Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Whitesnake
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2013
Length: 119:21
Rating: 3/5
What the hell? The unstoppable David Coverdale with a new live Whitesnake album? One dedicated to the »Forevermore« tour, recorded on 15.10.2011 at one of the shows of that Japanese run, and named after one of the landmark live documents of the rock era, the one Deep Purple (Coverdale’s well-known former employers) put out in 1972. The man refuses to be derailed. This is a live document that can serve from now on as the jumping-off point for in-depth debates about David Coverdale’s present-day live vocal form and the degree of vocal »fizzling out, although bootleg releases are the most authoritative source on that front.
»Live: In the Shadow Of The Blues«, released in 2006, sounded damn hard! It was a document that defined the look of the new live Whitesnake, a document that made it clear Whitesnake had bent their new image to metal heaviness. “Made In Japan” deepens that feeling all the more, the more you notice the serious vocal wear and tear and the occasional emotional emptiness of the once »divine whisper« of David Coverdale, the incorrigible heartbreaker, of whom people used to say that it wasn’t safe to leave him alone in a room even with his own grandmother. At his age today, Coverdale wouldn’t exactly be fending off grandmas.
If on »Live: In the Shadow of the Blues« Coverdale was still “successfully” hiding behind sound effects, then »Made In Japan«, coming after the phase of media unmasking, when a hurt and offended Coverdale first officially announced his retirement and then changed his mind, is a new live document that leans a tad less on effects sent from the mixing desk (Still Of The Night, of course, remains weighed down by the prosthetics of the sound technicians on »Made in Japan« too). On »Made In Japan« Coverdale keeps pushing the sonic course of the new Whitesnake toward heaviness and hardness. Granting that wish is a feather-light job for the guitar healers Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich, doable with a casual twitch of the left pinky. At midnight, if you like. In recent years Coverdale has also leaned harder on the fact that every single member of the band on stage can handle backing vocals equally well. Even the drumming maniac Brian Tichy isn’t spared. Guess why? The answer was already given in the first paragraph. Inside this kind of sonically updated structure, with its redefinition of evergreen Whitesnake standards as well as the new »Forevermore« songs, Coverdale’s impoverished voice lies comfortably stretched out and survives the live test just fine!
When it’s time for the chorus, Coverdale’s voice lurks in a middle register arranged so that the singer saves his energy, while the backing vocalists produce the required melody of those famous choruses with beautifully harmonized choir parts, and the fanatical Japanese crowd spontaneously joins in, not bothered one bit by the remarks in this review. Then there are another 15 stolen minutes of the show, swallowed up by drum solos and the guitar noodling of both guitarists, so Coverdale is really only singing for barely an hour of the show. There are moments when the face of the golden years, the big form of one of the most famous voices of the rock era, is successfully brought back to the listener, but those moments take a bit more concentration and persistent digging. One such moment is, for example, the still decently sung verse in Love Ain’t No Stranger, and the opening part of the otherwise excellent new song Forevermore, where that famous smoky, velvety voice of the legendary singer occasionally sparks to life. But these moments are simply reduced for the new times. A voice is a living instrument. Once it’s worn down, you can’t replace it. So Coverdale, who with his date of birth is by no means alone among rock veterans in struggling to keep his vocal form up, slyly adapts his stage act. And it’s pathetic to realize that the band had to »staple on« an extra outro (We Wish You Well) for the half-nine-minute version of Still Of The Night – that’s not usually a trait of live albums.
»Made In Japan« hits the market as a live CD with an additional bonus CD of inserted »sound checks« – which is undoubtedly a fun experience – plus a DVD/Blu-Ray disc. A proper »cardboard sandwich«, in other words. It’ll be bought by Coverdale’s most devoted fans and everyone else who doesn’t know what to do with their money. The wise will stick to listening to the live rock classic »Live… In The Heart Of The City« (1980) and the recording released two years ago via Frontiers Records, »Live At Donington« (from the tour promoting the album »Slip Pf the Tongue«). You’ll soon get the chance to check how much truth there is in this album’s rating with your own ears and eyes, when Whitesnake head back to the old European continent this June and visit nearby Zagreb on 15.06.2013!
Otherwise there’s nothing else to hold against this document other than that it’s adapted to the present-day reach of Coverdale’s vocal delivery. Coverdale is a brave man to even dare release a live album in this respect, since the release is inevitably limited in quality in many ways because of those adaptations, and doesn’t deliver the passionate, expansive fire that Whitesnake spoiled us with in the eighties.
These days the material is played at an exceptionally professional level. In line with the boss’s instructions and demands. Coverdale has always recruited the best and most expensive musical legionnaires, so there’s not a moment’s doubt about the brilliant execution of the material on »Made In Japan«. It will appeal especially to those of you who like the musical character of all-out playing, subordinated to a cranked-up and thoroughly metalized sound. Let’s not forget to add again that this sound is mostly stripped of the bluesy sentiment of the golden Moody Marsden days, which is so damn hard to come to terms with every time the talk turns to the activities of millennium-era Whitesnake.
Lineup
David Coverdale – vocals
Doug Aldrich – guitar, backing vocals
Reb Beach – guitar, backing vocals
Brian Ruedy – keyboards, backing vocals
Michael Devin – bass guitar, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums, backing vocals
Track list
CD1.:
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. Six String Showdown
8. Love Will Set You Free
9. Drum Solo
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Here I Go Again
12. Still Of The Night
BONUS CD – Sound Check
1. Love Will Set You Free
2. Steal Your Heart Away
3. Fare Thee Well *
4. One Of These Days *
5. Lay Down Your Love
6. Evil Ways
7. Good To Be Bad *
8. Tell Me How *
*… acoustic version
DVD / Blu-Ray:
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. Six String Showdown
8. Love Will Set You Free
9. Drum Solo
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Here I Go Again
12. Still Of The Night
Fan videos for the songs:
– Forevermore
– Steal Your Heart Away
