Whitesnake – ‘Little Box ‘O’ Snakes (The Sunburst Years 1978-1982) – Box Set (The David Coverdale Series)

Back in 2011, Whitesnake released a box set called ‘Box ‘O’ Snakes (The Sunburst Years 1978-1982)’. It was a massive 9 CDs, 1 DVD and a 7″ Single of ‘Snakebite’. And if you missed it, like me, you would have to pay the late tax which means you’d be paying a pretty penny to get it now. Probably over $200 with shipping if you were lucky. Luckily, in 2013, they re-released it and called it ‘Little Box ‘O’ Snakes’. This time around there are only 8 CDs, no DVD and no 7″. You also miss out on an extra live show. But you do get a lot of stuff.

As David Coverdale doesn’t own the rights to these albums from the Sunburst Years, we won’t be seeing those massively incredible Deluxe Box Sets he has been doing from ‘Slide it In’ and forward. For now, this will do. I already have all of these on vinyl, but I didn’t have the CDs so this was a cheap easy way to get them all in one bunch. I think I paid around $30 for the set. Much better than the $200 for the original set. For now, this will do. 

The set comes in a sturdy card board box and each CD is housed in a cardboard sleeve similar to a vinyl album cover. No CD cases to house them. There is also a booklet accompanying the set. All-in-all, you get 8 albums which includes the first E.P., 5 Studio albums and 2 live albums. A ton of music to get through and an incredible line-up of songs and bandmates.

David Coverdale coming off of Deep Purple put together a stellar band with the likes of Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden on guitars and what a duo that would be. You also get a rhythm section like no other with Neil Murray on bass and Dave Dowle on drums for the first few albums then the incomparable Ian Paice thereafter. If that wasn’t enough, you had Jon Lord on keyboards/organ. What a beast he was and I don’t think there was anyone his equal at that time. Now, what’s in the box?

‘SNAKEBITE E.P’ (1978)

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My Sunday Song – “Shake” by Saints & Sinners

For My Sunday Song #371, we are starting a new 10 song set and this time the songs were chosen by good pal Deke over at The Distortion Den and SuperDekes. You must check them both out as you’ll get great reviews and a great show he does called The Retro Showdown on Youtube. Deke wanted to challenge me on these songs as he picked All Songs by Canadian Artists (thus the artwork above). Most of these bands I hadn’t heard of so he definitely is making me work for it.

First up is “Shake” by Saints & Sinners. A band formed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada by Sword lead singer Rick Hughes along with Stephane Dufur on guitar, Jesse Bradman on keyboards, Martin Buldoc on bass and Jeff Salem on drums. They only had one album, which was self-titled, and there biggest problem was that they had the 80’s Glam rock sound and this was 1992 which was the death rattle of that genre thanks to grunge.

The album was produced by one of my favorite singers, a Mr. Aldo Nova and Aldo captures the band’s sound perfectly as this an album I would’ve loved back in the day. “Shake” was not released as a single, but it is the lead off song on the album and packs quite a punch. It has that Sleaze rock sound with electrifying guitars, heavy drums and the singer has a grit to him as he screams out those lyrics with a burning intensity. The chorus is huge, almost anthemic in style and a really strong opener as it lights a fire under you and really draws you in. It is a simple song in that it is about going to their show and letting them rock you and make you shake. Love it! I think this is an album that is right up my alley and I think I need to hear the whole thing.

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Whitesnake – The Best & Worst Song From Every Album

I have done two posts already on the Best & Worst songs from every Judas Priest album and also from Cheap Trick. I really enjoyed doing that so I thought I would continue that process and this time we would go through every Whitesnake album and see what is the best song and the worst one off each album as well. Whitesnake has 13 studio albums to go through so sit back and take it all in. Now, let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. If you watched the show you will see that sometimes my worst song was their favorite so you never know what people like and we all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy!!

TROUBLE’ (1978)

BEST SONG“Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick”: The coolest song on the album and probably the best is “Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick” which is a full assault of an instrumental with 3 different solos.  One for Moody, One for Lord and One for Marsden.  I don’t see it as out of place as Purple threw in an instrumental on ‘Burn’ and this one is way better.  I really love when Jon Lord lays it down and he does just that.  The guitar’s have a riff that plays through-out that is the main feel for the song and everything is played beautifully off of that riff. No David Coverdale on this one, so sorry, but this is too killer not to include.

WORST SONG – “Day Tripper”: The worst is this horrible cover of the Beatles’ “Day Tripper”.  It is…let’s say…not good.  It is uninspiring and bluh.  The adding in of the Framptonesque Talk Box doesn’t help and I really can’t stand it.  I hope that point is coming across. Skip/Delete whatever you do, just avoid it.

‘LOVEHUNTER’ (1979)

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David Coverdale – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

Starting back on August 1st, 2019, we started the David Coverdale Series of reviews.  It was a long process and after 36 reviews, we are capping off the series with not one, but two album rankings.  The first one covered only the Whitesnake albums.  The second one, this one, will cover ALL albums that David Coverdale has done.  The list are only studio albums.  No E.P.’s, no live albums and no greatest hits.

David started his career back in 1974 with Deep Purple’s Mark III lineup on the album Burn.  Through 20 studio albums that cover Deep Purple, David Coverdale solo albums, Coverdale/Page and of course, Whitesnake, there is so much music to cover in his 46 years of music.  It was so much fun tackling this David Coverdale series that part of me hates to see it end,  but all good things come to end.

Why don’t we get started and let’s see how David Coverdale albums rank from the Worst to the First.

THE WORST – WHITESNAKE: ‘THE PURPLE ALBUM” (2015):

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Whitesnake – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

Starting back on August 1st, 2019, we started the David Coverdale Series of reviews.  It was a long process and after 36 reviews, we are capping off the series with not one, but two album rankings.  The first one, this one, is going to cover only the Whitesnake albums.  The second one, next week, will cover ALL albums that David Coverdale has done.  The list are only studio albums.  No E.P.’s, no live albums and no greatest hits.

Whitesnake started back in 1978 and was a result of David going solo after his stint in Deep Purple and he realized he enjoyed the band aspect and Whitesnake was born after 2 solo albums.  The name was taken from the title of David’s first solo album and now David is the only original member.  Hell, it was really his band anyway.  One of the few bands it doesn’t matter who is in it as long as David is singing.  If you want to read the reviews of each album, check out the list at the bottom of the post and click away and go explore each album in more depth.  Thanks

The really cool thing I discovered when I went back to compile my list is that no album saw a score of less than a 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars.  How many bands can say that.  Probably not a lot.  Enough chit chat, now let’s get started…

THE WORST – ‘THE PURPLE ALBUM” (2015):

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Whitesnake – ‘Saints & Sinners’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

After the album ‘Come an’ Get It’, the band was starting to crack.  Issues were developing, tensions were rising.  They started to work on the album during 1981, but it wasn’t a smooth ride.  In December 1981, Micky Moody left the band.  Then in early 1982, David Coverdale put the band on the back burner and took some time off to be with his daughter who had become ill.

The sick daughter wasn’t the only reason Coverdale put things on hold.  The band was having financial troubles and he couldn’t understand where the money was going.  During the hiatus, he parted with his management and Coverdale started to handle the business side of things.  Also during this time, three other members left the band (or were fired). They would be Ian Paice, Bernie Marsden and Neil Murray.  Jon Lord was the only one to stay in the band with David. And of course Martin Birch still produced. He hadn’t left yet either.

IMG_1634

As a result, David needed a new band.  Not to finish the album because it was basically done, but to tour with.  David found guitarist Mel Galley from Trapeze and Cozy Powell on drums from Rainbow and lastly, Colin Hodgkinson on bass.  The band was complete.  However, the album still had some backing vocals needed so Micky came back briefly to finish the backing vocals along with Galley.  Galley is the only new player to appear on the album.

 

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