The new Whitesnake album Flesh & Blood will be released on May 10 via Frontiers Records. Curiously, the date is about 3/4 into the band’s US tour — most artists these days use new releases to promote the live dates, not the other way around. The album will be available in multiple formats:

• CD (Jewel Case)
• CD+DVD Deluxe Edition (Digipak) – Includes two studio bonus tracks on CD. DVD includes Shut Up & Kiss Me (classic jag version) (video), Shut Up & Kiss Me (club mix version) (video), Behind the Scenes of Flesh & Blood video + 3 DVD audio tracks (remixes of album tracks)
• Super Luxury Boxset – Includes CD+DVD Deluxe Edition, 2xLP Standard Color LP, Poster, Numbered Lithograph, Box Set
• 2xLP – Black, 180g, Gatefold (Worldwide)
• xLP – Silver, 180g, Gatefold (Frontiers’ U.S. Store Exclusive) – Limited to 300 Copies
• 2xLP – Gold, 180g, Gatefold (Frontiers’ UK Store Exclusive) – Limited to 500 Copies
• 2xLP – Red, 180g, Gatefold (Frontiers’ EU Store Exclusive) – Limited to 350 Copies

A limited number of signed CDs, as well as the colour vinyl pressings will be available directly from the record company store (US, UK, EU).

Track list:

1. Good To See You Again
2. Gonna Be Alright
3. Shut Up & Kiss Me
4. Hey You (You Make Me Rock)
5. Always & Forever
6. When I Think Of You (Color Me Blue)
7. Trouble Is Your Middle Name
8. Flesh & Blood
9. Well I Never
10. Heart Of Stone
11. Get Up
12. After All
13. Sands Of Time

Bonus tracks appearing on CD+DVD Deluxe Edition and download/stream:

14. Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong (new studio song)
15. If I Can’t Have You (new studio song)
16. Gonna Be Alright (X-Tendo Mix) (DVD audio track)
17. Sands Of Time (Radio Mix) (DVD audio track)
18. Shut Up And Kiss Me (Video Mix) (DVD audio track)

Mixed by Christopher Collier
Produced by Beach, Hoekstra & McIntyre
Executive Producer: David Coverdale

David Coverdale — vocals
Reb Beach — guitar
Joel Hoekstra — guitar
Michael Devin — bass
Tommy Aldridge — drums
Michele Luppi — keyboards

A promo video for Shut Up & Kiss Me was also produced; here’s a “Jaguar edit”, no less:

Quote Coverdale from the press blurb:

…After the intense darkness of our last video ‘Burn’, if anything, it’s ‘light’ snake, you know? We’ve got some really dark energy going on in the world right now, so we’re gonna write & record a fun, knees up, song about falling in love with a fabulous babe. You’re over-talking, over-compensating & she just looks at you, takes the reins & says, ‘Shut Up and Kiss Me!’ and that’s it!! My video director and creative partner Tyler Bourns and I discussed a great storyline for the video, which involves a surprise guest: my fabulous old white Jaguar. We ended up cleaning and detailing it, as it has been in storage since I moved to Lake Tahoe, then we dusted off my old turquoise silk jacket from the original ‘Here I Go Again’ video and I was thinking, “man, this is going to be fun!” It’s a respectful acknowledgment and positive nod to the past, just fun stuff.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Glenn Hughes spoke to Guitar Interactive at this year’s NAMM. Here is the interview that they’ve posted.
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On Monday, May 20, Ian Paice will take will take a week long residency at London’s Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club playing with the Buddy Rich Big Band.

There will be two shows per night for this celebration of the great Buddy Rich:
Mon-Thur: 1st show onstage 7pm , 2nd show onstage 10.15pm
Fri-Sat: 1st show onstage 7.30pm, 2nd show onstage 11.15pm

The event will be hosted by Buddy’s daughter Cathy Rich.

One of legendary drummer Buddy Rich’s last requests of his daughter, Cathy, was to keep his band working, his music alive, and to do something for young people. No easy task, but eventually the idea of an annual memorial concert seemed like the best way to do it. Cathy Rich produced the first Buddy Rich Memorial Concert in 1988 at Carnegie Hall in New York and thus began the story of these incredible events. 2017 marks the 30th anniversary of Buddy’s passing and what would have been his 100th birthday and, following the success of the 25th anniversary memorial concert at the London Palladium in 2012, Ronnie Scott’s will be hosting 12 exclusive shows over 6 nights featuring the reformed Buddy Rich Big Band with legendary drummer Ian Paice (of Deep Purple fame), Buddy Rich Big Band drummer Gregg Potter, and the evening hosted by Buddy’s daughter Cathy Rich. The Buddy Rich Big Band will comprise musicians from both the US and the UK, several of whom toured with Buddy himself and played on his last ever UK shows in 1986. Join us in paying tribute to “the world’s greatest drummer” in his 100th birthday year!

Full details in our calendar.

Thanks to Akemi Ono for the info.

In an interview published in the recent issue (February 2019, #258) of Classic Rock magazine Steve Morse is waxing philosophical about joining the band:

How did it feel to step into Ritchie Blackmore’s shoes when you joined Deep Purple?

By the time I got there the ice was sorta broken, because Ritchie had left the band and Joe Satriani had done such a great job covering that. Also I had been part of the reunited Kansas, when people mistakenly thought I was trying to replace Kerry Livgren — which I wasn’t — so I was used to the mixed emotions of the audience. Y’know, they’re glad to see the band again… but they wish it was the original guys. Every once in a while, people will be throwing stuff at you — I mean literally throwing stuff at you. For some reason those people stand out more in your memory. I’ve never met Ritchie, but in the press, his posture was: ‘Good luck’. It is a signal to the trolls of somebody says: “They suck with this new guy”. He didn’t do that. I think he made it possible for the band’s success. It’s been a pretty easy ride, but of course there’s a certain percentage of people that just hate me because of who I am.

The issue can be ordered online, but bear in mind that the interview in question is only a page long.

Thanks to Mark Bryant for the info.

Finnish KaaosTV spoke to Glenn Hughes before his show in Tampere on November 29, 2018.
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Back in the mid-80’s, Mel Galley (Trapeze/Whitesnake) was looking for a new outlet for his musical energies after having left Whitesnake; his producer brother Tom had ideas about a progressive rock concept project, and together they assembled a multi-media piece with contributions from a number of well-known rock musicians, including members of the Deep Purple family such as Glenn Hughes, Don Airey, Cozy Powell, and Neil Murray.

The storyline underlying the first release was continued through two more recordings, along with the approach of using many collaborative musicians; the second record spawned a hit single (I Did It All For Love) as well. You can see the accompanying video for that on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Ir4zpL4xh78

Now the recordings have been reissued (andremastered by Mike Pietrini in 2018) with new liner notes, an interview with Tom Galley, and previously unseen artwork and imagery selected by Tom from his personal archive. Since the concept running through the Phenomenon project was one continuous story thread, they have chosen to collect all the additional tracks from the sessions together; they will be released on a forthcoming Anthology CD.

You can find them at

Phenomena I Amazon CD: http://geni.us/Phenomena1
Phenomena I iTunes: http://geni.us/Phenomena1dig

Phenomena II Amazon CD: http://geni.us/Phenomena2
Phenomena II iTunes: http://geni.us/Phenomena2dig

Phenomena III Amazon CD: http://geni.us/Phenomena3
Phenomena III iTunes: http://geni.us/Phenomena3dig

Thanks to Daniel Earnshaw for the details

Live track from a Whitesnake show in Glasgow in 1984 was posted today. This version of Ready an’ willing will be included on the 6CD+DVD Ultimate Special Edition of Slide it in that we profiled recently. This was one of the last Jon Lord’s shows with Whitesnake before leaving to reform Deep Purple.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Steve Morse was at the NAMM convention this year (like he does almost every year), and spoke to Andertons Music about his plans for 2019. The two takeaway moments are:

1. He will be recording two new albums — one with the Flying Colors and one with Deep Purple;
2. more Purple live dates are being booked.

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page for the heads up.

Rhino Records will release a 35th anniversary edition of Whitesnake’s Slide It In on March 22. The album is famous for vastly different versions released on the two sides of the Atlatic at the time. The European version, released in 1984 and produced by Martin Birch, featured Coverdale, Micky Moody, Mel Galley, Cozy Powell, Colin Hodgkinson, and Jon Lord. Soon after, Jon left to reform Deep Purple, while Moody and Hodgkinson were replaced by John Sykes and Neil Murray. Sykes and Murray, together with session keyboard player Bill Cuomo, re-recorded their parts for the 1985 US release, mixed by Keith Olsen. This resulted in significantly different sound that marked the beginning of the band’s slide into the MTV-friendly hairspray metal scene.

The anniversary edition will be available in several formats.

A 1CD edition will include newly remastered US mix of the original album.

The Deluxe Edition on either 2CD or 2LP will include both the UK and US mixes of the album, both newly remastered.

The Ultimate Special Edition on 6CD+DVD will include both UK and US mixes, plus a plethora of bonus material detailed below. This edition will also feature a 60-page hardbound book including photos, essays, notes, and credits.

Ultimate Special Edition

Disc 1

US Mix (1985) 35th Anniversary Remaster

Disc 2

UK Mix (1984) 35th Anniversary Remaster

Bonus tracks:

Need Your Love So Bad – single b-side
Gambler – 7-inch Eddie Kramer Mix (1983)
Guilty Of Love – 7-inch Eddie Kramer Mix (1983)

Disc 3

35th Anniversary Remixes (2019)

1. Slide It In
2. Slow An’ Easy
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. Give Me More Time
5. Guilty Of Love
6. All Or Nothing
7. Spit It Out
8. Standing In The Shadow
9. Hungry For Love
10. Gambler
11. Need Your Love So Bad

Disc 4

Monitor Mixes & Intros (September 1983)

1. Intro to Gambler from David Coverdale
2. Gambler
3. Standing in the Shadow
4. Intro to Slide It In from David Coverdale
5. Slide It In
6. Give Me More Time
7. Intro to Love Ain’t No Stranger from David Coverdale
8. Love Ain’t No Stranger
9. Hungry For Love
10. Intro to Guilty Of Love from David Coverdale
11. Guilty Of Love
12. Spit It Out
13. Intro to Slow An’ Easy from David Coverdale
14. Slow An’ Easy
15. All Or Nothing
16. David Coverdale discusses the US vs UK versions

Jon Lord’s last Whitesnake show (Grand Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden, April 16, 1984 – filmed for Måndagsbörsen TV show)

17. Gambler
18. Guilty Of Love
19. Love Ain’t No Stranger
20. Ready An’ Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)

Disc 5

Live in Glasgow, Scotland (March 1, 1984)

1. Gambler
2. Guilty Of Love
3. Ready An’ Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)
4. Love Ain’t No Stranger
5. Here I Go Again
6. Slow An’ Easy
7. Cryin’ In The Rain
8. Keyboard Solo
9. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Need Your Love So Bad / Thank You Blues
12. Slide It In
13. Don’t Break My Heart Again

Disc 6

Early rough mixes with unfinished lyrics:

1. All Or Nothing
2. Hungry For Love
3. Spit It Out
4. Give Me More Time
5. Slow An’ Easy
6. Love Ain’t No Stranger
7. Need Your Love So Bad (instrumental)
8. All Or Nothing (acapella excerpts remix)
9. Slow An’ Easy (organ and drum excerpts remix)
10. Wheezy Interludes (various alcoholic studio antics, David and Mel “fighting a cold”)

Original demos:

11. Slow An’ Easy
12. Slide It In
13. Standing In The Shadow
14. All Or Nothing
15. Spit It Out
16. Guilty Of Love
17. Love Ain’t No Stranger
18. Intro to Need Your Love So Bad from David Coverdale
19. Need Your Love So Bad

Demo ideas that were never finished:

20. Body Heat
21. The Gypsy In You
22. Lounge Lizards
23. Great Riff In The Morning
24. The River Song
25. Can’t Make A Deal With The Devil
26. Prayer For The Dying
27. Spend The Night With Me
28. So Much To Live For
29. Riff Raff Blues
30. Thanks You Blues

DVD

1. Guilty Of Love – Music Video
2. Slow An’ Easy – Music Video
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger – Music Video
4. Give Me More Time – Top Of The Pops
5. Standing In The Shadow – New Promo Video
6. Love Ain’t No Stranger – Live… In The Still Of The Night
7. Slide It In – Live at Donington (1990)

Jon Lord’s Last Whitesnake Show (1984)

8. Gambler
9. Guilty Of Love
10. Love Ain’t No Stranger
11. Ready An’ Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

In a recent interview with Metal Hammer maestro Tony Iommi, a riffmeister extraordinaire himself, weighted in on the greatest riff of all time question:

Apart from your own, what’s the greatest riff of all time?

That’s even harder. There’s so many great riffs out there from the past, and up to date stuff. But you’ve got to have Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water. And of course there are a lot of Zeppelin songs. Jimmy Page has some great riffs.

So there you have it.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.