Showing posts with label David Coverdale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Coverdale. Show all posts

CD/DVD Review: Whitesnake – Live in '84 – Back to the Bone

CD/DVD Review: Whitesnake – Live in '84 – Back to the Bone
Frontiers Music Srl
All Access Rating: A-

Whitesnake - Live in '84: Back to the Bone
Slide It In had everyone hot and bothered in 1984. The first Whitesnake album to chart in the U.S., it eventually went multi-platinum, oozing sex and sweaty machismo from every pore. Even at the ripe old age of 30, it's still a hit with the ladies, or at least it thinks so.

Not everyone was onboard, however, with Whitesnake's transition from gritty blues-rock drifters to glitzy pop-metal sleaze merchants, Slide It In having almost completed the transformation. Original guitarist Micky Moody wanted no part of it, so David Coverdale hired John Sykes from Thin Lizzy, adding to the myriad personnel changes that had already taken place earlier.

From their armchairs, the critics howled, slagging their increasingly glossy, commercial sound and wagging their fingers over what raunchy, immature little boys they'd become, what with their leering sexual innuendo and double-entendres. David Coverdale paid them little mind. Going out on a world tour in support of Slide It In, with a restructured lineup consisting of Sykes, drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Neil Murray, Coverdale wanted to bring audiences to orgasm, dazzling crowds with explosive melodies as big as their hair, ostentatious stage shows and flashy, vigorous musicianship, as they do on Live in '84 – Back to the Bone.

Revisiting a time when Whitesnake was on the cusp, gathering momentum and setting the stage for an even bigger breakthrough to come, this raucous assortment of live audio and visual recordings from Coverdale's private collection, out via Frontiers Music Srl, documents the rip-roaring, untamed manner with which the foursome plied their trade that year. Starting with a blustery march through "Gambler" – the sound somewhat muffled – and "Guilty of Love" and that song's sparkling guitar harmonies, Live in '84 – Back to the Bone settles into an arresting "Love Ain't No Stranger" before kicking up a fuss with a rowdy, stomping "Slow An' Easy" and the rough-and-tumble, red-hot funk of "Ready An' Willing."

A searing guitar solo from Sykes, whose playing here is edgy and wild, and Powell's powerhouse drumming exhibition bracket a haunting reading of "Soldier of Fortune," and the mid-tempo blues of "Crying in the Rain" is executed with a flair for the dramatic. Throw in a rollicking medley of "Gambler," "Guilty of Love," "Love Ain't No Stranger" and "Ready An' Willing" that represents Jon Lord's final performance with Whitesnake – plus a DVD of these performances with extras such as the "Slide it In Slide Show" and snippets of demos from Coverdale gathered in a music bed for your listening pleasure – and this release, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Slide It In, becomes a reminder of how ambitious and riotous this incarnation of Whitesnake was, the sonic clarity of this release capturing the raw energy of the band while, at the same time, exposing all its flaws and imperfections and building up the lusty enthusiasm of its crowds.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in California '74

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in California 74
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A
Deep Purple - Live in California 74

To borrow a phrase from Hunter S. Thompson, 1974 was the year the Mark III version of Deep Purple "stomped on the terra."

In February, after welcoming then-unknown blues howler David Coverdale and Trapeze artist Glenn Hughes into the fold, Purple released the explosive pressure-cooker of crashing rock 'n' roll and hard-bitten British soul that was Burn, which lived up to its name and then some. The old masters had learned some new tricks.

Then came a triumphant promotional tour, capped off by a rousing co-headlining gig in the spring at the California Jam Festival with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, although it's Purple's wildly energetic, high-voltage performance – previously released on DVD in 2006 and now out on CD and in digital forms from Eagle Rock Entertainment to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the event – that everyone still talks about.

Where Woodstock was a chaotic melting pot of bad acid, unabashed nudity, peace and love, gridlocked traffic, dancing flower children and stirring performances, California Jam was all business. It didn't lose money, like Woodstock did. It was the highest-grossing music festival of the time, attracting around 250,000 people. And it was orderly and went off without a hitch, serving as a template for more corporate festivals that were to come. Perhaps that's part of the reason why history seems to forget about California Jam 1974, as it goes on and on about 1967's Monterey Pop Festival or the Love Generation-killing tragedy of Altamont.

Whatever its cultural significance, there was no doubting California Jam's commitment to heavy volume, as the festival boasted what was considered the loudest amplification system ever. What better band then to test the limits of that audacious rig than Deep Purple, as hungry and as savagely brilliant as ever in this raw, but potent and lusty, recording of that momentous occasion.

Smashing through the gates, Purple plows through the frenzied title track from Burn as if intent on leaving nothing behind but smoldering wreckage, the blustery organ of Jon Lord and the tenacious guitar riffs of Ritchie Blackmore – all of it designed with bewildering complexity – trying their best to drown out Hughes' falsetto screams. It's a thrilling beginning, and Purple doesn't stop to catch their breath.

Grueling and pained, "Mistreated" writhes in its own deep and hopeless sense of loss and betrayal before turning its face to the sun, as Purple transitions from anguished growl to expansive, dream-like alienation and then opens up to slowly brightening skies. Crazed, complicated jams, like the manic episodes of a 19:32 "You Fool No One/The Mule" that find Blackmore and Lord dueling like psychotic swordsmen, are captivating and electrifying, but Deep Purple really goes to work on the earthy "Might Just Take a Life" and a fevered "Lay Down, Stay Down" – both off Burn, and both have sweat just pouring off them. Their stamina is put to an even more rigorous examination on a 26-minute "Space Truckin'" that keeps driving long after the tank has emptied, Purple growing quiet and almost jazzy before erupting like a volcano.

Live in California 74 is a vital piece of history, but it also captures, in stark relief, the creative tensions that were fueling this rebirth, with the primal, blue-collar R&B wailing, churning grooves and emotional weight of Hughes and Coverdale's burgeoning partnership fighting off the blazing horsepower of the original Purple, the Purple of Lord and Blackmore clinging to tradition and stubbornly drawing and redrawing classically inspired figures and shapes. Nowhere is this conflict more apparent than in the charged atmosphere of a sweltering, shape-shifting "Smoke on the Water," where the old guard and the new seem hell-bent on carving out their own territory and aren't above committing acts of trespass.

It would only intensify in the coming weeks and months, forcing Blackmore to reevaluate his priorities and eventually leave to form Rainbow. For this occasion, however, at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, Calif., of all places – ironic considering Purple's love of driving songs – they were jubilant, inspired and full of piss and vinegar.
– Peter Lindblad

Deep Purple 'Live in California 74' coming soon

Legendary concert made available on CD, digital audio

Deep Purple - Live in California 74
Deep Purple had the world by the tail in the mid-1970s. Bigger than just about anybody in hard rock, with some exceptions, of course, they co-headlined the historic California Jam Festival 40 years ago. To mark the anniversary of that life-changing event, Eagle Rock Entertainment is issuing Deep Purple Live in California 74 for the first time on CD and digital audio on April 1. 

One of the most in-demand live acts in the world at the time, Deep Purple was finishing up a 28-date tour promoting Burn when they hit the Golden State. The CD showcases the band performing before 200,000 people at the Cal Jam Festival. It was a triumphant coda to a glorious march, as the thunderous lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), David Coverdale (vocals), Glenn Hughes (bass), Jon Lord(keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums) blew the crowd away with a fiery set of songs from Burn, as well as classics like “Space Truckin’” and “Smoke On The Water.”

A legendary performance, the storied concert was previously released on DVD in 2006. The Live In California 74 album is essential stuff. To keep updated on this and other releases from Eagle Rock, visit www.facebook.com/EagleRockEntwww.twitter.com/EagleRockNews and www.youtube.com/user/eaglerocktv.

Check the track listing. There's no filler.

Track Listing:
1.) Burn
2.) Might Just Take Your Life
3.) Lay Down, Stay Down
4.) Mistreated
5.) Smoke On The Water
6.) You Fool No One
7.) Space Truckin’

CD Review: Whitesnake – Made in Britain/The World Record

CD Review: Whitesnake – Made in Britain/The World Record
Frontiers Records
All Access Review: A-

Whitesnake - Made in
Britain/The World Record 2013
David Coverdale is not a man without a country. He calls two of them home.

Always the charming rascal, with lust in his heart, a bawdy sense of humor and the restless, romantic heart of a drifter – the type of character he seems to identify with the most – perpetually looking for true love, Coverdale is English through and through, even if he now has dual citizenship in the United States. He probably stills takes his tea in the afternoon.

Taken literally, the title to the new package of rousing live recordings from pop-metal warhorse Whitesnake is self-explanatory. Undoubtedly it refers to material culled from a massive 2011 tour that included nine sold-out U.K. shows and as many as 87 other concerts from around the globe for the boisterous, pulse-pounding Made in Britain/The World Record, but it could just as well describe Coverdale the man – worldly, cultured and yet clearly a product of his native environment.

Ever the likeable rogue, Coverdale is in his element on the 25-track, two-disc Made in Britain/The World Record, singing with surprising clarity and as soulfully as ever – especially on wistful, beautifully rendered versions of “Fare Thee Well” and a softly acoustic “One of These Days,” the warm rasp in his voice dripping with nostalgia and longing. Time hasn’t ravaged his voice one bit; it still rings out clearly amid the bluster and charged electricity this Whitesnake outfit brings to classics like “Fool for Your Loving,” “Bad Boys” and an exuberant, testosterone-fueled “Slide it In” that practically reeks of cheap sex – just as Coverdale intended.

Radioactive meltdowns occur as Whitesnake takes on Deep Purple’s “Soldier of Fortune” and a satisfying medley of “Burn” and “Stormbringer” to end the set, but they mean business when they grind away, like a desperate stripper short on rent money, in “Lay down Your Love” and “Snake Dance.” Much like those two STD-infested sonic brothels of pure bluesy nastiness, both of them sleazier and more infectious than the originals, “Can You Hear the Wind Blow” certainly smolders and “My Evil Ways” smokes, with mean, biting riffage courtesy of guitarists Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich, whose slide guitar work in the intro to “My Evil Ways” has an edgy drawl and sharp aspect to it.

Without their heaviness, their feel, their stylistic diversity, their vibrant tones and rich variety of orgasmic solos, Made in Britain/The World Record wouldn’t be nearly as vital or as fiery, and when melody and harmonies are called for, as they are on “Here I Go Again,” “Love Ain’t No Stranger,” “Is This Love” and “Give Me All Your Love,” Beach and Aldrich play with style and taste, making their presence known but not in an overbearing manner. The songs are allowed to breathe, as the six-string killers sneak around stealthily under dark, spellbinding atmospheres, like that which envelopes parts of “Still of the Night.” They make the epic arrangements of “Forevermore,” off the 2011 album of the same name, soar, but without the remarkably dynamic drumming of Brian Tichy, a definite star in the making, they would go nowhere.

A worthy and quick successor to Made in Japan, an equally dazzling, if not quite as expansive, Whitesnake live album released earlier this year, Made in Britain/The World Record will seduce and overpower longtime fans and new converts alike with superb sound and indefatigable instrumental vigor. http://www.frontiers.it/
– Peter Lindblad

Whitesnake's 'Made in Japan' live set drops in April


Pop-metal outfit to release 2011 'Loud Park' concert performance

Whitesnake - Made in Japan 2013
Whitesnake knows how to make a visual impact. Having Tawny Kitaen suggestively writhe all over David Coverdale’s car in those famous Whitesnake videos of the 1980s was a stroke of genius. Sex sells, and Coverdale and company rode those steamy MTV scenes all the way to the bank, where they made large - and I mean, large - deposits.

Unfortunately, she won’t be making an appearance in the new Whitesnake DVD/live CD package “Made in Japan” that’s due out April 23, courtesy of Frontiers Records, but Coverdale and company will be performing some of the strongest material of their career.

Available in several formats, including a deluxe 2 CD/DVD edition, Blu-ray and a standalone DVD, “Made in Japan” culls concert footage – shot in HD in 5.1 and stereo – from Whitesnake’s co-headlining set at the “Loud Park” Festival on Oct. 11, 2011 at Saitama Super Arena in Japan. At the time, Whitesnake was barnstorming the earth during their “Forevermore World Tour.”

Initially, the set was recorded solely for Japanese TV and future “Loud Park” promotions. However, after three songs were broadcasted on a “Loud Park” highlights program in Japan, there was a multitude of calls for Whitesnake to release the entire performance for the general public.

“Made in Japan” features a mix of tracks from Whitesnake’s most recent studio album, Forevermore, along with classics like “Is This Love,” “Still of the Night” and “Here I Go Again.” There is also a bonus CD with never-before-heard outtakes and acoustic versions of material from Forevermore recorded during soundchecks on the 2011 Japanese tour. Additional DVD content includes various band photo slideshows and fan-shot videos. For more information, visit www.whitesnake.com or www.frontiers.it.

“Made in Japan” track listing:
CD 1
1. Best Years
2. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. Is This Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Forevermore
7. Six String Showdown
8. Love Will Set You Free
9. Drum Solo
10. Fool for Your Loving
11. Here I Go Again
12. Still of the Night
Bonus CD 2
1. Love Will Set You Free
2. Steal Your Heart Away
3. Fare Thee Well (acoustic)
4. One of These Days (acoustic)
5. Lay Down Your Love
6. Evil Ways
7. Good to be Bad (acoustic)
8. Tell Me How (acoustic)
DVD & Blu-ray: Track Listing:
1. Best Years
2. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. Is This Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Forevermore
7. Six String Showdown
8. Love Will Set You Free
9. Drum Solo
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Here I Go Again
12. Still of the Night
13. Forevermore (fan video)
14. Steal Your Heart Away (fan video)

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in Paris 1975


CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in Paris 1975
earMusic/Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Review: A-

Deep Purple - Live in Paris 1975 2013
The balance of power had already shifted within Deep Purple, and Ritchie Blackmore could read the writing on the wall. With the arrival of singer David Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, Deep Purple was entering a new phase, one that would see the band incorporating more of the northern English soul and R&B sensibilities of its newest members, while veering away from the cyclonic mix of nitro-burning hard rock and swirling classical music that Blackmore and others within Purple favored.

He didn't want to stick around to watch the transformation take hold. On April 17, 1975, the guitar icon, and one of the true architects of Deep Purple’s progressive sound, would play his last note for Deep Purple – that is until the Mark II lineup reunited for 1984’s Perfect Strangers album. He went out in a blaze of glory, as Blackmore’s high-voltage fretwork sends electricity shooting through the digitally remixed – and re-mastered from the original multi-track recordings – two-disc Live in Paris 1975, which documents that final Blackmore performance, prior to forming Rainbow, with amazing clarity and expansive volume. Recorded for optimum impact, Live in Paris 1975 actually benefits from the tension between Deep Purple’s warring camps, as that artistic push and pull fuels what is a dynamic, thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime performance from a band on the verge of big, sweeping changes. 

Sparks fly from the start as Deep Purple, absolutely on fire this particular night at the Palais des Sports in Paris, launches into hot-wired, frenzied versions of “Burn” and “Lady Double Dealer” that leave their witnesses gasping for air – the vigorous riffing and scorching, yet tricky, leads of Blackmore’s playing off Jon Lord’s dizzying organ maneuvers and the precision of Ian Paice’s stampeding drums. Just as feverish, “Stormbringer” is a power surge of insistent, hammering riffs and wailing vocals, loaded with Coverdale’s hairy-chested machismo and illuminated by Hughes’s starry croon. Blending so perfectly, the two give a smoldering, smoky rendering of “The Gypsy” here that offers a vision of what Deep Purple, Mark IV, had in store melodically for the world.

Having dispensed with some of their tighter, more compact material early on, Deep Purple embarked on long, extended jams the rest of the way, including the 20:09 “You Fool No One,” with its Cream-like, bluesy combustibility, a spellbinding organ intro from Lord and stunning drum and guitar soloing from Paice and Blackmore, respectively. Even longer and more abstract, with a playful nod to the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the classic “Space Truckin’” clocks in at 22:12, and after going into overdrive around the four-minute mark and flying around its familiar routes with reckless abandon and exuberance, Deep Purple goes off in various directions, expanding the possibilities of a song that’s never been bound by limits or borders – the sinewy funk of Hughes’s bass and his improvised singing, so clear and commanding, compelling the band to drive harder and soar higher, even if his lovelorn scatting seems somewhat out of place.

But this is Blackmore’s stage, and his playing is not just technically sound on this auspicious occasion, but it’s also fiery and impassioned. Along with painting the anguished, bluesy expression of “Mistreated,” Blackmore propels “Smoke on the Water” and the closer “Highway Star” – Coverdale lending that track a little more sexual heat than it had previously – ahead with searing six-string savagery and the occasional crazed arpeggio as Purple, its improvisational instincts as keen as ever, plows ahead, gathering momentum and driving both songs straight off the cliff without any fear of what awaits them below. Perhaps the most interesting facet of Live in Paris 1975, however, is the 24 minutes of in-depth interview recordings tacked on as a bonus feature. Set against a backdrop of the music directly piped in from Live in Paris 1975, it’s utterly fascinating to hear members of Deep Purple offer their perspectives on what was happening within the band at the time, while also hashing over studio sessions that birthed some of Mark IIIs best work and offering great insight into their creative process. 

The transition was not an easy one for Deep Purple, and substance abuse would eventually tear the Mark IV edition apart, but not before Tommy Bolin arrived to let everyone get a glimpse of his prodigious talent on the vastly underrated Come Taste the Band. On the vital Live in Paris 1975, however, Blackmore made damn sure nobody forgot who made Deep Purple a household name. (www.eagle-rock.com)

– Peter Lindblad

Deep Purple "Phoenix Rising"

Deep Purple "Phoenix Rising" 
Eagle Vision
All Access Review: A - 


All was not well with Deep Purple when version Mark IV accepted a lucrative offer to jet off to Jakarta, Thailand, to play before a people hungry for just a little taste of big-time, arena-sized, hard rock. For starters, Mark IV had in its stable not one, but two, drug-crazed toxic twins in bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes and guitar wunderkind Tommy Bolin, both of whom were being dragged to their own personal hells by severe addictions and free-for-all excess. That factor alone should have spelled doom for Mark IV, but there were other divisive issues, like the fact that keyboardist Jon Lord wasn’t completely onboard with the soulful, more groove-oriented direction of the newly constituted lineup, now down to two original members, Lord and drummer Ian Paice. The old guard was, somewhat reluctantly, ceding authority to the new one, and into the void of leadership stepped Hughes, Bolin and hairy vocal god David Coverdale, who had replaced Ian Gillan.

Their styles inevitably clashed. And Lord will tell anybody who cares to listen that 1975’s Come Taste the Band was really not a Deep Purple album. It was a Hughes-Coverdale-Bolin project, backed by two longtime Deep Purple veterans, as Lord explains in “Getting Tighter,” a frank and revealing 90-minute documentary packaged with the new DVD, “Phoenix Rising,” that delves, often uncomfortably, into Deep Purple’s troubled transition from the Ritchie Blackmore years into its short-lived, turmoil-filled Mark IV phase. It is accompanied by a true treasure, the lost, but incredibly well-filmed 30-minute “Rises Over Japan” concert footage that is now finally seeing the light of day. An electric performance sees Coverdale and company roaring through “Burn,” giving a smoldering rendition of “You Keep on Moving,” slinking around the funky “Love Child” and blazing through “Smoke on the Water” and the scorching closer “Highway Star,” which drives the audience nuts – after all Japan always has been, historically, a Deep Purple stronghold. It’s one of the very rare pieces of film that shows Bolin playing with Deep Purple, and for that, it is absolutely essential. The playing is muscular, Coverdale’s vocals are masculine and sexy, and the band seems invigorated, even if they know the end is near. But, then there’s that documentary, as strangely gripping as a car wreck.

Through gritted teeth, and trying to be as diplomatic as possible, Lord recounts those days of ruin in his own words in “Getting Tighter,” just as Hughes presents another perspective, one of a repentant wild man who has come to grips with the fact that his lurid appetites probably contributed to the fall of one of rock’s greatest groups. It’s a fascinating account of a period in Deep Purple’s existence that has, in some ways, been sort of brushed under the rug … with good reason. For all involved, it’s not a particularly pleasant episode – Coverdale would not even consent to take part in the film. These were, after all, the last days of Deep Purple – yes, different versions of the band would later reunite, but for all intents and purposes, this was it. And for Hughes, especially, that brief time he was with Deep Purple, as artistically gratifying as it may have been, was when his addiction took hold. 

Then, there was Jakarta, a tragic piece of history that would rank right up there with Altamont had it not happened in a place ignored by most of the world, like Thailand. Not pulling any punches, Lord and Hughes, the only Deep Purple members interviewed here, explain in detail what happened to Purple. From the notorious California Jam gig, where Blackmore memorably destroyed a TV camera in a complete onstage meltdown, on through Hughes’ recruitment, Mark III’s Stormbringer and Blackmore’s subsequent departure, and then trumpeting Bolin’s flamboyant arrival, the drugs and the Jakarta incident, followed by the almost anticlimactic breakup.

For those unfamiliar with the Jakarta story, it’s a murky tale to be sure. Invited to play Jakarta as the first rock band from the U.K. or America to play Thailand, Deep Purple gladly accepted a big cash offer to do it. Met with incredible fanfare – oddly way-over-the-top as Hughes recalls riding with tanks and soldiers on a convoy through town, as the people lavished the band with an outpouring of affection – Deep Purple experienced corrupt promoters who tried to stiff them on their payment and stuff over 100,000 people into a 50,000-seat stadium. Then, there was the murder of one of the minders hired to care for Hughes and Bolin. Hughes was arrested for the crime, and the band was forced to play a second show while grieving terribly for its loss. Hughes openly describes the duress he was under and recounts how thuggish security guards turned the dogs loose on the crowd, as all hell broke loose and fans were mauled by the animals.

Not a pretty picture, is it? Well, neither is the guitar case of cocaine Lord says he saw. This is as ugly a story of rock ‘n’ roll excess as has ever been told, though there are bright spots. The amount of rare vintage concert footage, from various phases of Deep Purple’s life, is astounding, as are the interview pieces from yesterday with Bolin and Paice and the film of Deep Purple, and its entourage, actually in Jakarta, getting off the plane and setting up for those doomed shows. And for all of Lord’s reservations about Come Taste the Band, he does extol the virtues of Bolin’s thrilling musicianship and the album’s strengths as a rock record. For his part, through the self-flagellation, Hughes also seems to sincerely view the work on that record as one of the most artistically rewarding times of his life.

And so, what’s here is an amazing tale, one that’s far more than just a tawdry, sensationalized “Behind the Music” stumble into the gutter. But, questions remain, such as why no Coverdale? Why is he not a part of this? And why are Hughes and Lord the only ones talking? Couldn’t the filmmakers bring a broader perspective to the documentary? If “Phoenix Rising” – and its centerpiece “Getting Tighter” – comes up a bit a short, this is the reason. Ultimately, however, there is so much to love about this collection. The electronic press kit for Come Taste the Band in “Phoenix Rising” is a wonderfully detailed look at the record, complete with a track-by-track assessment by Hughes and Lord. And that’s not all. There is also a great reproduction of an old Record World magazine section devoted to Deep Purple that includes a wide array of interviews with band members and their associates, advertisements, photos … if the documentary wasn’t enough for you, this should seal the deal. Furthermore, there is a special two-disc DVD/CD package that will include an audio version of “Rises Over Japan.” Run, don’t walk, to get this.

-          Peter Lindblad