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Nearly 40 years after they first formed, David Coverdale has made up his mind about Whitesnake--and ain't wastin' no more time: he's moving the band's back catalogue to Warner Music Group, Billboard reports.
Though a new studio album and other new goodies are planned, of particular interest to catalogue enthusiasts is the October 6 reissue of the band's 1987 self-titled album on Rhino Records. Available in a variety of formats, including 2CD, 4CD/1DVD and 2LP sets, Whitesnake will feature unreleased live audio and video, demos, and both new and classic remixes of the album and single material.
"It was a lot of fun to do, because I don't go back a lot," Coverdale tells Billboard of the new reissue. "I kind of learn from the past to apply those lessons to the future and the present. But my gratitude for (the album) is beyond words. I've only ever gone into a studio to try to improve on the last record...There was no, 'Right, I'm gonna sell 30-odd million fucking records!' It was amazing, just amazing, so it's great to revisit all of this."
Funnily enough, Whitesnake's biggest hit was a song they'd recorded five years prior: "Here I Go Again" was a cornerstone of the 1987 album as well as the radio airwaves, where a re-recorded radio version topped the U.S. charts. (A sensual video starring model Tawny Kitaen, Coverdale's girlfriend at the time, didn't hurt, either.) Follow-up "Is This Love" also reached No. 2 in the States; both songs hit the U.K. Top 10. (The album itself was certified eight times platinum in America.)
For the self-titled album, the ever-changing Whitesnake line-up featured Coverdale (frontman for Mks. III and IV of Deep Purple), guitarist John Sykes and bassist Neil Murray (members since 1984) and added former Journey drummer Aynsley Dunbar. (An assortment of session players, including current Deep Purple keyboardist Don Airey and guitarist Dann Huff, were also on hand.) But by the band's subsequent tour, Coverdale had an all-new supergroup of sorts: guitarists Adrian Vandenberg (a session player on the album) and Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard's current guitarist), Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo and Ozzy Osbourne drummer Tommy Aldridge.
Whitesnake: 30th Anniversary Edition (Rhino, 2017)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada (TBD) / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada (TBD) / Amazon U.K.
4CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada (TBD) / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada (TBD) / Amazon U.K.
* previously unreleased; ** remixed in 5.1; + vinyl bonus track
Disc 1: Remastered album (released as EMI EMC 3528 (U.K.)/Geffen 24099 (U.S.), 1987)
- Still Of The Night
- Give Me All Your Love
- Bad Boys
- Is This Love
- Here I Go Again 87
- Straight For The Heart
- Looking For Love +
- Children Of The Night
- You're Gonna Break My Heart Again
- Crying In The Rain
- Don't Turn Away
Note: original U.S. track listing omitted Tracks 7 and 9
Disc 2: Live On Tour 1987-1988 *
- Bad Boys/Children Of The Night
- Slide It In
- Slow An' Easy
- Here I Go Again +
- Guilty Of Love
- Is This Love +
- Love Ain't No Stranger
- Guitar Solo - Adrian and Vivian
- Crying In The Rain
- Still Of The Night +
- Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
- Give Me All Your Love +
Disc 3: Demos and Rehearsals *
- Still Of The Night
- Give Me All Your Love
- Bad Boys
- Is This Love
- Straight For The Heart
- Looking For Love
- Children Of The Night
- You're Gonna Break My Heart Again
- Crying In The Rain
- Don't Turn Away
Disc 4: Remixes
- Still Of The Night (2017 Remix) * +
- Is This Love (2017 Remix) * +
- Give Me All Your Love (2017 Remix) * +
- Here I Go Again 87 (2017 Remix) * +
- Standing In The Shadows (1987 Version)
- Looking For Love (1987 Version)
- You're Gonna Break My Heart Again (1987 Version)
- Need Your Love So Bad (1987 Version)
- Here I Go Again (Radio Mix)
- Give Me All Your Love (Single Version)
Tracks 5-8 from 1987 Versions EP - CBS/Sony 23AP 3390 (Japan), 1987
Track 9 from Geffen single 7-28339 (U.S.), 1987
Track 10 from Geffen single 7-28103 (U.S.), 1988
DVD
- Still Of The Night (promo video) **
- Here I Go Again 87 (promo video) **
- Is This Love (promo video) **
- Give Me All Your Love (promo video) **
- Documentary about the making of 1987 Album *
- Here I Go Again (Purplesnake Video Jam) *
- Crying In The Rain (1987 Tour Video Bootleg) *
- Band Intros (1987 Tour Video Bootleg) *
- Still Of The Night (1987 Tour Video Bootleg) *
- New Interview with David Coverdale *
Listen to the Music: Rhino's Rocktober Slate Features Doobie Brothers, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Monkees, More
Whitesnake, Recoiled: David Coverdale Preps Box of Remixed, Remastered Solo Albums
Release Round-Up: Week of October 13
You Keep On Moving: David Coverdale Pays Tribute to Deep Purple Years with Expanded Whitesnake Set
Why not? Everything old gets reissued. The famous old ones get the deluxe treatment.
I'm hoping Coverdale-Page eventually gets this kind of treatment! 🙂
Me too! There was an unreleased song called Saccharine that David Coverdale had streamed on Whitesnake.com years ago which was amazing. It would be fair to say that the song is a distant cousin to Custard Pie! But I hope the Whitesnake documentary includes interviews with John Sykes who is an amazing guitarist!
Like Def Leppard's Hysteria, Whitesnake 1987 is also worthy of a deluxe treatment. I also hope that there is 30th Anniversary for Appetite For Destruction in the works!
Too bad the set doesn't include a hi Rez blue ray 2.0 or 5.1 disc. If that were included I would order the box.
I'd stay away from the 2017 remastered version. Someone has posted the audio spectrum on another site and it is weird. They've somehow reflected the bottom half of the spectrum to the top, or something.
"An explicit cutoff at just above 20 kHz and a mirror image of a 24 kHz sonogram."