Whitesnake/David Coverdale album by album (Deep Purple & Coverdale/Page)

As for Slide it In....WS had to chose a direction, to stay relevant in their time. I think that the edgier sound (even John Sykes' contribution - don't get me wrong he's a first class guitarist /musician) was welcome, and a good thing overall at the exact time when all that happened, but things went fast to other directions (glam//hair metal) and the big money were in the US. I think that the only "fault" of this album is the lack of an "addictive" hit single. I'll point here a diferrence: DC, with his decision to follow the US Sunset strip sound and image, wanted and managed to access an extremely wide audience - the cocky teenager of the mid 80's could connect with him! DP, on the other hand, tried (and for the moment they succeded) to please their older fans, who by now they were on their 30's -40's, to prove that they were still the real DP thing (which unfortunately degraded to a stagnant parody of itself, as the years passed).

 

I liked it a lot when it came out and Slow and Easy blew me away - Moody just amazing. I loved the big production - albeit this was the UK version. Years later, I heard the US version, but never liked its saccharine bright overtones. For me this was a major return to form after the utter dud of Saints and Sinners and I was excited to see where Mel Galley in particular would take the band. @evarlam you may be right about the lack of a big single, although it wasn't for want of trying with Gambler etc. The ratio of good material to fillers seemed to have returned to a Whitesnake norm with this one.

 

Yes indeed, the lack of that "anthemic" hit doesnt mean that the material was weak. The song writing is much stronger than Saints an Sinners, and the overall sound richer and edgier. The "sad" thing (for other people it wasnt sad at all) that all this effort stayed half baked and evolved into shiny spandex, perming agents and tons of studio reverb .... but those were the times, we can't change the past, unfortunately. The gamble for DC was to stay relevant but without losing his credibility.

 

Or, they would finally cement themselves as heavy metal royalty, and have the chops and writing to back it up.

 

By Christ,this record has aged very well.
I remember the great singles from the era.
The recent Chris Collier remix in the deluxe box set is brilliant. That box set led to me completely re-evaluating the album.
UK/US mix? All really enjoyable.
It's all down to personal taste.

Fantastic record .

 

And the final word by DC himself


I'm a bit puzzled about what he's trying to say here (his heavy Yorkshire accent is a bit difficult for me to copy) I guess he says that during the remastering process they found additional multitracks of John Sykes and mixed them to the new Deluxe Edition?.... At the end of this clip, it's interesting that DC uses now as logo of his publishing company his burning candle figurine head from Burn sleeve art.

 

It's out of our current timeline but I found it interesting and I paste it here (from loudersound.com - an excerpt from Bernie Marsden's autobiographical book):

Bernie Marsden: What happened the day I left Whitesnake
One song on Saints & Sinners literally changed my life: Here I Go Again. I have a demo of it, recorded on an old Revox tape machine, and the basic ideas are already all there. I wanted to get it all sorted before playing it to David Coverdale. Jon Lord was particularly taken with the song from the very start, I played him the opening chords, and he asked me to run them by him again.
"You are a clever little sod, aren’t you?" he said and smiled. He really loved the opening figure of the song, and insisted he play it on the Hammond organ.
David went into lyrical overdrive at Clearwell [castle in Gloucestershire used as a recording and rehearsal stdio by Whitesnake, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and others] that afternoon. Most of the song was already written at that stage, including the complete chorus, but he was very animated and disappeared to write new lyrics. He disappeared into his room much in the same way he had for Walking in the Shadow of the Blues during the Lovehunter sessions. He went on to sing the song in a quite magnificent way, sensitive, and yet so powerful.

Neil, Jon, Ian, and I are on the backing track. At one point I thought a collaboration might help me deal with some frustration, and I asked Mick Moody to jam with me, but he said he was just a bit too busy. I played all the parts of the harmony guitar solo, and there was a nod to John Lennon’s Woman in the arpeggio guitar parts. If I’m honest, I truly believed we had a big song on our hands and David was very pleased too. But I never dreamed how big it would become.

We moved to Britannia Row to mix the album with Guy Bidmead. But even as he threaded the tapes, things were starting to move dramatically for the good ship Whitesnake. David was in talks with his lawyer, as I would shortly find out, but more immediately Moody abruptly quit the band. It was a real shock; I was pretty upset. I hadn’t seen it coming at all, although I had thought it was mainly only me and David at Britannia Row, with me doing all the guitar overdubs.

Guy, David and I continued to work on finishing the album. Jon was due to record Hammond solo overdubs, but never showed. Then he and Ian would be coming in the next day, but again, they never showed. We later discovered they had been at the horse-racing at Ascot and Windsor. David was visibly disappointed and upset. I was too. Micky was gone, Jon and Ian seemingly weren’t interested, and we hadn’t seen Neil Murray since Clearwell.

I looked at David in the control room at the studio and uttered the fateful words, "We might as well end all this, David, knock it all on the head, mate." I didn’t quite grasp the full effect of what I was saying. David’s eyes widened. He smiled wryly as though a weight was off his shoulders. He said that he thought he was the only one thinking it. I assured him he wasn’t. He explained that he had already been having meetings with his legal people in order to extricate himself from the managerial mire.

It wasn’t quite over yet. We made one final, doomed, attempt to keep things going – collectively deciding to fire Seabreeze [Whitesnake management company]. A band meeting with John Coletta was arranged at the Newman Street office. We agreed to plan out our approach at my fl at in Paddington beforehand. Everyone showed up at the Dungeon except David and, having waited without any sign of him, we left for the 2 o’clock meeting.

I was delighted to think that we would all be getting away from Seabreeze. How could John Coletta still be the manager? He had been barred from the dressing rooms in USA, barred from the recording studios, was never issued a backstage pass, and blanked completely in Japan. But I couldn’t help wondering where the hell David was. We assumed that he would be waiting at the office, but he wasn’t.

The rest of Whitesnake gathered around the great Purple onyx table: Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Neil Murray, and me. I was getting butterflies in my stomach. We were all looking at each other. Where was David?

"Before you say anything," Coletta said, "I have spoken with David’s lawyer this morning, and Whitesnake is over for you lot." He walked around the room, pointing his finger. "You are out," he said as he pointed at Ian, Neil and, to my total surprise and shock, he pointed at me.

I had been the author of my own demise with my comment to David about ending the band. There was a palpable silence in the room. I thought about the last time David and I talked at Britannia Row. I didn’t realise but he had been advised to break up the band in order to escape the Seabreeze banner. He later told me that he thought it was the only possible way out.

Ian Paice was stoical and left the room. Jon looked sombre. Neil looked confused. I simply didn’t believe it. And then came Coletta’s masterstroke. He took me to one side and said that he had been in talks with Hugh Stanley Clarke, head of A&R at EMI, and they wanted to sign me as a solo artist, but… I had to sign a new contract that day. Still in shock from the revelations, and feeling deserted, I signed. Can you believe it? Coletta even took me to EMI later that day to talk about my new and future plans.

I left 25 Newman Street a shattered thirty-year-old man, I don’t mind saying it. The greatest band any guitarist could wish for had ended without a row or whimper, and a song-writing partnership that could have gone on to bigger and better things was terminated because of lousy management.

Am I being fair here? Is it too easy to blame management for everything? But equally, is it not reasonable to suggest that our manager should have been a creative force, looked after us, and pushed us higher? It’s easy to blame John Coletta. I had no legal advice but I was the one who signed that contract. All I can say is that John Coletta was a very poor manager for me. They’re my thoughts.

Another common question: was I fired or did Whitesnake just disband?

Well, you tell me. If I was indeed fi red, then I am proud to say I was sacked at the same time as the best rock drummer in the entire world. Ian Paice just shrugged, and later joined the Gary Moore band.

Jon Lord continued to work with David Coverdale in Whitesnake, but everything else changed. Cozy Powell replaced Ian, Colin Hodgkinson replaced Neil, and Mel Galley replaced me. I did wonder if Gary Moore had ever been considered for my job, based on a mysterious encounter just before the band broke up. Gary turned up at Britannia Row, and looked a little bit ruffled when he saw me.

It seems obvious now that he was there, and was put out to see me, because he was in the frame to join Whitesnake. I’m by no means certain, but I guess it did make real sense. Maybe I should ask David some time. Moody also returned to the fold, which surprised me, but this didn’t last very long as John Sykes very soon replaced him.

I still stand by Saints & Sinners. Martin Birch returned to record David’s vocals and mix the album. Mel Galley sang backing vocals, and I never got the chance to play the songs live, but I recorded them all and wrote the most important one. The line-up for that album is the classic: Coverdale, Marsden, Moody, Murray, Lord. and Paice.

 

An excerpt from a 2003 Neil Murray interview:

– By the way, in your eyes, how did it come that WHITESNAKE grew from a collective enterprise into a one-man band?

WHITESNAKE had always been David’s band, but it was much more democratic than most situations like that, though not financially – we found out later that the ex-DEEP PURPLE guys got loads more money than Bernie, Micky and me, probably because they went to the management and demanded it! However, around the time of “Saints An’ Sinners”, David started to feel dissatisfied with the level of success we were having, particularly in the U.S., and wanted to be making lots more money, and felt that the manager was both doing a bad job and ripping him off. When he changed the line-up in mid-1982, he also left the management and started managing himself, though a lot of the decisions made over the next ten years had a lot to do with advice from John Kalodner of Geffen Records, who was certain he could make David very successful in the States, if he had the right band and album, and videos… The 1982-83 version of WHITESNAKE with Cozy and Mel Galley was a kind of bridge between the old WHITESNAKE and the new.

 

Of course the big names in the band got more salary than the journeyman guys. Write some hit songs if you want more money.

 

By the by, I LOVE the UK cut of Gambler. It's at the tops of the Snake catalogue, IMO.

 

That's exactly what he's saying. Funny how the Hammond organ sound he once thought of as dated is now his preference. Good for DC, he seems in a really good place these days.

 

SLIDE IT IN TOUR ARCHIVE RELEASES
LIVE IN '84 BACK TO THE BONE
Released Sept 2014




A great set that is sadly out of print and not available on US streaming services. I assume the bulk of the CD live set is taken from the Westwood One recording from Spokane, Washington recorded on 7/24/84 when the lineup was a four piece (plus Richard Bailey on keyboards) but the liner notes don't give any details. The Super Rock set and the TV performance are in great quality. David wanted to include the Rock N Rio 85 set but the owner refused to let him remix and edit it.

Live in Glasgow
Live In Glasgow, Scotland, March 1st, 1984
Released in 2019
Gambler
Guilty Of Love
Ready An' Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)
Love Ain't No Stranger
Here I Go Again
Slow An' Easy
Crying In The Rain (Medley)
Keyboard Solo
Aint No Love In The Heart Of The City
Fool For Your Loving
Need Your Love So Bad / Thank You Blues
Slide It In
Don't Break My Heart Again

This is with the 6 piece lineup and included in the Slide It In Anniversary set. Great to have a full set that I personally never heard prior to this release.

 

Respect your opinion, but it is just that … mine is the opposite and I find the song writing on Saints and Sinners far better {Kalodner didn’t suggest they re-record anything from Slide It In for 1987, for instance} and consistent front-to-back.

 

WHITESNAKE MARK VII & MARK VIII MEMBERS
I am doing these 2 lineups together as Whitesnake didn't gain any members during this period.

MARK VII
April 84-June 84
David Coverdale- vocals
Richard Bailey- offstage keyboards
Mel Galley- guitar
Cozy Powell- drums
Neil Murray- bass
John Sykes- guitar

Jon Lord would leave to go on to join Deep Purple in which he would stay with the group until 2002. He worked on various projects after that. Sadly he died in 2012.

DEEP PURPLE PERFECT STRANGERS


MARK VIII
June 84-Jan 85
David Coverdale- vocals
Richard Bailey- offstage keyboards
Cozy Powell- drums
Neil Murray- bass
John Sykes- guitar

Mel and John were running through a parking lot hopping over cars where at one point Mel tripped and John fell on top of him injuring his arm. He was out of commission so Whitesnake continued the tour as a 5 piece and when he was healed he had to wear a contraption on his arm (called the Claw) David decided to let Mel go as John was handling the guitar work on his own just fine. Mel would go on and form Phenomena who would have Ray Gillen and Glenn Hughes sing on albums and include many other guest musicians like Cozy Powell, Don Airey, and Neil Murray. He was also in MGM with Murray and Marsden which was posted already. Sadly he died as well in 2008.

Phenomena with Glenn Hughes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJPy9Y56NhE

Found demo of him doing Gambler!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsMxn0NLl6A

 

Got any pictures of that?

 

I have mixed feelings about Back To The Bone. I love Whitesnake's '78-'84 repertoire and I love John Sykes' playing, but I don't feel they mix that well. Those songs call for more subtlety and dynamics, yet Sykes' guitar is much heavier sounding and he goes all-out more often than not. I love his energy, but not on the old Whitesnake.

An interesting release and worth having for us big fans as it presents the band in between what they were and what they would become, but not one anybody should lose sleep trying to track down. For me it ranks in the 'play-once-and-shelf' category.

6/10

 

Older songs didn't bold well for the Sykes era but I think the Saints & Sinners and Slide material sound great on these releases. Crying In The Rain live in this era would be the template of the 87 version.
Don't Break My Heart Again never sounded good live again after Paice left. It lost the swing he put into it. Cozy and Tommy just tries to smash the song to bits.

 

They couldn’t possibly re-do anything from Slide It In for the American market because Slide It In was prominently released for the American market! It was gold by 1986. The pre-Geffen stuff was widely unknown in America, so they could milk it.

 

Very good point … duh! for some reason, I thought 1987 was the first US release …

In any case, I guess my point was I don’t hear anything nearly as good as “Crying in the Rain” or “Here I Go Again” on Slide It In. But obviously lots of folks around here are wild for it, which is also cool.

 

I don’t think I’ve played this since it came out but I do recall Crying In The Rain as being a highlight. It’s like the perfect blend of the early and later versions.

 

For my money Love Ain’t No Stranger is the #1 WS song ever. That’s got it all. Great solo from Micky as well. Which all the fans in America think is Sykes, but that’s another discussion …

 

Exactly. Say what? I don't see any similarities between Page and Blackmore.

 

I'm a bit shocked there isn't more to say on Slide It In but I'll move forward....

WHITESNAKE MARK IX MEMBERS
Aug 85-Feb 87
David Coverdale- vocals
Aynsley Dunbar- drums
Neil Murray- bass
John Sykes- guitar

Cozy Powell left right after the Rock N Rio show on 1/19/85 over money issues when he realized Sykes was getting paid much more than him. He proposed a four way split but he soon realized that was not going to happen as Cozy didn't really write songs.



Cozy's first project after Whitesnake was to be the P in Emerson, Lake, and Powell. After that he would be involved with numerous projects including Black Sabbath, Brian May Band, and would even circle back with some Whitesnake bandmates in some of these projects. Sadly he died in 1998 in a tragic car accident.
Emerson, Lake & Powell - Touch and Go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRsXvZiiNNY

John approached Tommy Aldridge to join Whitesnake as he was playing his last shows with Ozzy but Coverdale decided to look for an English drummer instead. After auditioning 60 drummers "who couldn't drive a truck let alone a band" per Coverdale they settled on Aynsley Dunbar. A veteran of many bands since the 60's: Journey, Zappa, Bowie, Jefferson Starship, etc.
Neil Murray would stick with the band for the entire project.

Journey- Wheel In The Sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxGEVIvSFeY

This would be the core group that would put the next album together. No one would know that the album would take over 2 years to complete....