Having bestrode the world’s rock arenas surfing the success of 1987 and Slip Of The Tongue, pledging their rock credentials to a new endeavour, whilst David Coverdale worked with Jimmy Page, current (1993) Whitesnake members Adrian Vandenburg, Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge recruited Little Caesar singer Ron Young and purposefully headed to the studio.
Possibly as a riposte to their superstar distracted band leader, the Zep like Can You Feel It, with Vandenburg channelling Jimmy Page, sizzles like a battery of isotopes as does second song Gimme A Shot on which Vandenburg’s fretboard goes nuclear. Both songs reveal their modus operandi on this bailed out from the vaults recording. There’s further twists on former sounds as the funky Hendrix rock stomp to Fire In My Soul is underpinned by a snaking hard rock riff. Vandenburg’s Little Wing Hendrix homage on Do Angels Die follows and is derivatively very good.
As with all albums of the hard rock ilk, there’s a brace of obligatory ballads. Dark Shade Of Grey and Ride The Storm acquit themselves with honours on which Young gives a nod and a wink to Rod Stewart in his throaty delivery. Chiselled into this record’s rock edifice are big and bouncy riffs in which the three principal ‘Snake players push themselves to the limit. Right in the pocket, Keep It Coming, featuring loads of cowbell, and the musical melodrama of When The Hammer Comes Down finds Johnson busting his lungs over this supreme hard rock trio’s bedrock of noise. Yet another big banger, Can’t Hold It, revs up and explodes with high octane power to close out an album that teases Zep, Hendrix and Whitesnake influences and is a very good recording.
It’s worth noting, recorded swiftly over a two-week period, the band had already taped the instrumental backing tracks whilst searching for an available frontman to fit the bill. Although Young performs an admirable job, a vocalist with more powerful lung power would have been better suited to the big music presented here. It would have been very interesting to hear what Coverdale would have done with these songs…
Manic Eden is a more than worthy long-lost gem re-discovered, dusted down and finally put on public display for hard rock fans to enjoy.
Words by Paul Davies
