Before singer David Coverdale was belting out hit songs like Here I Go Again and Still of the Night for his flagship band Whitesnake in the late 80's, he sang for a band that was just as big in its heyday: Deep Purple. When singer Ian Gillan left the band in 1973 they needed a power house of a replacement and fast. One of the audition tapes in the massive pile sent to them was one from a young unknown singer who turned out to be Coverdale. Though only 30 seconds of the tape's material appealed to Deep Purple they called him up right away and had him join the band; skyrocketing him into worldwide fame overnight.
During his 3 year tenure in the band Coverdale would record 3 albums with Deep Purple titled: Burn, Stormbringer, and Come Taste the Band; all of which are considered classics by the fans. 40 years later Coverdale has decided to go back to his beginnings to pay tribute and give thanks to the very band that gave him his big break by recording some of his favorite songs from his time on a new Whitesnake album titled The Purple Album.
The songs on The Purple Album are not just covers of these classic songs, but modern heavy metal reinterpretations of them. Though the guitar was always a driving force in Deep Purple, the songs seem to be even more guitar driven and centric than ever before. There is still the presence of keyboards in certain songs though because without it they would fall completely flat no matter how you tried to rearrange them.
The vocals on this album are kind of a touchy subject. Obviously no one will sound the same as they did 40 years ago, but it is clear in The Purple Album that Coverdale's voice has lost a massive amount of the power and aggressiveness it once possessed. This is especially present in the track Burn. Where Coverdale could once howl like a wolf he now can barely raise his voice to a listenable volume. Plus, the lack of Deep Purple bassist and backing vocalist Glenn Hughes also makes a huge difference. The band does the best they can and it isn't bad at all but nowhere near as powerful, iconic, and soulful as Hughes.
However, Coverdale's performance wasn't entirely bad. The album has its moments vocally. In tracks like Soldier of Fortune, Sail Away, and Holy Man Coverdale's aged voice makes these songs even better than they already were. There is more of a smokey richness to them now that makes them sound like what a good aged scotch would taste like. On some of the more rocking tunes such as Lady Double Dealer and You Fool No One he was also able to hold up well enough.
Another thing that kind of disturbed me was the distinct lack of keyboards on this album. Though I did mention earlier they did make many of the songs more guitar centric it was Jon Lord's Hammond organ coupled with Ritchie Blackmore's guitar playing that made Deep Purple the monster of rock that it was. The only song that seems to have any keyboard in it is Burn and even then it sounds kind of hackneyed. Maybe it was the production quality, but even so the performance didn't impress me. It had none of Lord's fire and finesse. It felt like it was there just to fill an obligatory spot in the song.
One thing I do appreciate about The Purple Album however is that although Whitesnake redid the songs in their own way many of the elements of the iconic Ritchie Blackmore guitar solos were kept in the songs. Props to Reb Beach and Whitesnake newcomer Joel Hoekstra for that. I could tell that while they were both doing their best to put their own stamps on these songs they also wanted to preserve what made these songs as wonderful as they are to begin with.
The Tommy Bolin/Mark IV era stuff kind of fell a bit flat in my opinion. Those songs were meant to have more of a jazzy/funky soul kind of vibe to them. Making them more heavy metal oriented kind of took that out of them in my opinion. They sound almost nothing like the way Bolin originally played them and that makes me kind of sad. Don't get me wrong, the Whitesnake versions still sound good if you're not thinking of them as cover songs but that's what bothers me. They feel like different songs entirely.
Now I know I've been saying some not so kind things about The Purple Album so far, but some tracks actually legitimately impressed me. For instance I LOVE the way they redid Might Just Take Your Life. With the addition of slide guitar it almost makes it sound like a bluesy late 70's/early 80's Whitesnake song. It really works for that. Also, while the age in Coverdale's voice does show Stormbringer still packs a punch now just as much as it did in 1975. If anything, the redo of it packs more of a punch and makes it feel more like the heavy metal kind of song it was always meant to be.
Overall I still feel The Purple Album is worth picking up despite its numerous flaws. When I listen to it I can still feel that old Deep Purple spirit in many places. I'm still kind of wondering though why Coverdale would choose to just rerecord his old stuff instead of pushing forward to make new material; especially since Whitesnake just got a new guitarist. However, I'm glad that Coverdale remembers where he came from and felt the time was right to bring these beloved songs to a brand new generation. I applaud him for that. The songs do deserve to be remembered because when they came out they blew the minds of rockers all over the world.
The Purple Album, by Whitesnake receives 3 out of 5 stars.
Track List:
1. Burn
2. You Fool No One
3. Love Child
4. Sail Away
5. The Gypsy
6. Lady Double Dealer
7. Mistreated
8. Holy Man
9. Might Just Take Your Life
10. You Keep on Moving
11. Soldier of Fortune
12. Lady Down Stay Down
13. Stormbringer
Bonus Tracks:
14. Lady Luck
15. Comin' Home
16. Soldier of Fortune (Alternate Mix)
Buy the album on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Album-CD-DVD-Deluxe/dp/B00TXZLXK4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432186807&sr=8-1&keywords=Whitesnake+The+Purple+Album
No comments:
Post a Comment