Over The Dene

Those with long memories may recall the photographs in the original Whitesnake Biography of various sites in Saltburn-by-the-Sea where David Coverdale was born and grew up. Overdene Maternity Hospital in Saltburn is where David gave the world his first rock and roll screams.  It was closed as a hospital in 1980 (not without a certain amount of opposition locally) and finally sold off by the NHS three years later. The building was then split into two spacious private homes, with new flats built in parts of the grounds – but we didn’t realise that the place was renamed Coverdale House! According to the local paper the building’s other claim to fame is that it was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, the Victorian architect who designed London’s Natural History Museum. So two heritage plaques then?

David does like to saunter about whenever he is in the area with Whitesnake, and posted this rather nice shot of him taken outside the pub which his parents used to run, called The Red Lodge.

Whitesnake’s big package (tour)

David Coverdale and whoever is in Whitesnake right now (I’m a bit out of touch) are coming over on a stadium visit to Britain May / June 2020.  They will be in the company of fellow rock and roll titans (© Manchester Evenings News!) Foreigner and (openers) Europe to form a triple bill likely to strike a spot with fans of 1980s hits and MTV.  There are six dates in all. They then fly over to Australia for a tour there with The Scorpions, including a show in New Zealand, then a date in Singapore on the way across to Japan for half a dozen headlining shows.

Tickets are fully on sale this Friday but there are pre-sale offers on meet and greet packages if you look online (they START at £129.00!). Details : London’s O2 Arena (May 31), Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena (June 1), Arena Birmingham (June 3), Glasgow SSE Hydro (June 4) and Newcastle Utilita Arena (June 6), Manchester Arena on June 8.

The question we ask ourselves (apart from where I would hide for the other two acts!) is will they be a patch on the shows in 1979 and 1980 and the answer sadly is not, so I’ll put the money towards a trip to London to see the Bridget Riley exhibition instead.

Right To The Top

David Coverdale is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Slide It In with a slew of editions to suit everyone. Rhino are issuing a 6CD version which bulks out the original 1984 UK and US mixes with “unreleased live and studio recordings, music videos, concert footage, and a new interview with founder and lead singer, David Coverdale…” and a book. So you get remixes and alternate versions of every track.
This is entitled The Ultimate Special Edition. If that’s a stretch, then Rhino will also put out a 2LP / 2CD with both mixes, and a single CD of the US mix.
I’ve already bought the record about eight times (including that lovely original Japanese vinyl edition – see below) so might hang fire as the last CD edition from 2009 was more than enough for these ears. I generally only bother with the U.S. mixes anyway. But the hard core can start saving as it comes

.

And it pips anything Deep Purple did to mark their 50th!
Thanks to John Tucker for the heads up.

Snake Box Heroes

David Coverdale is taking Whitesnake out on an American tour in June / July 2018, supporting Foreigner/ It is billed as the Juke Box Heroes Tour, and opens with Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening (a massive jukebox favourite!). Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the news. It’s an extensive tour, the full list of dates is on our 2018 diary page at the bottom:

https://darkerthanblue.wordpress.com/deep-purple-now/deep-purple-co-2018-dates/

The Purple Tour

No not that one, this one! David Coverdale is putting a new live release out to mark The Purple Album tour of a while ago (the studio LP came out in 2015.) Titled simply The Purple Tour, there is the usual array of formats, CD, CD and DVD/Blu Ray, and double vinyl. Looking at the track list it is actually two thirds Whitesnake songs, but what the heck. RS Publishing are also doing a big format limited edition photo book charting the tour to tie in. All due late November. Thanks to Matt Kean and others for the info. In the meantime some folk have been enjoying reading about DC’s relatives and their early career as false teeth makers in York on our Facebook page!
 

Shy (but not retiring)

David Coverdale appears to have backtracked on his early retirement plans; perhaps he’s seen the rubbish interest rates offering on annuities these days! I confess I’d missed the story, so may not have been alone in this. We’ll wait and see how this manifests itself tour / LP wise next year.
Meanwhile Here I Go Again has been targeted by two advertising agencies this last few months. Nescafé in the UK have been playing it under footage of a long-haired young bloke sauntering about, getting a coffee bean shower and doing the hoola hoop at a bus stop.

In America WalMart have gone to town a bit using the song in a more interactive way, using young kids to each sing a line of the song before the real thing slides in underneath to end the short commercial. It is very nicely done.

So, that should be David’s Xmas shopping taken care of! All these cover versions made me hanker for a listen to the real thing, so here they go again in one of the last of the good old days courtesy EMI. Then I got all miserable realising that half this lot are no longer with us…

Shades of

I could not resist putting up this photograph of some of the guys at their table during the evening. As far as I can recall the last time you could have taken this shot was back in 1975 at the Butterfly Ball concert.  I can sort of understand all the aggro and stuff which goes on between artists but it is nice to see them together like this.

And for people who collect Deep Purple and related programmes, there was one produced for the evening, shown here.  There isn’t much about the band in, and just a small montage of the 8 inductees.  But people are disposing of them online if you want to try and grab one before they all vanish.

 

Shy and retiring?

David Coverdale has suggested that he might be calling time on Whitesnake as we know it in a press release announcing a June best of tour of America. “…what will be our ‘Greatest Hits World Tour’ & most likely my personal ‘Farewell to Arena Rock’ after over 40 years of writing & performing rock music.”
He doesn’t elaborate and clearly the statement leaves doors open but perhaps David is going to try and take a break and give himself options which don’t require his voice to be pushed quite so hard on the road.  There are lots of people who would like to hear him do stuff like the Into The Light and Northwinds albums on-stage in a less frenzied atmosphere (hint hint!).
Meanwhile he and Ian Gillan have spoken to iron out issues over the Hall of Fame event and IG has posted what we assume is the last word on the subject (this week!).

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Statement

February 20, 2016

With respect to all:
We were faced with a hard decision when we heard about the Hall of Fame inductions. It was shocking to us that Steve Morse and Don Airey – who have been with us for 22 years and 14 years respectively – had been excluded, according to HoF ‘rules’.
Ian G. Ian P. and Roger G. – decided upon the offer of a compromise which has been agreed with the HoF and enables us to turn up on the night.
DP Inductees will accept the awards and then the living breathing Deep Purple will perform. Inevitably, this will mean excluding Ritchie, David and Glen from the live performance, but, given the circumstances, there is no other acceptable option.
It should be stressed that there is no slight intended nor any desire to upset anyone regarding this decision; it is purely a mark of respect to Steve and Don. In fact, we would love to perform with Ritchie, David, Glen et al on Smoke on the Water in the encore jam.
I spoke with David Coverdale last week and he expressed complete understanding of the way it was being handled; thanks David you’re a Gent.
Outside of this event there are no circumstances under which a ‘reunion’ could or would take place and so it is unconscionable that our guitarist and keyboard player should be pushed aside after all those years (on the road and six studio albums) of total personal commitment and musical contribution to the band, just to satisfy pressure that has been, in the past, easily resisted.
So, let’s all get up there, shake hands, smile for the cameras and get it done with dignity and respect for all the existing and past members of a very special family.

ig

Thanks to Tom Dixon and Tim Summers

Uneasy Rider – The Talented Mr Blackmore

Blackmore discusses his career with a cameraman….

A curiously titled new documentary (neither of the puns really relate to his career) about Mr. B, due for release as a home video at the end of October, which has been in the works for a while.  With a running time of over two hours, this one has for the first time the full co-operation of Ritchie himself for once, and the documentary has been produced by Eagle Rock who have a good track record in this area (they backed the excellent Making Of Classic Album series.)  It is also a good move given his aim of playing some rock shows next year to remind people what he was all about.  There are twenty year olds around today who have never seen him live in anything but Blackmore’s Night.
A list of participants includes four former member of Deep Purple, albeit only Roger Glover from the current line-up, plus some names you might expect as well as a few you wonder about – I hadn’t got Gene Simmons down as a massive Blackmore fan but you never know!  It is noticeable that not a single person from his pre-Purple years is listed which seems a shame.  Please don’t tell me they’re not including the fab footage of Ritchie wiggling with The Outlaws up on scaffolding…
Anyhow, if you can still find the music section of your local DVD shop, it could be worth a look.  Eagle are very quick to get their titles onto TV so that’s an alternative if you can’t make your mind up.

Interviewed for the documentary are: Ritchie Blackmore, Candice Night, David Coverdale, Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner, Steve Lukather, Brian May, Joe Satriani, Gene Simmons, Steve Vai, Lars Ulrich, Phil Collen, Ian Anderson, Malcolm Dome, Martin Birch, Chris Welch, Chris Charlesworth, Jim Ladd, Pat Regan.

The Glimmer Twins

Lots of pics zooming around the web to confirm Glenn Hughes stepped up to the mic at the Whitesnake Purple Tour show in Beverley Hills this week.  He reportedly sang on at least two of the Purple tracks.  Kind of makes you wonder why they didn’t get it together so the pair could have done the Purple songs in a second half of the set type scenario, which would have been a bit special!  Even the suburst lens flare looks like Mk 3 days…