Whitesnake cover mounted

I’m not really sure what to make of this idea of pre-launching the Whitesnake album via the magazine trade (see deep-purple.net). It clearly must make sense to the band’s new label (Frontiers), and I suppose in a year which has already seen HMV planning to close a number of stores, labels have to look for new ways to maximise the potential of new albums. Rather than do all the work of putting together a special edition themselves, this tie-up works for both sides.
I’m told the magazine expect to print around 35,000 copies, which is a hell of a good launch for any new CD these days. And clearly Classic Rock have a fondness for the band given their status in polls and awards of late (bemusing as it may be to some). That the edition is different to the one which will go on sale three weeks later in record shops is a tad worrying, even though on this occasion the bonus tracks are from a forthcoming live release (see below) so they’ll be available to all eventually. We’ve come to expect goodies being added to Japanese editions, but this is a bit closer to home!
The real loser in this has to be the record shop I suspect, and their only recourse is to make sure they stock Classic Rock magazine themselves. I know our local indie, the venerable Record Collector in Broomhill, carries several of the music related monthlies for example.
Will it work? Well probably yes. This has the element of a special limited edition, and won’t be on the racks for very long, so I guess I’ll be there buying a copy, but make sure I do so at Record Collector so they get the benefit.
As for Whitesnake fans, this is but the prelude to a slew of releases during 2011. The studio album will be followed by that aforementioned live set from their 1990 show at Donington (on CD and DVD – pre-order at the DTB store!), then a proposed acoustic album in the summer. Add to that the super deluxe book and a special guest slot on the upcoming world tour and Whitesnake should be everywhere this year. Let’s just hope the album lives up to the expectations.

The Classic Rock cover is shown on the website (www.deep-purple.net), and I was wondering which was the first magazine ever to feature David Coverdale solo on the cover. I reckon it was this issue of Pop (shown above) from early 1974. If anyone knows any better let me know. There is an extensive gallery of magazine covers which feature David Coverdale (and the rest of the DP crew) on the website.