Whitesnake still scraping the barrel...

[Anthrax442]

https://whitesnake.com/access-all-areas-live

I mean, I'm going to buy it, because I'm a sucker and the only one of those I have currently is the Purple Live album, but I'm not happy about it.

If they're going to release this, then they need to go back and release all of the 70's/80's stuff too. They could do a badass Live in the Heart of the City remaster, but nooooooooo.

[FreddyFender]

Yeah, I'm sure it's because they own the rights too all of these - no red tape, keep all the cash, etc.

Those live recordings with Aldrich and Mendoza are badass, but I don't need to own a massive vault of it. I'll pass. I have the deluxe Good to be Bad 2CD that has the acoustic stuff on it already.... Good to to Bad Unplugged is badass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIUn33XSPCc

Anyway.... give us some unreleased Moody/Galley/Sykes live stuff and I will pay any amount of money for it.

[FreddyFender]

........

[Anthrax442]

He doesn’t have the rights for the pre-Geffen stuff.

I'm aware. Which is also kind of bizarre to me, because everything Slide it In and after is the stuff that's actually valuable.

I gave a bad example there, but my point is that there's nothing in this box that hasn't already been released, and in the last twenty years. There's really no live recordings from any other sources they couldn't clean up and throw in, just to have something new? I get that some things have already been included on the other boxes, like some of the live tracks on Slide it In, or including the Donington show on the Slip of the Tongue set, so good on them to not double dip there, but 8 CDs and it's all previously existing things seems kind of rough, not to mention that the Purple Tour album now doesn't have the DVD that goes with it.

This just feels a lot lazier than the other expanded box sets, and when you see other acts that have released stuff for the first time over the last few years (Aerosmith, KISS), it makes you think that there HAS to be other material out there.

[alleyrulez]

always wondered if they recorded any of the shows when DeMartini and Sarzo were in the band back in 1994.

lots of bootlegs out there, but most of them don't sound that great.

[Anthrax442]

always wondered if they recorded any of the shows when DeMartini and Sarzo were in the band back in 1994.

lots of bootlegs out there, but most of them don't sound that great.

Exactly! I know it wasn't a high point for the band, and it was totally a contractual obligation thing to go out and support the Greatest Hits album, but it would still be interesting to hear for the diehard fans, who this is clearly aimed at.

[alleyrulez]

always wondered if they recorded any of the shows when DeMartini and Sarzo were in the band back in 1994.

lots of bootlegs out there, but most of them don't sound that great.

What a horrible lineup.

you truly hate everything, don't you?

[alleyrulez]

Nope. I like pretty much every lineup of Whitesnake, but that Greatest Hits tour they did in 94 was just weird. Even Coverdale looked out of place in his own band. It didn’t work. Presumably it was to pay for his divorce or something.

you don't think Warren could hold his own in the band?

[alleyrulez]

He’s another Vandenberg. Good player but it’s lots of notes but no balls or memorable stuff. Same as that last unremarkable lineup with Beech and Hoekstra.

Whole show, Italy 1994 :

https://youtu.be/iRz43d2Fdsw?si=_ISOsA2KCcm_Ythk

so you don't think Reb Beach is good, either?

[alleyrulez]

What’s he ever contributed to Whitesnake? He was tossed a bone and allowed to do two or three solos on GTBB and Forevermore, and I think something had a bonus track of a different edit of Summer Rain with him doing the solo. He did a few solos live which were okay, I remember he did the solo in Give Me All Your Love.

The album he and Hoekstra had control of was just shit.

And he also came out a few years ago having a cry about Aldrich getting too many solos and being allowed to write songs with Coverdale and he wasn’t. He came across as a little bitch.

So no, I don’t particularly respect the guy. Maybe he’s great in other bands. Not Whitesnake.

fair enough.

[FreddyFender]

Agree with pretty much everything Bernie said already.

Starkers in Tokyo was awesome, but there's a reason recent Whitesnake live albums don't include much of anything from the Vandenberg and/or Vai era - doesn't make the cut.

Doug Aldrich was the second coming of Sykes, brought the band back to life. Once he bailed, that was it as far as I'm concerned.

[FreddyFender]

Agree with pretty much everything Bernie said already.

Starkers in Tokyo was awesome, but there's a reason recent Whitesnake live albums don't include much of anything from the Vandenberg and/or Vai era - doesn't make the cut.

Doug Aldrich was the second coming of Sykes, brought the band back to life. Once he bailed, that was it as far as I'm concerned.

[Anthrax442]

What’s he ever contributed to Whitesnake? He was tossed a bone and allowed to do two or three solos on GTBB and Forevermore, and I think something had a bonus track of a different edit of Summer Rain with him doing the solo. He did a few solos live which were okay, I remember he did the solo in Give Me All Your Love.

The album he and Hoekstra had control of was just shit.

And he also came out a few years ago having a cry about Aldrich getting too many solos and being allowed to write songs with Coverdale and he wasn’t. He came across as a little bitch.

So no, I don’t particularly respect the guy. Maybe he’s great in other bands. Not Whitesnake.

fair enough.

Flesh and Blood wasn't shit. Was it as good as Good to be Bad or Forevermore? No. But it was also eight years later, Coverdale's voice was completely gone, AND it had to be completely re-recorded from scratch because someone at the studio accidentally erased the hard drive it was on.

Whitesnake doesn't have a shit album in their catalog, at worst there's mediocre stuff like Slip of the Tongue.

But I'll give you that it definitely seemed like he was content to pick up the paycheck and play the Vivian Campbell "sideman" role, and let Aldrich/Hoekstra be the star.

Still not quite sure I understand why Aldrich left. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall with Coverdale's voice, but I've got a hard time believing Raiding the Rock Vault was paying more than DC.

[FreddyFender]

Flesh & Blood does suck - only Whitesnake album I do not/have not owned (I bought SOTT but either threw it away or traded it).

I didn't like the songs Reb cooked up for Flesh and Blood, and Joel is a great player but he's a weak writer - his solo albums are pretty forgettable despite all the starpower.

A lot of people seem to think Aldrich quit because Coverdale wanted to do that Deep Purple cover album/tour. I don't know about that, but he did go on tour with Glenn Hughes pretty quickly after leaving. But who knows - maybe he was tired of having to go out to friggin' Lake Tahoe every time Coverdale wanted to work on something.

[Anthrax442]

The original idea was a Purple mk3 reunion with Coverdale, Hughes and Blackmore. Blackmore said he wanted to do it then bailed and the thing fell apart. Blackmore did that new shitty Rainbow lineup and scratched the itch to play some rock. Coverdale did a shitty album of Purple remakes since he had an itch to sing them again. And Aldrich bailed because he couldn’t work out why Coverdale would sideline him after the great work they had done on two albums. And maybe because Coverdale’s voice was starting to sound awful. They downtuned to D for that forevermore tour and the old songs sounded shit. Good time to bail.

Blackmore didn't bail, according to Coverdale. Apparently, they were having conversations about what the tour would look like, and whatever vision Blackmore had for things didn't jive with what Coverdale was comfortable with, so Coverdale told him he wasn't interested. He still liked the idea, so they did the Purple album instead.

Reading between the lines, it sounded like Blackmore was being difficult to work with, possibly wanting to do something more like what he would eventually do with Rainbow and play non DP material, and Coverdale was only interested in doing a pure tribute to the MK3 era. He was really diplomatic about the whole thing, though, which worked out for him, because otherwise he and Hughes would probably still be on the outside looking in the RRHOF.

[Anthrax442]

Did he say that on Trunk or something?

It's in the liner notes for either the Purple album or the Purple Tour CD. Can't remember which, but basically Coverdale was talking about how the whole thing came about.