Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Whitesnake
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2015
Running time: 65:58
Rating: 4/5
Not long ago, David Coverdale came up with the idea of dedicating an album to Deep Purple. It’s not a bad idea at all. The band is basically stretching its creative songwriting break and diving into a fun reworking of rock classics. It’s also worth noting that Coverdale is dedicating this album to himself too, since he was part of the Deep Purple lineup. And the covers draw on all three albums that Coverdale sang on with Deep Purple. No more, no less.
Little birds on the roof are chirping that Coverdale hasn’t been able to reach the vocal magic of the old days for years now. You have to take that as a given. His voice is, sadly, worn out and falling apart. But the good man is by no means losing sleep over it. He’s a cunning old fox and knows how to disguise this kind of trouble in the studio rather deftly. The album was recorded by Whitesnake in a slightly changed lineup compared to the album »Forevermore« (2011). Guitarist Doug Aldrich was replaced by Joel Hoekstra, who joined the crew from the ranks of west coast/AOR veterans Night Ranger.
The material is bursting with muscle. This is an album of “metalized” Deep Purple, in line with Coverdale’s musical philosophy, which he’s been cultivating since roughly the »Good To Be Bad« album. Coverdale’s vocal is often suitably »sunk« into the safe shelter of harmonized backing vocals, and often individual vocal lines are replaced outright by lines played on the guitars. The lines that Glenn Hughes sings on the original found a hugely skillful substitute on this album, and it was very likely bassist Michael Devin, who has never hidden his great singing talent, who so masterfully took them on for this record. The guitar solos are deliberately played differently from Blackmore’s originals. That’s good for several reasons. The essential one is simply that Beach and Hoekstra are soloing »as themselves«, meaning they leave their own stamp on the solos. On the other hand, nobody in the galaxy can accuse Whitesnake of »sloppiness« in chasing Blackmore’s originals, because there’s none of that on the album. Whitesnake took a »detour of clever simplification« here. Coverdale probably knew from the start that you can break all your teeth on those tempo-breaking passages. First of all, there’s no hero on the planet who could produce a sonic approximation of the famous wailing of Blackmore’s Stratocaster, and even less a guy with the magic touch who could come within an inch of the “man in black’s” unique solo interpretations. Whitesnake masterfully sidestepped this on the album, and there’s nothing to reproach them for in that respect. Hoekstra and Beach are fantastic guitar machines. With their playing they enchant every fan of unimagined guitar tricks and acrobatics, which seem to have no end in the middle instrumental passages. The band also didn’t dare to »tinker« with the Hammond sound of the unique Jon Lord, which counts as yet another very thoughtful and smart move Whitesnake made in simplifying the arrangements, which followed two axioms: »Copy the details, adapted« and »strictly copy only the main motifs of the songs«.
Most of the songs also got a serious rearrangement. Plenty of new arrangements have been added that the originals don’t have (You Fool No One alerts you to that right away), some things are shortened, some removed, some newly added. That’s very good, because the guys allowed themselves a healthy dose of creativity during the recording process, and the refresh stands up completely credibly, since it radiates Coverdale’s musical vision, behind which stands the name Whitesnake in its new era. As for Coverdale’s vocal, it shows its weaknesses right away in the opening Burn, but later it gets disguised very deftly by the elements already mentioned in one of the paragraphs above in this review.
»The Purple Album« was a series of big fun for Coverdale and the gang in the studio. Given that the band wasn’t burdened with hunting for creative inspiration, since it wasn’t writing original material, this album came together in a hugely relaxed and easygoing atmosphere. And it shows. Whitesnake handled a seemingly tough nut with skill. They simplified things thoughtfully, adapted the arrangements, and even gave them a few creative, refreshing touches. So this is a sharply tuned, practically »metalized« bundle of Deep Purple songs, an authentic imprint of the musical essence of Whitesnake in its new times.
Lineup
David Coverdale – vocals
Reb Beach
Joel Hoekstra – guitars
Michael Devin – bass guitar
Tommy Aldridge – drums
Production
David Coverdale
Track list
1. Burn
2. You Fool No One (interpolating Itchy Fingers)
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. Lay Down Stay Down
13. Stormbringer
