WHITHSNAKE - LOOKING FOR LOVE

LOOKING FOR LOVE

WHITHESNAKE

SONGWRITERS: DAVID COVERDALE & JOHN SYKES

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: WHITESNAKE

LABEL: GEFFEN RECORDS

GENRE: HARD ROCK

YEAR: 1987

Whitesnake is the self-titled seventh studio album by British rock band of the same name, released in 1987. It produced a major power ballad hit, "Is This Love", along with the number one hit "Here I Go Again". The album was a major crossover hit eventually selling over eight million copies in the US (and thus going eight times platinum). It peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 for ten nonconsecutive weeks, barred from the top spot by three different albums. The album remained at or near its peak position over the course of six months, from June to November 1987. and No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart. Its success in the US boosted its predecessor, Slide It In, from gold to double platinum status and would see the band receive a nomination for the Brit Award for Best British Group in 1988.

This album was released in Europe and Australia as 1987 (with a different track listing – see below) and as Serpens Albus in Japan. A remastered reissue, featuring a DVD with video clips and live performances, was released in 2007 as the 20th anniversary special edition. A 30th anniversary "super deluxe" reissue came on 6 October 2017, a 4CD/DVD package containing the original album in a newly remastered format along with a live recording from their 1987-1988 tour, demos/rehearsals, remixes and the DVD of music videos and tour bootlegs.

By this time (late 1986), with the recording process done and the album slated to be released in early 1987, Coverdale made the decision to let the other members of the band go, due to personal differences. But when the album was finally released (now titled Whitesnake in the US and Canada) in April 1987 it reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, spawning two hit singles: "Here I Go Again '87" (which reached number 1 in the US) and "Is This Love" (which reached number 2 in the US). Both "Here I Go Again" and "Crying in the Rain" had previously been recorded with a different line-up and released on the 1982 LP Saints & Sinners.

In Europe the album was called 1987, featuring a different running order and two extra tracks, "Looking for Love" and "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again"; in Japan the album was titled Serpens Albus (in reference to the illustrated text on the album's artwork which, in Latin, means "white snake"). The two extra European tracks would be released in North America in 1994 on Whitesnake's Greatest Hits. In Australia, the album was released as 1987 but had the North American track order on the original vinyl and the European order on CD. In Bulgaria, the album was released as 1987 and used a slightly modified version of the European track order; "Here I Go Again '87" was replaced by "Here I Go Again '87" (Radio Mix) and moved to the end of side A.

For the new line-up of the band, Coverdale enlisted guitarist Adrian Vandenberg (with whom he had already discussed plans), second guitarist Vivian Campbell (ex-Dio) and the rhythm section of the newly defunct M.A.R.S. project, bassist Rudy Sarzo (ex-Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne) and drummer Tommy Aldridge (ex-Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers, Gary Moore and Ozzy Osbourne). This line-up toured in support of the album, and all appeared in music videos for "Still of the Night" (which was the most requested video on MTV when it was released), "Is This Love", "Here I Go Again" and "Give Me All Your Love".

I'm tired of waiting

An' closing my eyes

I'm asking myself

Why is it all my horizons

Are so far away.

I look in the mirror

Don't like what I see,

In my reflection

A stranger is staring at me,

Looking for love.

The love of a woman

The needs of a man,

I try so hard to believe

But I don't understand,

The search goes on.

But over the mountains

Across the sea,

I know love is waiting

I hear it calling to me,

Calling my name.

I'm looking for love all around me

Looking for love to surround me.

The love that I need

To rescue the state of my heart.

Alone again, It's always the same

I've just been marking my time

Since the day I was born,

With no one to blame.

The candle is burning

It's way down low

I just need someone

To show me the way, the way to go,

Which way to go.

I'm looking for love all around me

Looking for love to surround me.

The love that I need

To rescue the state of my heart.

I'm looking for love,

An' finding only heartache.

Looking for a love,

An' finding only heartache.

I'm looking for love to rely on,

Looking for love, a shoulder to cry on.

I'm looking for love

To rescue the state of my heart,

To rescue the state of my heart.

Oh baby.

(Solo)

I'm looking for love,

An' finding only heartache.

Looking for a love,

An' finding only heartache.

I'm looking for love to rely on,

Looking for love, a shoulder to cry on.

I'm looking for love

To rescue the state of my heart...