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

So I did a Whitesnake / Coverdale thread back in 2008 and I thought it would be cool to do a new one 14 (!) years later as there are so many new forum members that weren't here for the original. Also, Whitesnake has released a bunch more material since then.

Old thread here:
Whitesnake/David Coverdale album by album thread

I didn't include Deep Purple in the old thread I as did an album by album thread back then of them but I will include the Coverdale era Deep Purple albums here, his solo & C/P stuff , and any off-shot songs he sung on in chronological order. Any archive live albums or reissues will be included in that original era so we are not bouncing around.

Hopefully people will enjoy it

Who's in?

 

Bump

 

I'm in !

 

I’m glad you clarified that you had done this before. As a participant in the prior thread, I thought I was losing my mind

I doubt I have anything to say that I didn’t say the first time around, but I’ll be happy to follow along

 

Pre-Purple Recordings/demos

We will ease into this thread posting some recordings made prior to him joining Deep Purple.

Coverdale was born on September 22, 1951 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire, England. He was an only child. Around the age of 14, he began performing professionally and developing his voice. "I don't think my voice had broken", he explained to Sounds in 1974. "And that's when I first learnt how to sing with my stomach, which sounds silly, but it's totally different from a normal voice." Coverdale started performing with local bands Vintage 67 (1966–68), The Government (1968–72), and Fabulosa Brothers (1972–73). During his tenure with the Government some recordings were made.

These demos were made around 1970.
(759) DAVID COVERDALE : DEMO 1970 : PASSING THE TIME AWAY . - YouTube

(759) DAVID COVERDALE : DEMO 1970 : ON MY WAY . - YouTube

These demos were made around 1972. Coverdale submitted this to DP’s management to get an audition. These can be found officially on the Pre-Purple People compilation.
(759) The Government = Pre Deep Purple - YouTube

That voice was already in place even at this early age...

 

I'll do my best to join in...love David and the music he has given us over the decades.

 

Will do Burn later today.

 

Burn (1974)
UK #3/US #9

Burn
Might Just Take Your Life
Lay Down Stay Down
Sail Away
You Fool No One
What's Goin' On Here
Mistreated
'A' 200

B-side:
Coronarias Redig (B-side of Burn)

This article does an excellent job of telling the story on how the MKIII lineup came to be with Coverdale and Hughes joining the band and the story behind the album.
How Deep Purple reinvented themselves: the making of Burn

Will have my review of the album with my next post.

 

There are very few better album openers than "Burn", from DP or anyone. I know you posted those demos above, but I assume those didn't make it far out to the masses? So then, this track would essentially be what introduced Coverdale to the world at large? Because, damn what a scorching intro.

This one is easily my favorite of the Coverdale DP albums--while I like the others too, none hold a candle to this platter. He and the band are on fire. Great cover art too. I suck at track-by-track reviews, but suffice it to say, it smokes front to back.

Okay, I think I've burnt myself out on puns.

 

I love Gillan-era DP too, but this was an amazing line-up, and a mostly incredible album, pound for pound - with the exception of 'A' 200, which I find to be pure filler.

Coronarias Redig is fantastic though, wish I could have heard what the vocal version was supposed to sound like.

I actually don't like Mistreated that much either, it's a great vocal showcase for Coverdale, and I know a lot of people love it, but it's a little bit too drawn-out to my mind. But it is a classic, no question.

I'm a big fan of adding the more soul & R&B-style influences, but I can see how you wouldn't like this if you were a pure rock guy.

 

Favourite track on Burn is Sail Away - brilliant song.

 

David Coverdale replaced Jesus on this purple platter. Love the first five tracks! Mistreated was far better on DP live albums. Still prefer WDWTWA. No filler. The Burn album has a couple for me. A200 would've been fine as a b-side. Never embarrassed, What's Goin On Here. The new guys showing their age on that piano boogie woogie tune...many years younger the mkII guy's.

 

My Burn review
Burn- One of the best Purple/Coverdale songs ever and I think one of the best hard rock songs ever Here in this US this gets minimal love in terms of Classic Rock airplay- not sure what it's like in other countries. I think it's an extremely underrated song in the hard rock landscape. All band members just pop off brilliantly with tons of chemistry in this brand new lineup. One of Blackmore's best riffs and solo ever and Lord is fantastic as well. This lineup quickly shows it has the goods and how the vocals were going to work with Hughes and Coverdale harmonizing for most songs. It's a perfect song. Also, this is Coverdale's professional debut as a singer! Those demos I posted were never released. He never recorded anything for local labels- nothing. He literally premiered with the biggest selling hard rock act of 1973 (per Billboard) with this song.
PS - Would love a version of "The Road "with the alternate lyrics that Coverdale initially came up with before it became Burn. 5/5
Might Just Take Your Life- A mid-tempo groove rocker with Hughes and Coverdale trading lyrics. Very catchy and can see why it was the first single even though it didn't get much chart action. 4.5/5
Lay Down Stay Down- Not my favorite track on that album but the energy from the whole band carries the song. I like the middle break of Ritchie's solo and Jon's piano the best. 4/5
Sail Away- This is another song that doesn't get enough attention. Who knows this if you aren't a fan of this lineup? You don't. An absolute slow burner of a song (pun intended). Coverdale puts forth his best bluesy voice here and love the contrast of Hughes. 5/5
You Fool No One- This one really takes off live. Paicey shines and Blackmore tears it up. The vocals take a backseat here and just let's the band go. 4.5/5
What's Going On Here- The weak vocal song here. I find it pretty boring. It's never been played live by any member of the band so that says a lot. 2/5
Mistreated- The Blackmore/Coverdale tour de force. Both would go on to cover this in Rainbow and Whitesnake respectively. An absolute classic and another song that gets no love in this day and age aside from hardcore Purple fans. Coverdale's vocals shows why he would become so successful for any years and it shows on how great of a blues player Ritchie is but never gets said in the same breath as Clapton, Page, and Beck. 5/5
'A' 200- I don't get why this made it over Coronarias. The song isn't a good instrumental. 1/5
B-side:
Coronarias Redig- Great groove here and Blackmore's playing is beautiful. I just wished I liked instrumentals more 3/5

Overall I give the album a 4.5. The 4 and 5 rated songs are just really top notch and the couple weak tracks are blip compared to the great stuff. Plus the production is fantastic and the album cover is iconic like In Rock and Machine Head is. What a great start to a 49 year professional career for Coverdale!

Will go over the few live albums released during the Burn tour this weekend at some point.

 

Great summary. Mk III's Machine Head I think and a huge return to form after the listless and underwhelming Who Do We Think We Are. I owned a vinyl copy back in the day and recently rebought 2 copies, all of which have sounded terrible for some reason (pressing? Too much music per side?). However the songs are glorious and only got better live - Burn and You Fool No One in particular with this line-up and Might Just Take Your Life and Mistreated with the Marsden/Moody version of Whitesnake.

 

Terrific album … not quite saying Gillan was expendable, but this is up there with Mk II’s best (I have it well behind In Rock, which is THE DP standout for me, but pretty close to Fireball and Machine Head).

“Burn”, “Sail Away” and “Mistreated” are the classics, and what surrounds them is pretty good.

 

Lots of fans of this album, but I’m not really one of them. The title track is great, but the rest is mostly mediocre to bad IMO. At least Blackmore sounds re-energized and engaged, so there’s that.

I do agree that “You Fool No One” really takes off in live versions, but the album version sounds a bit tepid. Not a great fan of Coverdale’s performance of “Mistreated” here either. I think his voice needed a little more seasoning at this point. He’d sing it better later.

2.5/5 for me. Maybe a soft 3 when I’m in the right mood

 

‘Burn’ is my favorite DP album. A nearly perfect album if you don’t mind “A-200” which sounds a little too Fraggle Rock (anyone remember that acid trip of a kids show??). DC’s vocals are rough and ready and GH sounds so smooth and funky. The title track and “Mistreated” are just corkers. Blackmore and Paice sound like men possessed. Definitely a desert island disc for me.

 

Burn is a pretty impressive debut album to feature young David Coverdale. I try not to compare it to MKII or MKI Purple. I don't think it's quite a perfect record even though I'm one of the few who apparently really likes "A-200". I'm not a fan of What's Goin' On Here" and I agree with a previous poster that Mistreated is a bit stilted on the LP and worked much better as a live showpiece. But the rest of the LP is top shelf bluesy hard rock. I know this thread is mostly intended to focus on David Coverdale, but man, Ian Paice gives some of the greatest studio performances of his career here. His snare work on the title track is just F'ing sick.

 

The band had enough personality to compensate for the weaker tracks. What's Going on Here isn't a great song, but Lord's piano work redeems the song for me. I'd say the same for Blackers' guitar on A200.

 

The entire Burn album is the high watermark of Ian Paice's career. He's incredible throughout.

 

Agree - song for song, it’s isn’t a front to back classic, but the musicianship and conviction - and the handful of classic, standout songs - carry it home.

 

A brief history of BURN

So around the time of Slide It In is when we here in the States really got a taste of the Snake…but at some point I had heard the original Fool For Your Loving as I instantly knew it when I heard it. And I discovered Glenn Hughes when I heard that massive voice on Gary Moore’s Run For Cover and became obsessed with it on Black Sabbath’s Seventh Star.

But for whatever reason even though I knew Burn existed, I never picked it up until the 2004 remaster. No clue why I put it off…but from the heavy metal barnstormer of a title track to the laid back Might Just Take Your Life or the epic Sail Away…geez was I dumb!

So Burn I knew from Glenn’s solo album, From Now On. And Mistreated I associated with Dio and Rainbow. But the biggest shock was Sail Away, which was a lost classic. Some radio station in New York must have played it because I knew it instantly, and was magically transported back to childhood.

 

Best version of Mistreated is a thirteen minute live version with the Moody/Marsden lineup of Whitesnake, it’s a bonus track on the 2006 remaster of Ready an’ Willing.

Twin solos, it’s like the Live And Dangerous version of Still In Love With You.

 

Entirely correct. The 1978 Whitesnake live version is outstanding - that twin guitar sound! And Coverdale's voice has never sounded better. I've a soft spot for Dio's Rainbow On Stage version ("and generally left for dead" aside), but you can't beat Coverdale, Moody and Marsden in 1978.