David Coverdale has really outdone himself with these Super Deluxe Editions Box Sets.  First was the ‘1987’ album, then an UnZipped Box Set, then ‘Slide It In’ and the 1989 album ‘Slip of the Tongue’. Heck, He even did the 25th Anniversary Edition of ‘Restless Heart’ which for some reason I have yet to review. I need to get on that. Now, to the surprise of everyone, he has done a 15th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition for ‘Good to Be Bad’ now called ‘Still…Good to Be Bad’. It doesn’t seem the album has been out long enough to deserve such a treatment and that might explain why it isn’t chock full of goodness the other ones gave us. More on that soon enough. The album was the band’s 10th studio album and the first one in over a decade which is way too long to go without a Whitesnake album. But they came back with a bang.

This special edition consists of 4 CDs, 1 DVD, 1 Book, 1 Tour Program replica and 1 Album Cover Poster.  And it has over 58 tracks amongst all the CDs.  Well…not really. It has 15 tracks done four different ways (minus 2 tracks done 3 ways). So, this is why I say this is for the diehard fans as it is very repetitive…this is for the diehard fans as it is very repetitive! Yes, I said this twice to prove a point and yes, I did this joke on pretty much every box set review for Whitesnake because its true. Here is everything you get.

CD 1: 2023 Remix

One thing that David likes to do with some of these box sets is do a brand new mix on the albums highlighted. He likes it so much in fact, he makes it the first disc and rearranges the track list as well. Heck, he released this on vinyl as well rather than a re-issue of the remastered album. The Remix doesn’t change anything dramatically, just little nuances here and there, but it does give it a full, richer tone, slick productions and even throws in a few elements here in there with guitar sounds, keyboard sounds and whatnots. For me, since the album isn’t as old as a lot of his others, I don’t know it as intimately as say a ‘Slide It In’ or ‘1987’, so I don’t really know if I could pick out the differences from the original mix back in 2008. For me, this is sort of a waste of time and pointless exercise as there was nothing wrong with the original mix to me.

CD 2: 2023 Remaster

Here we have the original album…sort of, but not the original track listing. The original 11 songs from the album are here and David has added four more songs that were on the ‘Live: In the Shadows of the Blues’ album which he had them re-recorded with Chris Frazier on drums who was the drummer on this album. No, he didn’t do that specifically for this release as they had already been released back in 2011 on a Japanese release. Those were “Dog”, “All I Want Is You”, “Ready to Rock” and “If You Want Me”. I will admit it is cool to have all those songs on one CD which I didn’t have. The remaster sounds great, so much fuller and more powerful, but the track list is different so when I’m expecting a song that I was used to coming up next, it might be different…and it is surprising…in a good way. The CD case is the only one done as a Gatefold as seen above. I am not going to review this album as that has been done and you can click on the links down below if you want to read it in full.

CD 3: Alternative Remixes & Versions

The 3rd CD is a bunch of alternate remixes of the album with a bunch with newly added backging vocals by the Hook City Harlots who are Cami Thompson, Misty Rae & Jackie Landrum, plus there a couple mixes with both the Harlots and “Hook City Horns” who are Rick Metz on saxes and the trumpet of Joshua Reed. Not exactly earth shattering material hear and nothing that makes me like these more than the originals, but it is what it is. Now, the four songs on the main album that were off ‘Live: In the Shadows of the Blues’ that were done by Chris Frazier, well, here we get the original mixes with Mr. Tommy Aldridge on Drums. I will take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday thank you very much! Lastly, there is a another version of “All For Love” that has a completely different solo than the original and it is still from Doug Aldrich. There were only two songs that didn’t get an alternate mix or version and I’m okay with that.

CD 4: Evolutions

Now here is the real reason we love these box sets and that is the brilliant idea of “Evolutions”. “Evolutions” is a concept of taking a song from where it originally started and showing the growth in development along the way to where it is a fully flushed out finished piece. For example, a song might start off with an acoustic guitar and David Coverdale’s vocals, sometimes with just scatting as the lyrics aren’t done, and then instruments are added as it goes, the sound gets fuller, the mix gets cleaner and you can see from start to finish the stages of the song. I even love when you hear David telling what chords to switch to or other directions on what is coming next. It is a fantastic concept and the one disc that gets played the most for me. You get that same treatment and it doesn’t get old. You hear early solos, different styles then how the song wound up…it is exciting and adventurous and a great journey to be on.

Disc 5: Blu-Ray-Audio-Visual

Another disc I enjoy a lot is the Blu Ray Disc. It contains a bunch of music videos including 2 promos and music videos from the album. You get 4 songs taken from the bands 2008 European Tour which are all fantastic. And I love the acoustic performances from 2008 as well from the Cutting Room in New York. This also includes an interview with Eddie Trunk. And last but not least is a slideshow of pictures done to the song Summer Rain from the Unzipped box set. It is a great visual history book of this era of Whitesnake with Doug Aldrich on guitar and the only album with Chris Frazier on drums.

60-Page Hardbound Book:

The book contains a bunch of extensive interviews, some of them new as well as a ton of beautiful pictures and shots of memorabilia from the time period. One of the best parts is the track-by-track commentary on each song of the album. You get photos of all the band members at the time, magazine covers they graced, lyrics to the songs and just so much more. It will keep you busy for a long while.

Replica Tour Book:

Now, if you missed the tour or if you caught the tour and didn’t pick up the Tour Program, well, here is in all its glory…well, it is shrunk down to fit in the box set. However, still really cool to get all the photos from the tour book. As a collector of tour books, these kind of things are pretty cool for me. Lots of great pictures and very few words…that is right up my alley.

POSTER:

The last thing you get is a giant poster of the album cover. Now, when I say giant I really don’t mean that huge as it still has to fold up in to the box set as you can tell from all the creases. This is great and all, but will never be hung on a wall and will stay housed in the box set for protection. Heck, it might not ever be opened again.

And that is everything you get in the box set. A pretty extensive set even if it repeats a lot of songs over and over and over and over. David has be in on these box sets hook line and sinker. It is pretty much, here’s a new box set and my wallet opens and the money is gone. I will say out of the 6 so far, this is my least favorite as there isn’t much new, no live show, no unreleased songs and a unnecessary remix album. For that, My Overall Score is only a 3.5 out 5.0 Stars. The Evolution disc for me is worth it all (plus the book and the Blu-Ray). Here is everything in one shot…

And if that isn’t enough for you, here are all the Whitesnake boxes so far…I would like a Coverdale/Page and a David Coverdale ‘Into the Light’ box set if you are out there listening David. Keep ’em coming.

Thanks for hanging around. I’ll get to work on the Restless Heart one now that I’ve done this one.

The David Coverdale Series:

1. Deep Purple – Burn
2. Deep Purple – Stormbringer
3. Deep Purple – Come Taste the Band
4. Deep Purple – Made in Europe
5. David Coverdale – Whitesnake
6. Deep Purple – Last Concert in Japan
7. David Coverdale – Northwinds
8. David Coverdale’s Whitesnake – Snakebite
9. Whitesnake – Trouble
10. Whitesnake – Lovehunter
11. Whitesnake – Ready an’ Willing
12. Whitesnake – “Fool For Your Loving” 7″ Single (Bonus Review)
13. Whitesnake – Live at Hammersmith
14. Whitesnake – Live…in the Heart of the City
15. Whitesnake – Come An’ Get it
16. Deep Purple – Live in London
17. Whitesnake – Saints & Sinners
18. Whitesnake – Slide It In
19. Whitesnake – “Give Me More Time” 12″ Single (Bonus Review)
20. Whitesnake – ‘The Best of Whitesnake (Bonus Review – 1982 release)
21. Whitesnake – Whitesnake (1987)
22. Whitesnake – “Is This Love” 12″ Promo (Bonus Review)
23. Whitesnake – ‘Best’ (Greece Version)
24. Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue
25. David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review
26. Coverdale/Page – Coverdale/Page
27. Coverdale/Page – “Take Me For A Little While 12” Single (Bonus Review)
28. David Coverdale & Whitesnake – Restless Heart
29. Whitesnake – Starkers in Tokyo
30. David Coverdale – Into the Night
31. Whitesnake – Live…In the Still of the Night (DVD)
32. Whitesnake – Live…In the Shadow of the Blues
33. Whitesnake – Good To Be Bad
34. Whitesnake – Forevermore
35. Whitesnake – Live at Donington 1990: Monsters of Rock
36. Whitesnake – The Purple Album
37. Whitesnake – The Purple Tour (Live)
38. Whitesnake – Flesh & Blood
39. Whitesnake – The Rock Album
40. Whitesnake – Love Songs
41. Whitesnake – The Blues Album
42. Whitesnake – The Albums Ranked Worst to First
43. David Coverdale – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

Other David Coverdale Albums reviewed – (Box Sets and Bootlegs):

1. Whitesnake – 1987 (30th Anniversary Edition) – Box Set
2. Whitesnake – Slide It In (35th Anniversary Edition) – Box Set
3. Whitesnake – Unzipped – Box Set
4. Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue (30th Anniversary Edition) – Box Set
5. Whitesnake (Snake) – Still of the Night Live in Battle Creek, Mich. July 26, 1987 (Bootleg)
6. Whitesnake – Restless Heart (25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) – Box Set
7. Whitesnake – Still…Good to Be Bad (15th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) – Box Set