WHITESNAKE – Live In ’84 Back To The Bone

WHITESNAKE fans worldwide now have something to be excited about: To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of WHITESNAKE’s multi-platinum ‘Slide It In’ album, Frontiers Records are releasing “Live In ‘84 – Back To The Bone“, a complete celebration of the group’s awe inspiring lineup during what many feel was the incredible beginning of what Coverdale called his desire to make Whitesnake more ‘electrifying’ on record and on-stage.

Culled from audio and video recordings from the private collection of leader and vocalist David Coverdale, the release offers an ultra-rare collection of material performed by the band’s acclaimed 83-84 line-ups.
Featured on the record and driven by the awesome Cozy Powell on drums (ex-Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, MSG and later on Gary Moore and Black Sabbath, among others) there’s unique guitarist John Sykes, whom Coverdale credits with inspiring a whole generation of six-stringers after his breathtaking work on the ‘1987’ album, and bassist exceptional Neil Murray.

Opening with the trademark shout of ‘are you ready’ Whitesnake launch into the classic fast paced rocker “Gambler”, quickly followed by “Guilty of Love”. The recording sounds great despite its age, and the mix is pretty good as well.
Next up, is the famous ‘here’s a song for ya’ yell as David tells the crowd before slowing things down a bit with “Love ain’t no Stranger”.

The group are in great form, with the rhythm section of Cozy Powell and Neil Murray playing particular tight. David is at his peak as performer, and firing on all six John Sykes’ playing is hot.
The entire set is excellent, including “Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues” – with Sykes adding his own magic sparkle to it, turning the song into a more hard edged rocker, “Ready an’ Willing”, always a live favorite where Coverdale introduces Sykes who plays a moody harmonic driven guitar solo before launching into a near eight minute epic version of “Crying In The Rain”. Sykes in on fire here, the solo on this is both fast and fluid, backed by the ever dependable Cozy Powell.
In the release are three songs played at the Super Rock ’84 touring rock festival held in Seibu Stadium in Tokyo Japan, offering slightly different versions of “Love Ain’t No Strange”, “Ready an’ Willing” and “Slow An’ Easy”.

Perhaps the more emotional portion on the CD is the recording of Jon Lord’s final performance as Whitesnake member: “Gambler,” “Guilty Of Love,” “Love Ain’t No Stranger” and “Ready An’ Willing”.
These are pretty special treat for every fan of early Whitesnake line-up, being the recordings of the last concert the late Hammond master Jon Lord played with Coverdale’s band at “Måndagsbörsen” Swedish TV show, April 1984.
The sound of these are not as good as the previous material, but are still pretty decent and certainly worthy of inclusion as ‘in memoriam’ to the great keyboardist.

Apart from the obvious aspects of enjoyable listening and high quality of digitally enhanced recordings, “Live In ’84 – Back To The Bone” is a back-to-basics, retrospective release that Whitesnake should have already released a long time ago, as it portrays the era that was a breakthrough for Coverdale and his band in many respects.
The Audio CD is not available separately nor digitally, you need to buy this Deluxe DVD/CD Edition to get it.

01. Gambler
02. Guilty Of Love
03. Love Ain’t No Stranger
04. Slow An’ Easy
05. Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues
06. Ready An’ Willing
07. Guitar Solo
08. Crying In The Rain
09. Soldier Of Fortune
10. Love Ain’t No Stranger
11. Ready An’ Willing
12. Slow An’ Easy
BONUS:
13. Gambler (featuring Jon Lord)
14. Guilty Of Love (featuring Jon Lord)
15. Love Ain’t No Stranger (featuring Jon Lord)
16. Ready An’ Willing (featuring Jon Lord)

BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/Live-In-1984-Back-Bone/dp/B00NO5BVCE
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