Come an' Get It is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Whitesnake, released in 1981. It was, at the time, Whitesnake's highest-charting release in the UK, hitting No. 2 and being kept off the top spot by Adam and the Ants' Kings of the Wild Frontier.

"Don't Break My Heart Again" and "Would I Lie to You" were released as singles, the former making the UK Top 20.

The album received a CD release on 8 April 1988 in the UK. EMI remastered the album in 2007, adding six bonus tracks, mainly rough mixes.

Cover art Come an' Get It'''s cover art was designed and created by British artist Malcolm Horton. Horton had been contacted by an old friend John Ward, who was at the time road manager for Whitesnake. He explained that the band did not like any of the ideas for the album cover their record label EMI had come up with, so he suggested getting Horton involved. The final artwork shows a white snake trapped inside a glass apple on the front cover, while on the reverse, the apple is shattered and the snake has escaped, representing the power of seduction/temptation becoming too strong. The snake's open mouth shows its tongue, which is painted to look like a vulva. Horton has addressed the album's "explicit" cover, saying:

However, it did not stir as much controversy as the infamous cover of the band's second album, Lovehunter (1979). The 2007 EMI reissue redesigned the tongue to more closely resemble a regular snake's tongue.

Commercial performance At its debut, Come an' Get It debuted at No. 2 in the UK chart, the highest debut in the band's discography ever in their native country, but was prevented from the top spot over Adam and the Ants' Kings of the Wild Frontier''. It eventually stayed 23 weeks up in the charts. The album charted on 7 countries, with Finland charting on No. 3, Germany on No. 20, Japan on No. 41, Norway on No. 26, and Sweden on No. 24. In the US, it only debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 151 and kept showing for 6 weeks, unlike the moderate successes of their previous album 'Ready an' Willing' that formerly stayed for a total of 16 weeks at that time in 1980.

The album was certified by BPI within silver status on 27 April 1981, then gold on 16 September 1981, eventually reaching platinum (300,000 copies). The album also received a gold award by RIAJ in 1981.

Touring The band first embarked on a promotional supporting tour on 14 April 1981. The act headlined Billy Squier's 1981 "Don't Say No" album at that time. They were then joined by headlining British heavy metal band Judas Priest, "World Wide Blitz Tour" alongside other acts with Iron Maiden and Foghat in July through August, respectively. The tour also included their very first appearance in Monsters of Rock performance at Castle Donington on 22 August 1981 headlined by AC/DC. The tour would come to an end on 12 December 1981 at Stadthalle Freiburg located at Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, lasting for an approximate five months.

Track listing

Personnel Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Whitesnake David Coverdale – vocals Bernie Marsden – guitar, backing vocals, voice box (Hit an' Run), acoustic guitar (Till the Day I Die) Micky Moody – guitar, backing vocals Neil Murray – bass guitar Ian Paice – drums Jon Lord – keyboards

Technical Martin "Sir Larry" Birch – producer, engineer, mixing Greg Fulginiti – remastering (at Artisan Sound Recorders) (1987 Geffen Records reissue)

Design Malcolm "Magnet" Horton – illustration, album art, cover concept development, artwork co-ordination Fin Costello – photographyReissue David Coverdale & Michael McIntyre – producer Jo Brooks, Libby Jones, & Nigel Reeve – project and A&R co-ordination (in retrospect for EMI) Koh Hasebe & Paul Cox – additional photos Geoff Barton – sleeve notes Hugh Gilmour – artwork remastering Peter Mew – remastering (at Abbey Road Studios in London)

Charts Chart (1981) Peakposition Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) 3Japanese Albums (Oricon) 41

Chart (2007) PeakpositionJapanese Albums (Oricon) 143

Certifications

References