Lovehunter

The band worked on the album at Clearwell Castle.{{cite magazine |last=Ling |first=Dave |date=29 October 2023 |title="We are bathing in innuendo": Whitesnake's Lovehunter artwork was knee-jerk response to their critics, but the album itself was a game-changer |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/whitesnake-lovehunter |magazine=Classic Rock |access-date=17 November 2023}} Like their two previous recordings it was also produced by Martin Birch. It was the group's last album to feature Dave Dowle, before being replaced by ex-Purple drummer Ian Paice.

Marsden recalled that at the time band members argued in "a good, healthy, positive" way and "because of that the band got better and more successful with Ready An' Willing (1980) and Come an' Get It (1981)". He considered it a good record, a sentiment Coverdale didn't share and would have rather released it as an EP.

Both Coverdale and Marsden considered "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" as one of their best compositions,{{Cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|author-link1=Martin Popoff|title=Sail Away: Whitesnake's Fantastic Voyage|publisher=Soundcheck Books LLP|year=2015|page=48|isbn=978-0-9575-7008-5}} with Coverdale stating that the song "really summed up my musical approach of the time. It was very much my feeling, my perspective and probably my life's philosophy back then ... Bernie and I put the music together very quickly. It was obviously meant to be as a song. I'm very proud of that one". Eduardo Rivadavia writing for AllMusic described it as combining "near-perfect songwriting with one of Coverdale's maturest and most compelling lyrics".

Lovehunter's controversial cover art, showing a naked woman straddling a large snake and blood on her hand from a snake bite, was created by fantasy artist Chris Achilleos. Coverdale recalls such an idea was made as response to the critics, "just to piss them off even more". Actually, it did spur more journalistic criticism for sexism, and the cover was "banned" at the time in the USA (woman was partly covered with a sticker; album sold "in a brown paper bag") and Argentina (woman's was partly airbrushed with a "chain-mail bikini bottom").

It was the last album cover Achilleos designed for many years, until 2003 and Gary Hughes' rock opera Once and Future King Part I.{{Cite web|url=http://www.melodicrock.com/interviews/garyhughes-oafk.html|website=Melodicrock.com |title=Interviews: Gary Hughes - Once And Future King|access-date=18 May 2021}} The original Lovehunter artwork was stolen in the 1980s.{{cite web |url=http://www.chrisachilleos.co.uk/main/piracy/index.html |title=Chris Achilleos - Piracy |publisher=Chris Achilleos official website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124110406/http://www.chrisachilleos.co.uk/main/piracy/index.html |archive-date=24 November 2005 |access-date=2015-02-25 |df=dmy-all }}

{{Album reviews

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/lovehunter-mw0000193567 |title=Whitesnake - Lovehunter review |last=Rivadavia |first=Eduardo |work=AllMusic |publisher=All Media Network |access-date=2015-02-25 }}

|rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

|rev2Score = 7/10{{cite book |last1 = Popoff |first1 = Martin |author-link1 = Martin Popoff |title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies |publisher = Collector's Guide Publishing |date = October 2003 |location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada |isbn = 978-1894959025 |page=312}}

|rev3 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev3score = {{rating|2|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |pages=761, 762}}

}}

The Rolling Stone Album Guide noted that "the playing is as good as on any early-'70s Deep Purple album."

;Side one

1. "Long Way from Home" (David Coverdale) – 4:58
2. "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" (Coverdale, Bernie Marsden) – 4:26
3. "Help Me Thro' the Day" (Leon Russell) – 4:40
4. "Medicine Man" (Coverdale) – 4:00
5. "You 'n' Me" (Coverdale, Marsden) – 3:25

;Side two

6. "Mean Business" (Coverdale, Micky Moody, Marsden, Neil Murray, Jon Lord, Dave Dowle) – 3:49
7. "Love Hunter" (Coverdale, Moody, Marsden) – 5:38
8. "Outlaw" (Coverdale, Marsden, Lord) – 4:04
9. "Rock 'n' Roll Women" (Coverdale, Moody) – 4:44
10. "We Wish You Well" (Coverdale) – 1:39

Lovehunter was remastered and reissued in 2006 with several bonus tracks taken from Andy Peebles BBC Radio 1 sessions recorded 29 March 1979 (tracks originally from the band's debut album Trouble).

11. "Belgian Tom's Hat Trick" (Moody) – 3:40
12. "Love to Keep You Warm" (Coverdale) – 3:30
13. "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" (Michael Price, Dan Walsh) – 4:54
14. "Trouble" (Coverdale, Marsden) – 4:30

;Whitesnake

• David Coverdale – lead vocals (all but track 8), backing vocals
• Micky Moody – slide guitar, guitars, backing vocals
• Bernie Marsden – guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on track 8
• Neil Murray – bass
• Dave Dowle – drums
• Jon Lord – keyboards

;Production

• Martin Birch – producer, engineer, mixing at Central Recorders Studio, London
• Chris Achilleos – LP artwork

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Category:Whitesnake albums

Category:United Artists Records albums

Category:1979 albums

Category:Albums produced by Martin Birch

Category:Polydor Records albums