Whitesnake "The Purple Album"(Deluxe) 2015***

A few years ago I wrote (here) about witnessing a show of Whitesnake's Purple Tour. Obviously if I had the Purple album already I would have coupled the live review with the relevant CD presentation, but in that case I used a Whitesnake (WS) compilation from my collection. I hadn't even heard the album at the time but that didn't matter. I was eager to listen to WS play Mark III & IV Purple tracks, since they're pretty good musicians and since the touring version of Deep Purple choose to ignore the Coverdale/Hughes period and never play these songs live. As Coverdale explains in the CD's liner notes, it was Jon Lord's death (Deep Purple and sometime WS organist) that prompted him to speak with his old colleagues and patch things up, especially Blackmore with whom he hadn't parted in the best circumstances. This led to talking about working together again, which led to Coverdale revisiting these songs, trying out new arrangements etc. The collaboration didn't go through - at the time Blackmore was only playing Renaissance music, although he did return to rock a couple of years later with Rainbow (I was there too, read here). By then though Coverdale was really itching to play the songs again, so he went ahead without Blackmore, recording this tribute CD and touring with his regular group. Right before the recording, guitarist Doug Aldrich quit the band, so his replacement Joel Hoekstra joined Reb Beach to form the WS dual guitar attack team. Thus instead of DP Mark III/IV's line-up with two vocalists and one guitarist, the songs were re-arranged for a two-guitarist-one-vocalist team. The effects are visible right from the start: the CD opens with Mark III's literally most incendiary song "Burn". The solos are as intricate as the original's, but Blackmore's precise progressive style is replaced by a more agressive heavy metal tone. Vocal-wise, Coverdale can still carry the songs but there's a hole where bassist/co-vocalist Hughes's parts should be. There are some backing vocals throughout the album, but those Hughes/Coverdale harmonies are even more sorely missed than Blackmore's guitar. Don't forget Hughes is the man whom fans dubbed "the Voice of Rock". However exaggerated the title, he can't just be replaced with any backing singer. And talking about irreplaceable, what about Jon Lord? Don Airy has done an adequate job filling his boots in Deep Purple, but studio keyboardist Derek Hilland doesn't even try. He gets a few fills here and there (most notably in "You Keep On Moving") but otherwise, instead of Purple's trademark guitar/organ interplay, we get a double dose of lead guitar lending the heavier songs ("Stormbringer", "Lady Double Dealer" and "Lay Down Stay Down") a more metallic hue. Maybe that makes it sometimes seem as if that the band is substituting quality with quantity, but the results are nevertheless quite enjoyable. "The Gypsy" is an epic track from Stormbringer that WS fail to nail completely, but "Might Just Take Your Life" follows closely and successfully the original. Ditto for the soulful "You Keep On Moving" from 1975's Come Taste The Band which in retrospect seems to presage the early blues days of Whitesnake. Conversely, "You Fool No One" and "Love Child" sound like WS in their hair metal heyday - the latter even sounds uncannily like their big 1987 hit "Still Of The Night". Could we have been wrong then accusing WS of stealing Jimmy Page's riffs when they was actually copying Tommy Bolin? The version of "Holy Man" here seems to be a bit on the country -or at least Southern Rock- side, while "Sail Away" is a beautiful ballad with emotive lead vocal, nice harmonies and acoustic guitars . "Mistreated" is the classic heavy blues that functioned as a showcase for both Coverdale and Blackmore, which is why they both kept playing it with their later bands. It features in Whitesnake's Live at Hammersmith (1978) and Rainbow's On Stage (1976) in a memorable performance by Ronnie James Dio and is still a staple of the reformed Rainbow setlist. Coverdale delivers here an impassioned performance while the guitarists try to outdo Blackmore by playing even faster, which won't do the trick - but hey it's still pretty good. The band's sentimental side is completed with gorgeous acoustic ballad "Soldier of Fortune". The Deluxe version adds two more covers, both from Come Taste the Band. These are the funky "Lady Luck" and hard rocking "Comin' Home". Which brings the total to: 6 songs from Burn (1974), 5 from Stormbringer (1974) and 4 from Come Taste the Band (1975). The balance sounds about right. Apart from the extra tracks, the Deluxe version also includes a DVD with 4 video clips and a Behind The Scenes featurette. Worth paying a couple of extra bucks for - that's if you decide to get the album, which isn't something you ought to do unless: A) you're a WS fan who is somehow unfamiliar with the originals. In this case, you can view this as one of WS's better and harder rocking albums of the last two decades. B) you're a Deep Purple obsessive who never tires of listening to reinterpretations of his favorite songs. No matter whether these new versions are better (they aren't) or just different (they are, to a degree) than the originals, you'll enjoy their energy and savor the different touches. I guess I fall more or less in the second category.

**** for Burn, You Fool No One, Love Child, Might Just Take Your Life, You Keep On Moving, Soldier of Fortune, Stormbringer

*** for Sail Away, Lady Double Dealer, Mistreated, Holy Man, Lay Down Stay Down, Comin' Home

** for The Gypsy, Lady Luck