Lovehunter

Lovehunter is the second studio album by the British hard rock band Whitesnake.

This album is the one that marked the beginning of their success with songs like "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" or "Medicine Man".

It was published in 1979 by the Geffen record company, and covers everything from hard rock to pop metal.

The only single taken from this album was "Long Way from Home" (B-side "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues"), which reached a discreet No. 55 on the UK Singles Chart.

The cover

Lovehunter is probably best remembered for the painting used for the cover. This graphic work caused a lot of controversy since the album was released. It presents an illustration of a naked woman with her back turned in a provocative gesture, riding a huge snake.

It was created by fantasy artist Chris Achilleos. Apparently, the controversial cover art proved so problematic for Achilleos that he subsequently refused to do any more album artwork for many years. Achilleos' original painting for Lovehunter was stolen in the 1980s., and has not yet been recovered.

A similar idea had been used three years earlier for the cover of the album Sarabande (1976) by Jon Lord (then a former member of Deep Purple). Lord was among the members of Whitesnake at the time of Lovehunter's release. The album Sarabande, a progressive and orchestral mix, presents a drawing of a snake biting its tail (an ouroboros) with three naked women held around it. One of them has the same suggestive position that appeared in Lovehunter.

Song list

1. "Long Way from Home" (David Coverdale) – 4:56
2. "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" (Coverdale, Bernie Marsden) – 4:24
3. "Help Me Thro' the Day" (Leon Russell) 4:39
4. "Medicine Man" (Coverdale) – 3:59
5. "You 'n' Me" (Coverdale, Marsden) – 3:30
6. "Mean Business" (Coverdale, Micky Moody, Marsden, Neil Murray, Jon Lord, David Dowle) – 3:48
7. "Love Hunter" (Coverdale, Moody, Marsden) - 5:39
8. "Outlaw" (Coverdale, Marsden, Lord) (Lead vowels: Marsden) – 4:03
9. "Rock 'N' Roll Women" (Coverdale, Moody) 4:45
10. "We Wish You Well" (Coverdale) – 1:34

Additional tracks

Lovehunter was remastered and re-released in 2006 with some bonus tracks:

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

• Tracks 11–14 are from Andy Peebles BBC Radio 1 Sessions recorded March 29th 1979.

Personnel

• David Coverdale – voice
• Micky Moody – guitars
• Bernie Marsden – Guitars
• Jon Lord – keyboards
• Neil Murray – bass
• Duck Dowle – Battery

Other

• Martin Birch (producer and engineer)
• Chris Achilleos (graph design)