SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Top40 Charts/ Universal
Music Enterprises) - With Whitesnake's newest album soaring into the U.K. Top 10, the launch of a summer U.S. tour, and having already sold more than 100 million albums in an illustrious career, one of rock's most successful bands is celebrated with the reissue of two classic '80s albums. Slide It In - 25th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition and Slip Of The Tongue - 20th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition, both released June 30, 2009 by Geffen/UMe, are presented in CD+DVD sets with numerous rare or previously unreleased audio and video bonuses. The deluxe packaging features new cover art and a 24-page booklet including rare photos and new liner notes - each with the participation of the band's charismatic founder and leader
David Coverdale. In other
Whitesnake news, the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages" which features one of the band's classic songs, "Here I Go Again," was nominated for 5 TONY awards including the "Best Musical" category.
Coverdale had been the lead singer of hard rock pioneer Deep Purple before launching Whitesnake in 1978. After several U.K. albums acclaimed for their R&B-based hard rock, Whitesnake debuted in the U.S. with 1984's Slide It In. Featuring "Slow An' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger," the album went Top 40 and double platinum. Boasting friction and finesse, power and polish, suggestiveness and soul, Whitesnake soon became the leading exponent of the hard rock romantic and one of the defining acts of the era.
But the U.S. version of the album had a different mix - more commercial, more U.S. radio-friendly - with a different guitarist and bassist than the original U.K. album. In fact, many Europeans bought the U.S. version in order to experience the new, slicker Whitesnake. The Slide It In - 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition adds the U.K. mix for eight of the album's tracks plus an acoustic live in Japan "Love Ain't No Stranger" and single b-side "Need Your Love So Bad." The bonus DVD presents seven performances, six making their DVD premieres - three versions of "Love Ain't No Stranger" (music video, acoustic in Japan, and from the Live...In The Still Of The Night DVD), two of "Guilty Of Love" (music video and from the band's 1983 headlining performance at The Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington), the "Slow An' Easy" video and a 1984 "Top Of The Pops" performance of "Give Me More Time."
Three years later, the band's self-titled album charted Top 5 for more than six months, went eight times platinum, and made Whitesnake a global superstar. The follow-up, 1989's Slip Of The Tongue, the only Whitesnake album with guitar wizard Steve Vai, went Top 10 and platinum and spun off the Top 40 hits "Fool For Your Loving" and "The Deeper The Love."
The Slip Of The Tongue - 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition offers the newly digitally remastered original album and six bonus tracks - the rare b-side "Sweet Lady Luck," alternative mixes of "Now You're Gone" and "Fool For Your Loving," a live "Judgement Day" and previously unreleased 1990 Monsters Of Rock versions of the title track and "Kitten's Got Claws." The videos of the latter two performances make their DVD debuts as do five others on the bonus DVD: the promo videos for "Now You're Gone," "Fool For Your Loving" and "The Deeper The Love," and live "The Deeper The Love" and "Sailing Ships." "Judgement Day" was previously on the Live...In The Still Of The Night DVD.
Coverdale dissolved Whitesnake shortly after 1990's Donington festival, but would later reform the band. In 2008, Good To Be Bad, its 10th studio album and first since Slip Of The Tongue was issued. On June 14, 2009, Whitesnake will make its fourth Castle Donington appearance - and first since 1990 - this time for the Download Festival. The 'Snake continues to Rock and Roll, more successfully than ever.
Whitesnake Summer Tour:
June 26 Bay City River Roar Bay City, MI
July 1 Family Arena St. Charles, MO
2 Summerfest Milwaukee, WI
3 Taste of Minnesota St. Paul, MN
5 Chevrolet Theatre Wallingford, CT
7 Comcast Center Mansfield, MA
8 CMAC Canandaigua, NY
9 Molson Amphitheatre Toronto, ON
11 PNC Bank Arts Pavilion Holmdel, NJ
12 Nikon At Jones Beach Wantaugh, NY
14 Time Warner Cable Amph. Cleveland, OH
15 DTE Energy Music Theater Clarkston, MI
17 Moondance Jam 18 Walker, MN
19 Charter One Pavilion Chicago, IL
21 PNC Pavilion Cincinnati, OH
22 Nashville Municipal Aud. Nashville, TN
24 Verizon Wireless Theatre Houston, TX
25 Freeman Coliseum San Antonio, TX
26 Concrete Street Amph. Corpus Christi, TX
29 California Mid-State Fair Paso Robles, CA
31 Sleep Train Pavilion Concord, CA
August 2 Gibson Amphitheatre Los Angeles, CA
4 SDSU Open Air Theatre San Diego, CA
5 Pacific Amphitheatre Costa Mesa, CA
7 Dodge Theatre Phoenix, AZ
8 Thomas And Mack Center Las Vegas, NV
11 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO
13 Nokia Live Theatre Grand Prairie, TX
15 St. Augustine Amphitheatre St. Augustine, FL
16 St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL
17 Seminole Hard Rock Arena Hollywood, FL
19 Germain Arena Estero, FL
20 Verizon Wireless Amph. Alpharetta, GA
22 Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD
