I've previously stated that I love live CD's. Whitesnake Live... In The Heart Of The City is no exception. In fact, this is one of my all-time favorite live CD's. No, scratch that. It is one of my top 10 or so favorite CD's, period. After all I went through to get it, you’d think the experience has been dulled. Not in the least.
When you say Whitesnake, what do people think? Slide It In, Whitesnake '87(The self-titled 1987 smash hit), songs like "Still Of The Night," "Cryin' In The Rain," "Here I Go Again," "Fool For Your Lovin'" and other late '80's and early '90's glam-rock radio smashes. For one thing, all of the aforementioned songs were previously recorded and released with earlier lineups in a more bluesy style that made Whitesnake popular in Europe. But since success in the U.S. was elusive, David Coverdale redid them with the lineups you may be familiar with and in a more '80ish glam rock style. Whitesnake has been around since the late '70's, when Coverdale left Deep Purple and they released some damn good blues-rock stuff WAY before Whitesnake '87. As matter of fact, the original lineup, and many following line-ups contained members of Deep Purple. The lineups for this CD are: Coverdale (vocals), Mickey Moody and Bernie Marsden (guitars), Neil Murray (bass), Jon Lord (keyboard), Cozy Powell and Ian Paice (drums). The recording was made on three dates at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, June 23 and 24, 1980 and November 23, 1978. Cozy Powell played the drums for the 1978 date (although he is not credited in the linear notes for the CD, he IS credited in the notes from the record and the tape), and Ian Paice played them for the 1980 dates. The difference in drummers in minimal anyway, I just figured I'd mention it.
The songs come from the first three Whitesnake recordings, the Whitesnake EP, Come 'N Get It, and Love Hunter. Of the three, the last is an absolute MUST-HAVE for any fan of blues rock. The song selection is Phenomenal. From the opening track, "Come On," all the way out to the last track, "Mistreated" it just rocks. This is solidly played blues and rock 'n roll in it's proper environment, a live concert hall.
Article comments
1 - Robin
cozy was not on this.. it was dave dowle..
still of the night was not recorded in more of a "blues fashion" before
2 - Andy DiGelsomina
Great review! This is the best Whitesnake album, imho. Some of the later stuff was really good, but you can't compete with Jon Lord and Ian Paice. I put this right up there with Strangers in the Night and Tokyo Tapes.