Whitesnake - Slip of the Tongue 20th anniversary (2009)

Se cumple el 20º Aniversario de Slip of the Tongue del grandioso Whitesnake y por ello la banda del carismático David Coverdale han dado su merecido homenaje con una edición de lujo que contiene el siguiente material extra:

• CD + DVD en pack de lujo con libreto de 24 páginas lleno de fotos inéditas y otras muchas de archivo histórico.
• 6 temas adicionales incluyendo caras-b y mezclas alternativas así como dos versiones inéditas en vivo grabadas en Donington en 1990.

• Portada especialmente diseñada para esta ocasión (tal y como podéis ver en esta noticia)
• 7 de los 8 videoclips del grupo disponibles en este DVD.

• Texto de 2500 palabras escrito por David Coverdale especialmente para este lanzamiento (les dejo el original en ingles aqui:)

Disco uno: Álbum original

1. Slip Of The Tongue
2. Judgement Day
3. Fool For Your Loving
4. Now You’re Gone
5. Kitten’s Got Claws
6. Cheap & Nasty
7. The Deeper The Love
8. Slow Poke Music
9.Wings Of The Storm
10. Sailing Ships

Temas extras

11. Sweet Lady Luck (B side)
12. Now You’re Gone (US Single Remix)
13. Fool For Your Loving (Vai Voltage Mix)
14. Judgement Day (Live...In The Shadow of The Blues)
15. Slip Of The Tongue (Live at The Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington 1990)*
16. Kitten’s Got Claws (Live at The Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington 1990)*

Disco Dos: DVD video

1. Fool For Your Loving ’89 (promo video)
2. Now You’re Gone (promo video)
3. The Deeper The Love (promo video)
4. The Deeper The Love (live acoustic in Japan, from Starkers In Tokyo)
5. Sailing Ships (live acoustic in Japan, from Starkers In Tokyo)
6. Judgement Day (Live...In The Still Of The Night)
7. Slip Of the Tongue (Live at The Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington 1990)*
8. Kitten’s Got Claws (Live at The Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington 1990)*
*Previously Unreleased


SLIP OF THE TONGUE
20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION
1989 2009
• SLIP OF THE TONGUE IS A QUADRUPLE PLATINUM (4,000,000) SELLING ALBUM
• THIS CD + DVD EDITION FEATURES DELUXE PACKAGING WITH A 24 PAGE BOOKLET,
FEATURING RARE & UNPUBLISHED PHOTOS AND ARCHIVE MEMORABILIA
• INCLUDES 6 BONUS TRACKS, INCLUDING RARE B-SIDES AND ALTERNATIVE MIXES,
PLUS 2 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED LIVE VERSIONS FROM CASTLE DONINGTON 1990
• 2,500 WORD LINER NOTE WRITTEN BY DAVID COVERDALE FOR THIS RELEASE
• BRAND NEW COVER ART, DESIGNED IN CONJUNCTION WITH DAVID COVERDALE
• 7 OF THE 8 VIDEO CLIPS ARE AVAILABLE ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME, INCLUDING 2 PREVIOUSLY
UNAVAILABLE TRACKS FROM THEIR SOLD OUT 1990 HEADLINE APPEARANCE AT THE
MONSTERS OF ROCK FESTIVAL, CASTLE DONINGTON
• THIS ISWHITESNAKE’S SOLE ALBUM TO FEATURE GUITAR “WIZARD” STEVE VAI
• WHITESNAKE’S LATEST ALBUM , ‘GOOD TO BE BAD’,WAS A WORLDWIDE TOP 10 HIT (UK #7),
AND WAS AWARDED ALBUM OF THE YEAR AT THE 2008 CLASSIC ROCK AWARDS
• WHITESNAKE HAVE SOLD A TOTAL OF 100,000,000 ALBUMS
DAVID COVERDALE’S LINER NOTES FOR SLIP OF THE TONGUE, 2009

IN 1989, AS THE BAND PREPARED to unleash 'Slip Of The Tongue', Whitesnake was at it’s commercial peak. The band & assorted record companies, agents & promoters held their collective breath to see if they could repeat the incredible success of the eponymous 'Whitesnake 87' album... & to everyone's surprise, the band scored another hit album all over the world, giving them their third multi-platinum record.

But, once again, during the recording process, Whitesnake had gone thro’ even more changes in personnel. The ever revolving door still in play. The album had been completed almost a year past the delivery deadline & without featuring guitarist & co-composer Adrian Vandenberg as a guitar player on the record, after he had seriously injured his wrist, making it impossible for him to play without experiencing great discomfort.

“When it became obvious that Adrian couldn’t play, I had no choice...we were hopelessly behind in our schedule,so, I accelerated my approach to Steve Vai..."

Irish guitarist Vivian Campbell had departed from the band during pre-recording rehearsals because of artistic differences, to be replaced by ex-Frank Zappa & David Lee Roth guitar virtuoso Steve Vai.

“When it became obvious that Adrian couldn’t play, I had no choice...we were hopelessly behind in our schedule,so, I accelerated my approach to Steve Vai. I’d seen him a couple of years earlier, while I was still working with Sykes, in the movie ‘Crossroads’ & I was very, very impressed. I wasn’t familiar with his other works...Just from what I experienced of him in the movie, I thought he was an innovative & electrifying new presence in blues guitar players. That 'Devil's Guitar-Slinger' vibe was off the charts... ”


“For a long time, I felt the album lacked a certain Whitesnake ' feel ' in the music, but, countless people thro’ theyears have assured me that they enjoyed & enjoy the album, nonetheless. So, now I happily accept it as a significant part of the Whitesnake catalogue & to be honest, I enjoy it more now than I did back then. It was an album plagued with challenges & obstacles for me, personally, from many avenues, but, hey...nobody said being successful was supposed to be easy!

“For too long I held myself responsible for being so distracted by events taking place in my private life at the time,& all those aspects compromised my enjoyment of the music, but, I think the main reason was that I also became very intimidated trying to follow the success of the 87 album...Even with all my collective experience it weighed heavily on my shoulders...”

“My insecurities eventually led me to take on two producers...I was concerned that Keith Olsen couldn't achieve the powerful low-end I wanted...I felt that his previous rock records were relatively lighter than I wanted...& I wasn't convinced that Mike Clink could get me other sonic aspects I was after...so...I brought them both in...Just that decision alone tells me I was in fear of failing..."

“When compared to the original, harder edged demos I made with Adrian, I know we lost some of that ballsy, soulful feel on the finished album, but, I still love some of the songs from those sessions, particularly ‘Judgement Day’,‘Now You’re Gone’ & the ballad ‘The Deeper The Love’. Good songs,& still vibrant today after 20 years.”

“Adrian & I wrote the majority of the songs at Lake Tahoe...Bits & pieces were written on tour, like the titletrack, I can definitely remember being on the band bus, hurtling along, jamming that song out...I finished someof the lyrics on Bora Bora, in French Polynesia...I know ‘The Deeper The Love’ I finished writing very early in the morning with the sun rising over the Pacific...very nice, thank you...”

“While we were tracking up at the studio in Reno, I’d arranged to fly Glenn Hughes up to do some vocals with me...It was going to be the first time we’d sung together since the Purple days & I was very excited to see him again...We needed more guitars on the songs I wanted to feature him on, so, Mike Clink brought a friend of his from the Bay Area, Kevin Russell, in to help us out with the basic guitars so Glenn would have some beef to sing to...Later, we recorded over Kevin’s guitars when Steve came on board...”

“Sadly, & I think he would agree, Glenn wasn’t at his best in those days & unfortunately, it wasn’t really working as well as we’d all imagined...There was no way we could feature him properly the way it was...Bless his heart,
Glenn was absolutely understanding, so Keith brought in the excellent & all round nice guy, Tommy Funderburk to sing with me on the backgrounds, & later, Mister Mister singer, Richard Page, who is featured on ‘Now You’re Gone’...Great singers, great people...”

“We had quite a few guys helping us out on keyboards on this album...Adrian & I had written several of thesongs on piano...more than normal, & once again, I called on Don Airey, who played so well on the ’87’ album...LA session players, Claude Gaudette & David Rosenthal also contributed significantly on the keys...Most of Don’s work didn’t see the light of day, unfortunately...We’d recorded more songs than made it on the final album... Some re-recordings Don played on, ‘Ain’t Gonna Cry No More’...Vandenberg’s ‘Burning Heart’...‘Kill For The Cut’ a rather naughty tune, & one called ‘Parking Ticket’...none of these we completely finished...In fact I haven’t heard them since...”

“It was the height of ‘midi-keyboards’ in those days...tons of assorted synth sounds all supposedly, or ‘relatively’ controllable...but, very easily overwhelming the guitars in a sonic wash...It became quite a juggling job to get the right balance...Steve, as any guitarist would be, was concerned his work was getting covered over with keyboard sounds & sat in on the final mixes to make sure he could hear himself...but, it was also a very 80’s approach we were taking...It was probably a bit over the top, on reflection, but, one of these days I’ll have the time to remix &address all those concerns & fix them...”

“I’ve been dying to remaster the album & add some balls to it...EQ to thicken the guitars...tweak the low end...I had such a great, creative time writing the songs with Adrian – he’s a terrific partner, but, then he went and injured himself to the point that he couldn’t play on the bloody record.”

“I remember waiting for him to heal as long as I could, but, I was on the receiving end of serious pressure from my management & record company to deliver, I had no choice but to move forward & recruit Steven to fulfill the majority of the guitar duties.Adrian is featured minimally on some of the basic guitar beds, but, not prominently featured.”

“There are little bits of Adrian’s early rhythm guitar tracks here & there, but, the main substance is all Steven.”
“With no disrespect to Steve, I really believe the overall tone of the album would have been very different...earthier, had the Ol’ Flying Dutchman been featured as well as Steve. I felt it missed the balance of the two guitarists, working off each other.”

“The actual musicality of the record is excellent, but, some of the edginess, the blues element, was compromised by over-flamboyance from all of us. Everyone eager to get their musical chops in.That approach doesn’t always serve the song, in fact, it distracts most of the time...”

"After my sinus surgery in 1986,my vocal range had gone up several notches...so, when Adrian & I were arranging the songs for the album, I kept raising the keys to make them higher...Sweet Jesus...I'm up there in the vocal stratosphere...Why?...because I could!...Not some of my better choices, to be honest, certainly when it came to rehearsing for the tour...but...that was then, & you can’t change the past without affecting the future, so, let it stand, or fall for what it is..."

“After having some distance from it, I reflected back on the experience of making this album & the lessons learned... Most importantly I realized that I have to please myself first, before trying to accommodate others, because in reality you simply can’t keep everyone happy, no matter how hard you try.”

“Before making the ‘Slip’ album, my only criteria for making records was to make a better one than the last... nothing drastic...just better songs... better singing... better sound...all simple stuff...then I had to follow a hugely successful album...& that shook me, somewhat...”

“The basic foundation, the original premise of the Whitesnake identity was & is still intact, still strong, & still successful & the fact that we’ve recently just celebrated 30 years of the Snake is a validation to me that we wereand are continuing to play good quality music.”

“I have always tried to maintain some blues integrity in most of what I’ve written and sung, even when themusical package may be fighting it on all sides, cos’ to be honest, blues to me is a cool word for self-expressionand that is still the primary inspiration, the motivation for my writing and singing.”

“Sometimes the harder, faster songs are deliberately written & arranged for kicking arse in concert, & this albumhad those style of songs in abundance.”

“We made three very expensive promotional videos for the album...I only enjoyed the last one... ‘Now You'reGone’...the rest was like pulling teeth...I remember the director, Marty Callner, being absolutely furious thatTawny had died her hair blonde for ‘The Deeper The Love’ shoot without telling anybody...It became that silly...”
David says now, in 2009; “Listening fresh to these tracks, I’m delighted with how strong the songs are, & howpowerful they sound, especially now that I’ve had the chance to digitally re-master them for this 20th anniversarycollection with the exceptional Dave Donnelly, of the fabled Black Donnellys, cos' for me, this was somethingabsolutely necessary that was long overdue, as the original mastering was done by the exceptional Greg Fulginiti, primarily for vinyl.”

‘Judgement Day’ remains a personal favourite and a song I still occasionally feature in concert. The lyric is basically about having the determination to pursue whatever you believe in, regardless of the challenges and obstacles that life throws your way... Overcoming adversity...It’s a recurring theme in a lot of my songs. ”

“I was mortified when I allowed myself to be talked into letting Geffen release the re-recorded version of 'Fool For Your Loving', instead of 'Judgement Day' as the first one out of the box to promote the album...I thought it was a huge mistake...I knew radio would be all over 'Judgement Day', just from the market research we did back then...but, Kaldonar, Rosenblatt, Marco Babineau, my manager & some of our radio people, all people whoseopinions I trusted, came down to the Record Plant when I was finishing off the album & all confronted me with
what they felt was the way to go...that it would be a mistake to go with 'Judgement Day'...Not only I but theband were really upset about that decision...I've regretted it ever since...I have no doubt it was Kalodnar's idea, thinking we could achieve the same success as we'd had with the re-recorded 'Here I Go Again' ...Anyway...they were wrong & so was I to go along with it...Another hard lesson learned...Stick to your guns if you believe in it...It's the only way..."

“‘The Deeper The Love’ came from a chorus sequence I’d had for some time, written, if memory serves, in my dear friend Tony Z’s house, back in Teesside, many years ago...then my little Dutch brother, Adrian, came along and put the musical icing on the cake, and gave me the verse chord sequence. I finished writing it in Tahiti, of all places. Oh...& ‘Now You’re Gone’...mustn’t forget that one. I remember shooting the video with Wayne Isham in front of a sold out crowd at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, unfortunately it received minimal airplay as MTV was
changing its format...still, I think it’s one of the best videos we’ve done...”

“‘Sailing Ships’ is a song I’m particularly proud of, as I know Adrian is, too...It is so sad he didn’t get to playon the finished song...I feel it’s one of the best we’ve written together...These days I mostly only feature it in an unplugged environment...& it works in that intimate format very well...I love the message in the lyric...One of my better, more grown up lyrics.”

“My private life desperately needed sorting out, & I knew it would be a major a mistake to keep ignoring all the inner warning bells I’d been hearing for so long..."

“With ‘Slip Of The Tongue’we undertook our biggest world tour to date, finishing in Tokyo, at the end of summer 1990 playing to over a million people on the British, European & Japanese Monsters Of Rock festival shows.”

“At the end of the tour I told the guys in the band that I was going to have to take a break from Whitesnake, asI was completely emotionally & physically exhausted...I couldn’t see the wood for the trees...My private lifedesperately needed sorting out, & I knew it would be a major a mistake to keep ignoring all the inner warningbells I’d been hearing for so long, so, I officially separated from Miss Kitaen whilst I was still on tour in Europe & then filed for divorce soon after.”

“The truth was, I had to give myself time to find out if I really wanted to continue working as a professional musician in the music business...It had all become a bit confusing...more like a circus, unfortunately, but, still...I started working on a project with Jimmy Page not long after 'retiring'...& realised that I was as passionate as I'dever been. It was how I'd allowed myself to be distracted that had compromised my focus & my joy.”

“So here we are, 20 years down the road, thankfully, still working successfully as a band & I can say with absolute honesty, regardless of all the ups & downs, that it was a splendid ride back then...a frenzied, express train of a ride...& I wouldn’t change a thing from that experience...I learned so much...as usual, a heady mix of good & bad, but, all part of life’s & Whitesnake’s rich, musical tapestry..."

So, Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, without further ado, let’s crank it up, & enjoy the music, the memories & all the goodies we’ve packed in this anniversary package, hopefully to delight ALL your bits & pieces.

David Coverdale
Lake Tahoe, January 2009

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