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.
In the last few years, David Coverdale has been quite busy rehashing old material, but in a good way. He has brought us deluxe box sets for albums such as ‘Slide It In’, ‘1987’, ‘Slip of the Tongue’ and even ‘Unzipped’ the all acoustic box set. And thid year in 2021, we are supposed to get ‘Restless Heart’. But for now, he is rehashing old material yet again.
This time it is a series called ‘Red, White & Blue’ Trilogy. The Rock Album (White) was up first and then we got the Love Songs (Red) and now it is time for the The Blues Album (Blue, duh) which is our 40th Review in the David Coverdale Series. Crazy! Each album is really a glorified greatest hits album with its own theme and the titles give you those themes quite nicely. The big difference on these albums is more than just a remastering. The songs have been tinkered with and given a little touch-up with some re-mixing and even a little touch-up on arrangements and other little surprises. The songs aren’t completely re-imagined, thankfully it is no Bon Jovi “This Left Feels Right”. The songs are still very much recognizable, just enhanced ever so slightly.
This time around we get 14 Tracks and because of that, we aren’t going in to full detail song by song. We will highlight them as we go. The thing about these albums is they only cover a certain period of the band from 1984’s ‘Slide it In’ up to 2011’s ‘Forevermore’. Nothing off their latest album, 2019’s ‘Flesh & Blood” and strangely, this time there is nothing off 1989’s ‘Slip of the Tongue’ which is quite baffling. We do get a song from the bonus tracks on ‘Live in the Shadow of the Blues’ which is a nice treat. The biggest difference from this release and the other two are that there are NO new tracks on this one like the others. I’m a little disappointed by that aspect. There are also two tracks that appear on the other two which is another disappoint. Granted they are still a different mix than those other albums, but still.
The theme of the album is Blues so all the songs are sonically blues in nature…some more so than others. We do get some songs that are more rock and then blues, but there are hints of it in the guitar. One of the more rocking tracks is the opening song “Steal Your Heart Away” which is a beast and completely rocks out with the exception of the guitar has hints of Jimmy Page that blues sound he had. The mix on this brings those guitar to the forefront and cleans them up nicely. “Good to Be Bad” is more metal than blues, but Dave’s vocals seem to be enhanced to give them a more blues tone. “Give Me All Your Love” seems to only have been tweaked to give John Sykes guitars a little more punch.
The one track that was tweaked the most was “Take Me Back Again” which had Whitesnake current guitarists, Joel Hoekstra, adding a solo and keyboardist Derek Sherinian adding his own flair to the song as well. This is the most blues track so far and is plain killer. Side Two kicks off with the dirtiest, most awesome song, “Slow & Easy” seems to have an improved drum sound as damn, Cozy Powell is killing it and then “Too Many Tears” which was on the Love album prior, but here now sounds like more of a country & blues track with the guitar sound. The final track on the first LP is “Lay Down Your Love” and that opening sounds cleaner and doesn’t have the annoying echo opening as the original, a vast improvement and then that guitar comes in dang near blows the roof off this joint.
The second LP kicks up the blues with the opening track “The River Song” and is really what this album is about. The blues guitar playing is exceptional throughout especially that opening picking. And then to go in to “Whipping Boy Blues” is magical especially with the brand new opening with the frog and nature sounds. Takes you down to the swamp and really makes you feel the blues. Then we get the bonus track from “In the Shadow of the Blues” called “If You Want Me” and another brutally rocking track. The vocals have been improved with added textures and flavors. And lastly on this side we get “A Fool In Love” which is David doing the Blues the best. This side of the album has been what this album is all about. Perfection filled Blues Rock!!
The final side kicks off with the foot-stomping “Woman Trouble Blues” which has added come guitar to boost the song, but I have always loved the harmonica playing in the song which really adds that extra blues flair. It is all stellar. They slow things down with 1987’s “Looking for Love” which seems to have Sykes guitar cleaned up and clearer which no one would complain about. The final track is the classic “Crying in the Rain” which seems to have a slightly new beginning, some added guitar parts and a new ending that fades out with an echo added.
And there you have it. I think I like every track on here and the changes to the mix are all subtle and yet effective. Nothing strays far from the original and it is only enhancing the flavors of the song to give us the desired taste we are salivating over. He tweaked a pinch here and a dash there and gave us the best of the three albums in the trilogy. I will give it a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars only because no new tracks and two repeated songs from the other albums (although a different mix). I know for sure that this one and the Rock one will get played again and again depending on my mood as to which one. The Love album is good, but too much on the ballad side. I still think you need to pick up all three…why not!!!
The Red, White & Blue Trilogy is now complete. The Love Album, The Rock Album and now the Blues Album. What a thing of beauty…
Now we are waiting on the announcement of The Restless Heart Super Deluxe Box Set and now rumors are running rampant that David Coverdale and Jimmy Page are working on a Deluxe Edition of Coverdale/Page…ooooh!!! That would be awesome. And in the liner notes of the Blues Album he even talks about a Box Set for Good to Be Bad!!! Some interesting stuff coming the David Coverdale world. Until next time…
For My Sunday Song #202, we are going to talk about a more recent Whitesnake called “Forevermore” off the 2011 album of the same name. It is the final song on the album and I don’t know if David has ever ended an album with a song as strong as this one…maybe “Sailing Ships” and this even has that epic feel. This might be the best song he has written in 20 years if not ever!
“Forevermore” is such a beautiful song both lyrically and musically. Lyrically, it could be about a woman that his been with him for years and he is thinking about all the good times and the bad that they had. She makes him feel safe and he will be with her forever and ever. Or…it could be about music. Music has been his love his whole life. He is looking back at all those years and those years are his career. The place where he feels at home is with his music, his songs. They are his heartbeat and they give him so much love and joy. However you interpret the song, there is no denying an unwavering love and passion for whoever or whatever David is writing about.
Musically, the song starts off as a beautiful acoustic track filled with keyboards that give the song an airy, calming feeling. The song then slowly starts to build in to a full on explosion of sound with a slow and stunning guitar solo orchestrated by Doug Aldrich. The rhythm section of the band adds a unique sound that gives a slight middle eastern vibe to it. The song screams epic. It feels larger than life. It breathes a confidence that this is something special. And David, oh David, he gives the performance of all performances. You can tell this song means something to him and as his delivery has purpose and meaning and conveys an emotional attachment like no other. Job well done sir!!
After only three short years after Whitesnake’s ‘Good to Be Bad’, David and company bring us their next studio album, ‘Forevermore’. The album was released on March 9, 2011 and in modern Whitesnake times, 3 year gap is like a week as the gap between ‘Good to Be Bad’ and the previous studio album was 11 years.
David Coverdale and Doug Aldrich wrote the entire album together as David likes to sit with his guitarist and come up with the songs just as he did with Vandenberg and Sykes. The two tried to capture an album that was rooted in the early Snake albums with that blues rock feel and soak it in the modern rock of today. Of course, the sprinkled a little of the late 80’s in some songs to not alienate anyone. And did they succeed? I will let you know soon enough so slow that roll!
The line-up to the band has some changes to it. Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach are still unchanged from the line-up of the last album. However, we have had turnover in the rhythm section as we now have Michael Devin on Bass and Brian Tichy on drums. A pretty lethal duo. One thing I noticed is that Timothy Drury has been relegated down to a Special Guest for this album when he was a band member on the last…Interesting. A one cool special guest on this is Jasper Coverdale, David’s son, who supplies some backing vocals….David must be proud! Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Forevermore’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)”→
It had been 11 years since the last full Whitesnake studio album (okay, it was really a Coverdale solo album, but it had Whitesnake in the name) and 2 years since any new music with the four new tracks on ‘Live…In The Shadow of the Blues’. Whitesnake was finally ready to bring us a full album’s worth of new material. David Coverdale and his new guitar flavor of the day, Doug Aldrich, worked diligently to bring us an album of new Whitesnake material that would hopefully remind us of old and take us in to the future.
The line-up of the band is now…
David Coverdale – Vocals
Doug Aldrich – Lead Guitar
Reb Beach – Guitar
Timothy Drury – Keyboards
Uriah Duffy – Bass
Chris Frazier – Drums
The biggest difference between this album and the last live album is Tommy Aldridge is no longer in the band. I love his drumming and I have to admit when I found out, I was a little disappointed, but Chris does well on his own and doesn’t disappoint.
In just 9 months after the release the live DVD…’Live…In The Still of The Night’, the band releases another live album. Released on November 24th, 2006 is ‘Live…In The Shadow of the Blues’. Surprisingly, this album never got an official release here in the U.S. and I am hurt by that, but I got over it. This is the band’s third live album with the whole ‘Live…’ set up as the first was ‘Live…In the Heart of the City’ back in 1980. However, it is the technically the fourth live album thanks to ‘Starkers in Tokyo’.
Now, I am a little baffled as to why release another live album so quickly after the DVD release. It doesn’t really make any sense. Especially since the band’s line-up is relatively unchanged with the exception of bass. On bass for this set is Uriah Duffy and the last one was Marco Mendoza. Otherwise, the players are the same…
After David Coverdale’s solo album, ‘Into the Light’, in 2000. Whitesnake layed dormant for another 2 years. It was December of 2002 that David decided to reform Whitenake. And what a band he put together. It was Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach on guitar, Marco Mendozza on bass, Timothy Drury on keyboards and the mighty Tommy Aldridge on drums.
The band toured for a couple years and in 2004, they recorded a show. It was on October 20, 2004 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London that a video recording was made of the show. The video, however, would not see the light of day for until February 2006. I know because I remember when this came out as I received a very special copy. Why was it special? I will tell you.
It is not special because it is the ‘Special Collector’s Edition’. No. It is special because I won it on some music website give away. Sadly, I don’t remember what website, but I remember entering the contest, receiving an email that I won, and lastly receiving a parcel in the mail with the DVD set included. And it was this set that reignited my passion for David Coverdale and the rest is history. Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Live…In the Still of the Night’ – DVD Review (The David Coverdale Series)”→
Fans have been clamoring for some acoustic Whitesnake (at least according to David Coverdale) and boy did they deliver the goods with this set. It is a 5CD/1DVD Box set that spans the career of Whitesnake and even some Deep Purple. What all do you get? Well, let me show you…
If that isn’t enough for you to see, then read the sticker from the front of the box…
And how many songs is 96 songs? Well, the list is extensive. See if you can read this list because there is no way I am typing all this stuff out for you. I love you guys, but not that much!!
Welcome to the new in yet another series that is called “The Original Vs. The Cover”. Not a very original title, but it gets the point across. Each month I will pick a song and compare the original to my favorite cover of the song.
And there is not a better way to kick off this series than with Blind Faith’s song “Can’t Find My Way Home”. The song was written by Steve Winwood and on Blind Faith’s only album back in 1969. Blind Faith was one of the earliest super groups as it consisted of Steve Winwood from the bands Traffic & The Spencer Davis Group, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton from the band Cream and lastly, Ric Grech from Family. Not a bad set of musicians.
Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” is a slow ballad with Eric Clapton playing acoustic guitar and Steve Winwood singing. Of course Ginger Baker is playing percussion and Ric Grech is on bass, but the guitar work is of note. The guitar work is fantastic as expected and it is rare you get Eric Clapton playing acoustic (at least back then). The vocals have an eerie hollowness to them and I don’t know if that was Winwood’s intention or just the production of the song, but it works. The overall production is simple and not much too it and I think that is why the song works so well. The overall tone fits the time period which was the end of the 60’s.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 