join Coverdale's
backing band,
which he began assembling
in London.
As stated by Coverdale,
"Whitesnake were actually formed
to promote Northwinds
on a one-off promotional tour".
Moody suggested bringing in
a second guitarist,
with the spot ultimately going
to Bernie Marsden,
formerly of
UFO
and
Paice Ashton Lord.
With his help,
the band recruited bassist
Neil Murray,
who had played with
Marsden in Cozy Powell's Hammer.
The group's initial line-up
was rounded out by
drummer
Dave "Duck" Dowle
and keyboardist
Brian Johnston,
who had played together in
Streetwalkers.
Other early candidates
for the band were drummers
Cozy Powell
and
Dave Holland,
as well as guitarist
Mel Galley,
with Powell
and Galley
eventually joining
in 1982.
The band,
dubbed
David Coverdale's Whitesnake,
played their first show at
Lincoln Technical College
on March 3rd 1978.
Their live debut had
originally been scheduled for
February 23rd at
the Sky Bird Club in Nottingham,
but the show was cancelled.
Originally,
the band’s name was titled
“David Coverdale’s Whitesnake”
due to Coverdale’s popularity
over Deep Purple.
In a 2009 interview with Metro,
Coverdale jokingly stated that the name
"Whitesnake"
was a euphemism for his penis,
which came from the title
of his first solo album.
fter completing a small UK club tour,
the band adjourned to
a rehearsal place in
London's West End
to begin writing new songs.
They soon caught the attention of
EMI International's
Robbie Dennis,
who wanted to sign the group.
According to
Bernie Marsden, however,
his higher-ups were not ready
to commit to a full album.
Thus,
the band entered
London's Central Recorders Studio
in April 1978
to record an EP.
By this point,
original keyboardist
Brian Johnston
had been replaced by
Pete Solley.
Martin Birch,
who had worked with
Coverdale during his time
in Deep Purple,
was chosen to produce.
The resulting record,
Snakebite,
was released in
June 1978.
When Snakebite
reached number 61
on the UK Singles Chart,
the band were signed to EMI.
Production & composition
In July 1978,
the band entered
Central Recorders in London
to begin work on their first
proper studio album
with
Martin Birch producing.
The recording and mixing
only took ten days.
In the sessions,
Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody
provided guitar parts
and solos separately
while also performing
the backing vocals.
On the contrary,
Marsden does the lead vocals,
“Free Flight”
for that instance,
which shot him on
his following 1979
solo album
“And About Time Too”.
Neil Murray,
who was a member since
the incarnation of the band
performed bass tracks.
Dave Dowle
recorded the drumming parts
on that record,
featuring his first appearance
on the latter before
he was replaced by
Ian Paice in 1980.
Towards the end of the sessions,
Pete Solley's
keyboard parts were completely
replaced by
Coverdale's former
Deep Purple bandmate
Jon Lord,
who agreed to join
Whitesnake
after much coaxing
from Coverdale.
Colin Towns and Tony Ashton
had also been approached,
having previously played
with fellow Deep Purple
offshoots the
Ian Gillan Band
and
Paice Ashton Lord,
respectively.
On the lyrics,
the writing was mostly commenced
by Coverdale,
except
"Day Tripper"
(written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
while Moody and Marsden
contributed to some
of the writing towards the tracks.
All of the band's lineup wrote
"Don't Mess With Me",
which labeled the band
as the credits themselves.
According to Coverdale,
one of the reasons the album
was called
"Trouble",
was that his first child
was born during
the album's recording
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