07/25/09 Freeman Coliseum S Antonio, TX
Discography07/26/09 Concrete St Amp Corpus Christi, TX 07/29/09 Mid-State Fair Paso Robles,CA 07/31/09 Sleep Train Pavilion Concord, CA 08/02/09 Gibson Amp Los Angeles, CA 08/04/09 SDSU Open Air Theatre SD,CA 08/05/09 Pacific Amp Los Angeles, CA 08/07/09 Dodge Theatre Phoenix, AZ 08/08/09 Thomas & Mack Center Vegas, NV 08/11/09 Red Rock Amph Morrison, CO 08/13/09 Nokia Live Theatre S Antonio, TX 08/15/09 St. Augustine Amphitheatre St. Augustine, FL 08/16/09 St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL 08/17/09 Seminole Hard Rock Arena Hollywood, FL 08/19/09 Germain Arena Estero, FL 08/20/09 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park Alpharetta, GA 08/22/09 Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD 08/23/09 Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion Gilford, NH
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I don't think I've ever had to listen to that much Whitesnake in my life! I've had to listen to over forty tracks from their re-issues of Slide It In and Slip of the Tongue. So what have I learned? There are two important things in Whitesnake: rock & sex.
Many of their lyrics and imagery are double entendre and innuendos, such as "Slide it In", "Slow & Easy", "Slip of the Tongue", "Cheap & Nasty", and the worst offender of them all: "Spit it Out". C'mon, can you be more obvious?
Well, as part of the 20th and 25th anniversary of these albums, they are now part of very excellent Universal Deluxe Editions, which specialized in reissuing classic albums in a two-disc, expanded edition.
The only drawback to these Deluxe series is that they can be quite expensive, especially in the economic climate we're in. While amazon usually lists these average at $20, but I have seen some in stores for as much as $30. Which is pretty ridiculous if you've already own the original album.
I've been collecting them since 2001, and I can tell you that the
reissues are usually worth it if you can find it for $20 or less,
because often the audio's been remastered (if that matters to you). The
extras are usually not available anywhere else (rare
b-sides/recordings/demos) and usually comes with: digipak packaging, 2
CDs or 1 CD and 1 DVD, a booklet or fold-out poster, and that clear
plastic slipcase.
Plus, I love how they stand out on my bookshelf, with their nice thick spine, next together with the other deluxe series I own.
Anyway, in a recent discussion about these "hard rock" or "hair band" bands from the 80s (Poison, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Cinderella, Skid Row, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), even though I have admitted to not liking them - we all seem to know the bands and their songs. Whitesnake and Judas Priest came up in the discussion because they were just at the Taste of Minnesota, which I was told that this is the first year that they started charging admission fee (however, to be fair, the $10 was converted to "food dollars" - which I am assuming $10 won't get you much food at these events).
Whitesnake's most famous song, at least in the US, is called
"Here I Go Again", which I believe might have gone to #1 on the US
charts because of that sexy girl model Tawny Kitaen on top of a Jaguar
music video. Admit it, you've all seen the video. Tawny is actually quite famous in the hard rock music circle (she was on the cover of Ratt's Out of the Cellar and apparently dated Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe).
Between the Slide It In and Slip of the Tongue, 25th and 20th anniversary editions, respectively, I will have to say that I've noticed a slight change in singer David Coverdale's vocals. On the former, he seems much calmer, not always screaming or stressing his vocals. The guitar work is also more aggressive with lots of loud screeching halts and guitar solos.
I also found that the slick plastic coating on Slide It In is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, however the plastic coating on gray text on the booklet made it nice to the touch.
An interesting story behind the Slide It In cover artwork is founded on the liner notes stated that it's a 17-year-old girl called Franzeska and it was her first modeling assignment. As they were shooting the pictures with the snake on the girl, the snake started sliding down her chest and her reaction was pure eye-ball fear & shock that the image had to be cropped off her eyes.
The bonus track listing is also interesting. Apparently the US version had a different mix than the one that was released in the UK. I compared the two mix side-by-side and for some reason I tend to like the UK mix slightly better. It's not as 'hard' I guess.
As for Slip of the Tongue, the bonus tracks are
B-Side, alternate mixes, and live recordings. The live audio is
excellent, however the video version (especially "Slip of the Tongue"
and "Kitten's Got Claws" from Donnington 1990) found on the DVD side is
in poor quality. However, footage of this era gone by, it's probably
still better than VHS, by far.
For US fans, you get to see some of their appearance on UK television, such as Top of the Pops - in very excellent quality. You have to remember that back then, if you wanted to see any UK footage, you needed a PAL-converter (to NTSC) and it was rare that they transfer correctly.
Each of the Deluxe release comes with a 23-page booklet that reprints all the lyrics, original album credits, and detail Whitesnake's history for that year. The article goes into great details about all the band members (essentially David Coverdale is the one constant, he was always firing or hiring somebody) and how massive they were. Just to give you an idea, in 1982, they were opening up for other bands (such as AC/DC), but swiftly, by 1983, Whitesnake was headlining everything - including "Monster of Rock".
The Deluxe treatment doesn't disappoint, and for hardcore fans, you will love these re-issues. For casual fans, if you don't already own these albums, then $20-25 for a nice package is worth it, in my opinion. Much better to hold and feel vs imaginary bits and bytes of MP3s.
If you are interested in getting more information on these Deluxe Editions, check out Universal's website or our own W♥M's Guide to Deluxe Editions. I'm happy to let you know that REM was recently on the deluxe treatment. Look for Whitesnake on tour (yes they are still together as an act).
Many of their lyrics and imagery are double entendre and innuendos, such as "Slide it In", "Slow & Easy", "Slip of the Tongue", "Cheap & Nasty", and the worst offender of them all: "Spit it Out". C'mon, can you be more obvious?
Well, as part of the 20th and 25th anniversary of these albums, they are now part of very excellent Universal Deluxe Editions, which specialized in reissuing classic albums in a two-disc, expanded edition.
The only drawback to these Deluxe series is that they can be quite expensive, especially in the economic climate we're in. While amazon usually lists these average at $20, but I have seen some in stores for as much as $30. Which is pretty ridiculous if you've already own the original album.
Slip of the Tongue and Slide It In Deluxe Package |
Plus, I love how they stand out on my bookshelf, with their nice thick spine, next together with the other deluxe series I own.
Anyway, in a recent discussion about these "hard rock" or "hair band" bands from the 80s (Poison, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Cinderella, Skid Row, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), even though I have admitted to not liking them - we all seem to know the bands and their songs. Whitesnake and Judas Priest came up in the discussion because they were just at the Taste of Minnesota, which I was told that this is the first year that they started charging admission fee (however, to be fair, the $10 was converted to "food dollars" - which I am assuming $10 won't get you much food at these events).
Between the Slide It In and Slip of the Tongue, 25th and 20th anniversary editions, respectively, I will have to say that I've noticed a slight change in singer David Coverdale's vocals. On the former, he seems much calmer, not always screaming or stressing his vocals. The guitar work is also more aggressive with lots of loud screeching halts and guitar solos.
I also found that the slick plastic coating on Slide It In is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, however the plastic coating on gray text on the booklet made it nice to the touch.
An interesting story behind the Slide It In cover artwork is founded on the liner notes stated that it's a 17-year-old girl called Franzeska and it was her first modeling assignment. As they were shooting the pictures with the snake on the girl, the snake started sliding down her chest and her reaction was pure eye-ball fear & shock that the image had to be cropped off her eyes.
The bonus track listing is also interesting. Apparently the US version had a different mix than the one that was released in the UK. I compared the two mix side-by-side and for some reason I tend to like the UK mix slightly better. It's not as 'hard' I guess.
For US fans, you get to see some of their appearance on UK television, such as Top of the Pops - in very excellent quality. You have to remember that back then, if you wanted to see any UK footage, you needed a PAL-converter (to NTSC) and it was rare that they transfer correctly.
Each of the Deluxe release comes with a 23-page booklet that reprints all the lyrics, original album credits, and detail Whitesnake's history for that year. The article goes into great details about all the band members (essentially David Coverdale is the one constant, he was always firing or hiring somebody) and how massive they were. Just to give you an idea, in 1982, they were opening up for other bands (such as AC/DC), but swiftly, by 1983, Whitesnake was headlining everything - including "Monster of Rock".
The Deluxe treatment doesn't disappoint, and for hardcore fans, you will love these re-issues. For casual fans, if you don't already own these albums, then $20-25 for a nice package is worth it, in my opinion. Much better to hold and feel vs imaginary bits and bytes of MP3s.
If you are interested in getting more information on these Deluxe Editions, check out Universal's website or our own W♥M's Guide to Deluxe Editions. I'm happy to let you know that REM was recently on the deluxe treatment. Look for Whitesnake on tour (yes they are still together as an act).
07/25/2009 18:13:14 ♥ vu (
)
♥ whitesnake.com ♥ myspace.com/whitesnake
