Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Whitesnake
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2013
Duration: 142:07
Rating: 3.5/5
»Here is the song for ya!!!«, the famous »scream« of the ultimate, legendary frontman of the most popular musical reptile on planet Earth, hits us with yet another live release in the same year! The White Snake has struck for the second time this year! With another double live document. In April it was »Made in Japan«, and in July came »Made in Britain«, together with a bonus CD, »The World Record«. The first CD of the new release, titled »Made In Britain«, comes from the shows around the British Isles in December 2011 (the second leg of the British tour), while the second CD, titled The World Record, is a roundup of performances from shows across Europe, the USA and South America. All of it dedicated to promoting the album »Forevermore« (2011).
In recent years it’s become more than clear that Coverdale feels right at home in the new times. The young bucks filling out today’s Whitesnake line-up around their beloved leader David Coverdale are sending the man back to the wild years of youthful exuberance, freeing him up, really, and charging him with energy. Still, Coverdale doesn’t deny his maturity and good sense. He remains a crafty rascal, which is what guarantees the band’s survival even in the later years of Coverdale’s musical career! On stage lately Coverdale is incredibly relaxed and doesn’t skimp on his entertaining temperament, using what only a few frontmen have, the knack for »choosing your words skillfully«, to »win over« the crowd. He’s always upbeat and, as ever, a true gentleman who »wins you over« with just a passing glance of that piercing sparkle. The guy is full of charm and huge charisma. No two ways about it. Even if his golden years of vocal delivery, which left an indelible mark on rock history, are behind him, his statue, his figure or whatever you want to call it still remains an essential building block of every Whitesnake finesse, however innocent.
In the slogan of the opening »Best Years« on the first disc, Whitesnake spoil the British crowds at the end of December 2011 with the vehemence of instant conquest, igniting on the spot. The first CD is much grittier, much more compact, and sits closer to the authenticity of the live events.
You can tell straight away, just from the standard flow of the shows as laid out in the setlist. Coverdale’s vocals hold up admirably, though of course they went through a few studio fixes and touch-ups afterwards. What sticks out are the overdubbed screams in the intros or outros of certain songs, which Coverdale clearly hasn’t been able to pull off for ages. It’s obvious they’re overdubbed, and not even the deafest ear lying at the bottom of the deepest ocean would miss it.
The repertoire also includes songs from »Good To Be Bad«, which come across far more convincingly live than in the mediocrity of the studio original. The crew of musicians remains fantastic. Besides their fanatically committed playing, they handle the vocal harmonies almost flawlessly. In such surroundings Coverdale can safely and comfortably lean on the power, the enthusiasm, the hunger to prove themselves and, of course, the confident command of the craft from his backing crew. Professionalism is professionalism. And Coverdale knows it well. He’s always been able to afford the best musicians. The best and the most expensive. So, no flubs.
The riff voltage is venomously catchy, the solos a perfect fairytale of a unique blend of speed and filigree-clean playing that doesn’t know a single misfired note. The control of Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich is outstanding, and over the whole decade working for Coverdale the duo has developed an extraordinary, almost telepathic bond. So the first album is the real live album. It has all the band’s biggest hits, »interrupted« now and then by songs from the last two albums, led by the excellent opening in the aggressive yet retro-sounding riff of Best Years, or in the middle by one of the loveliest songs of Whitesnake’s recent career, Forevermore. It’s clear that in the new millennium Whitesnake play »heavy metal blues«. Anyone looking here for that Moody/Marsden magic will (once again) be left completely high and dry.
The second disc, despite the misleading title, is (with the exceptions of Slide It In and the opener Bad Boys) »leftovers«. They’re proof that the setlist changed over the course of the tour. And these so-called »scraps« were deliberately shoved onto the second disc. Mostly it’s newer songs plus the closing crescendo of a combo of the Deep Purple classic Soldier Of Fortune (in the familiar »a capella« version) and the tornado of Burn/Stormbringer. Naturally, the jam spots also got shoved onto this disc, like The Badger, then The Snake Dance and of course the crossfire solo fireworks of Beach and Aldrich (Pistols At Dawn). An essentially well-documented second CD, but the question still arises of why Whitesnake didn’t release a live recording with the full setlist, no cuts and no adjustments. The basic answer is plain as day. It would only be a single (disc). The band’s shows in the new millennium don’t run longer than an hour and twenty minutes. Coverdale can’t last any longer. You can hear it for yourself on the first CD of this release, which is full of time-padding bits that »artificially stretch« the show to its running length. If you were to put together a proper live setlist from both discs, it would immediately become clear that it’s been tailored so Coverdale can spread his strength across the show’s runtime and pull off his vocal performance credibly.
It feels like Whitesnake wanted to deliver an extra-intensified, electrified live atmosphere in front of the home crowd. »Made In Britain« sounds even more compact in sonic density and even more crumblingly crushing in its distortion, and even Coverdale’s voice coughs up more tangible vocal substance (it sounds fresher, with a bigger dose of convincing emotion) than you get on the live album »Made In Japan« (2013), which is by no means »robbed« of the qualities listed above. In short, this new document of the »Forevermore« tour odyssey, which stretched even into this June, proves that Coverdale and his Whitesnake buddies are an uncompromising guard of rock ‘n’ roll with no intention of retiring. Judging by how committed and rowdy the »rejuvenated« Coverdale is on stage, as long as his health keeps serving him well, Whitesnake shouldn’t do it even in their dreams. At least not for the next 15 years, no way.
Line-up
David Coverdale – vocals
Doug Aldrich – guitar
Reb Beach – guitar
Michael Devin – bass guitar
Brian Tichy – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Michael Ruedy – keyboards
Production
The Brutal Brothers (David Coverdale, Doug Aldrich & Mikey Macyntire)
Track list
CD1 (“Made in Britain”):
1. Best Years
2. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. Is This Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Forevermore
7. Love Will Set You Free
8. My Evil Ways
9. Fare Thee Well
10. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
11. Fool For Your Loving
12. Here I Go Again
13. Still Of The Night
CD2 (“The World Record”):
1. Bad Boys
2. Slide It In
3. Lay Down Your Love
4. Pistols At Dawn
5. Snake Dance
6. Can You Hear The Wind Blow
7. Fare Thee Well; One Of These Days
8. The Badger
9. Deeper The Love
10. Soldier Of Fortune
11. Burn/Stormbringer
