Slip of the Tongue

Slip of the Tongue is a work layering hard, flashy guitar expression, centered on David Coverdale’s powerful singing. The distinctive phrasing of Steve Vai — who joined in place of the injured Adrian Vandenberg — keeps the songs from being mere riff-driven rock and widens them into a colorful soundscape. Made in the wake of the previous album’s huge success, it is a record clothed in technical brilliance. On the re-recorded “Fool for Your Loving,” the lyrical “The Deeper the Love,” and songs like “Now You're Gone” and “Sailing Ships,” big choruses and detailed playing coexist. The title track “Slip of the Tongue” and songs like “Kittens Got Claws” have a late-1980s sense of scale too. Adding Vai’s technical sheen to WHITESNAKE’s blues base, it is a flashy record emblematic of an era. A big commercial success, it vividly capped the band’s golden period.