Out on my constant vinyl digging adventures, I found a couple Whitesnake bootlegs at the same store. They weren’t old bootlegs, rather they were released recently in 2023 out of Europe. The shows, however, are not recent. First one up is one called Washington State Wipeout and is a 2 LP set that comes in a nice gatefold with a picture of the band included. The vinyl that comes with the set are a beautiful clear color and they look stunning as you will see in one of the pictures below. It was a brand new set, unopened…well at least until I got my hands on it obviously. Now, it is open and has been played!
The 2 LPs carry a different a show for each. On LP 1, we get the Spokane Washington show that was on July 24, 1984. This would’ve been after the release of their 1984 album, ‘Slide it In’, which came out on January 30, 1984. The show was at the Spokane Coliseum and had the line-up of David Coverdale, John Sykes, Richard Bailey (no Jon Lord), Neil Murray and Cozy Powell. A stellar line-up, just wish Lord was still playing. They opened for Dio so not a long setlist and it is all captured here on LP 1. The recording was an FM Radio Broadcast.
On LP 2, we get a show that was recorded on March 1, 1984 and was another FM Radio Broadcast. It was recorded at the Apollo Theater in Glasgow, Scotland where they were the headliner with Great White opening. The full show is 16 tracks so we don’t get the whole show, but we do get 5 tracks at least. If you want the full show, pick up the Slide It In Super Deluxe Edition as Whitesnake issued it officially in that box set. I believe this show would include Jon Lord as he left the band in April. Correct me if I’m wrong.
This week we talk about an album that I loved back in 1989. It is the debut album from Blue Murder simply called ‘Blue Murder’. I was a big John Sykes fan thanks to Whitesnake and I was disappointed in his departure from the band. When I found out about Blue Murder, I was so excited. Especially when I found it wasn’t just John Sykes, but The Firm’s Tony Franklin and Ozzy’s Carmine Appice. And then to found out Bob Rock produced with Mike Fraser on the boards. Yeah, I was all in. But did it hold up? We will find out, join me as I walk through the album song by song.
So go check it out as it is live now on September 26, 2024 at Noon. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
This week we are going to go through all my Whitesnake CD Box Sets. We look at each box and talk about what is all included…the good and the bad…and everything in between! Plus I ask an important question that I would like to here your thoughts. Let’s do it!!
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, July 1, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
Alright…You Picked It! This one was really close. So close in fact that I had a 3-Way tie for first. So I went on to my personal Facebook Page and posted to get a final run at votes and then Blue Murder ran away with it. Since this is the final “You Pick It” post, at least we are going out with a bang.
Blue Murder – ‘Blue Murder’ – 8 votes
The Scream – ‘Let It Scream’ – 6 votes
Diving For Pearls – ‘Diving For Pearls – 5 votes
RTZ – ‘Return to Zero’ – 2 votes
Saigon Kick – ‘Saigon Kick – 1 vote
Thanks to all for participating in this series for the last few years. It has been fun, but it is time to come to an end. Since I am down to 1 Series currently (The Jeff Scott Soto Series) as the Scorpions Series is ending, I am going to start reviewing a bunch of things in my collection until it is time to start the Bon Jovi Series…not sure when that will be but it will be coming some time this Summer. For now, enjoy the Blue Murder review…
BLUE MURDER – ‘BLUE MURDER’ (1989):
With a sudden dismissal from Whitesnake, which is a story all unto itself, John Sykes had a lot to prove. His guitar work was on full display with Whitesnake’s 1987 self-titled album and fans wanted more…me included. John, along with some stellar musicians including Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Ozzy) and Tony Franklin (The Firm) formed the band Blue Murder and they brought a bluesy, rock sound that needed to be heard. With Bob Rock as producer and Mike Fraser mixing, damn it was a lethal combination of people,
And it should’ve been heard as critics loved it and his fans as well, but John made a huge mistake in signing with Geffen Records, the same label that his former band, Whitesnake, was signed to as well. Whitesnake was the label’s shining gem. It has been said that David Coverdale wanted this album squashed and it feels like it was as it came and went without much of a whimper, but for fans of John Sykes, it is an incredible masterpiece of guitar wizardry and when you have Carmine and Tony behind you, you know the rhythm section can’t be quite matched by many. Let’s dive right in and get to the music and see if it holds up to the hype…
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 #210, we come to the last song in the 10 song set of Whitesnake songs with “Still Of the Night”. The song was the first single off their groundbreaking, career breaking album known as ‘Whitesnake’ or ‘1987’ to some. This took the band to new heights and MTV played the hell out of it. The song was written by David Coverdale and John Sykes.
Lyrically, it comes as no surprise this song has a lot to do with Sex. The “cock rock” Kings are at it again. The song has an almost vampire element and stalker element. He is obsessed with this woman and wants to be with her all night. The daylight seems to hurt him as to keep his head down and hide his face from the sun. I know it isn’t about vampires, but I like the analogy so give me that.
Musically, this was a new Snake, a hungrier Snake, a more badass Snake. It has some blues elements of the old Whitesnake, but John Sykes took it, distorted it and turned it on its ass. David’s swagger on belting out the opening verse is full of confidence and aggression and exactly what every teenage boy wanted to hear (and girl wanted to see). There is a musical interlude in the middle that gives an awesome guitar solo a whole different style with an almost cello/violin/string instrument orchestration to the whole thing. Pretty freaking cool.
For My Sunday Song #209, we are going back to the first album that really broke in the states for Whitesnake and one of the songs that helped start it all, “Slow An’ Easy”. The song was the fourth single off the album and was written by David Coverdale and Micky Moody who were the last two remaining original members of the band at the time, Micky wouldn’t last much longer as he was replaced by John Sykes before the album’s release and is guitar parts were replaced by Sykes, but that is whole other discussion.
Whitesnake was notorious at the time with critics for their “cock rock” lyrics and “Slow an’ Easy” is pretty much that to a T. The song is about Sex! No sugar coating it here, it is Sex! I wish I could give you a deeper meaning to the song, but I can’t and I wouldn’t want to as the song is what it is and it is awesome! In the 25th Anniversary edition of the album (and thanks to wikipedia), David had this to say…
“Slow & Easy was recorded at 4 in the morning in Munich after a serious night’s partying…Most of the vocals is just a live ‘jam’ lyric I made up to inspire the band as we recorded…I played around with the lyric later to try and make some sense of it…”
We interrupt the regularly scheduled order of albums as I found another bonus LP out during my crate digging. I am little out of order because I can rarely find stuff in chronological order of my reviews. This Promo single is for “Is This Love” off the 1987 album simply called ‘Whitesnake’ to some and ‘1987’ to others. Me, I just call it awesome! The good news about interrupting the series is I get to spend more time absorbing the next album on the list.
There is really nothing special other than it being a Promotional copy. Minimal artwork and what you see on the cover above is all you get. The funny thing is that everyone on the cover, with the exception of Coverdale, did not play on the song. It was actually John Sykes (who co-wrote the song with David), Neil Murray, Ansley Dunbar and Don Airey. They were all fired right after production was finished. The cover has Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell (damn he looked young), Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge, a pretty stellar line-up too.
The back is solid white. No inserts or any special packaging. A plain and simple promo that says “Not For Sale”…oops, I bought it so somebody broke the rules. Was it me for buying it or Hardy Boy Records for selling it?? I don’t think either of us will get in to trouble, thankfully.
Side A had the LP version of “Is This Love” and the late 80’s were known for their ballads and Whitesnake had one of the best with this track. “Is This Love” which just missed landing at #1 and stalled at #2. David sounded so sexy and sultry and the music was soft yet maintaining a slight edge to it. The song was actually written for Tina Turner, but thankfully, David wisely held on to it and recorded it. In an album that was almost baked to perfection, this was the icing on the cake.
Side 2 is the “Edit Version” which means it’s a little shorter since this isn’t a dance remix which would then be like 15 minutes long or something ridiculous like that. This version cuts out the longer synth intro, the solo is a little shorter and the end run out is not as long and drawn out. It compacts the essence of the song into a shorter and could be a better package.
As far as ballads go, this one is top-notch and easily a 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars. It checks off all the buckets, slow at times, power at others, emotive singing and love in the title. What else could you possibly need? That’s right…Nothing!
After all the turmoil with the band around the ‘Slide it In’ album and tour, David Coverdale was almost ready to throw in the towel. After the tour, Cozy Powell left the band and I think Davd had had enough. However, Geffen records saw something between David and newcomer John Sykes that they somehow talked David in to hanging on and working with John. The two went and tucked themselves away somewhere in the south of France and started writing…south of France…tough fucking life!!
When they gathered some material, the two embarked to L.A. with bassist Neil Murray to start recording. But before they could do that, they needed a drummer and along comes Ansley Dunbar to complete the team. But wait, there is only 1 guitar player and usually there is two and you would be right. John Sykes recorded all the guitar parts for the album.
Now during the recording, the band had more problems. One was John Sykes. John was obsessed over getting the right guitar sound almost to the detriment of the whole project. Second, David got sick…bad sick. A major sinus infection that almost derailed his whole career. It was so bad, that John Sykes had suggested bringing in another vocalist to finish the project…excuse me??…WTF??? John, if you didn’t know, Whitesnake is David’s band, not yours. That did not sit well with David as is no surprise. And right when the album was set for release, David fired the band! Yep, all of them…bye, bye!!
Okay, this is basically the second time this has happened in a row on an album release. The new band was brought in and it consisted of Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell on guitars, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. I have to say that is one helluva a line-up. David has a way of getting top musicians.
Recording of the ‘Slide it In’ Album started some time in 1983 and this time around Eddie Kramer was onboard to handle productions duties. And let’s just say things did not go well, but was it a band problem (as there were ton of those) or a producer problem, I don’t know. But Eddie was replaced quickly with longtime Snake producer Martin Birch.
The band problems were many on this record and for this tour. Micky Moody was back and recorded the album, but things did not go well on tour and David became an ass to Micky and he had enough and quit after the European tour and his last gig was in October 1983, prior to the release of ‘Slide It In’. His replacement was John Sykes who was the guitar player for Thin Lizzy at the time.
At the same time Sykes was brought on board, Colin Hodgkinson was let go as the bass player and former Whitesnake bass player Neil Murray was brought back in to the fold. Cozy Powell was now the drummer as Ian Paice had left after the last album and then Jon Lord left in 1984 to go reform Deep Purple so Richard Bailey was brought in to fill in. The band was in complete disarray during this time. It is amazing anything got done.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 