70’s: Legendary Hard Rock Band Whitesnake Unleash Tribute
By Jo Phillips
It’s difficult to imagine the music world without the raw and enthusiastic genre of hard rock and the 70’s was its birth decade. Among the pioneers of the genre was Deep Purple, whose original psychedelics shaped into the rising rock genre with their album Deep Purple in Rock at the beginning of the seventies’ period. Although their first of many adjustments in their band’s line-up could be responsible for this sudden yet crucial change in style. Deep Purple’s third lead vocalist David Coverdale formed his own heavy metal band Whitesnake in 1978 and 11 albums later the ever-changing group still exist in some form of arrangement. However in July 2012, Coverdale was aghast by the passing of his former Deep Purple bandmate and occasional Whitesnake tour member Jon Lord- principle keyboardist and one of Deep Service’s longest serving members. In the past Coverdale was hesistant at revisiting his Deep Purple past but was set on paying a tribute to his friend. The encouragement of Coverdale’s wife Cindy convinced Whitesnake to go against their initial skepticism.
Appropriately titled The Purple Album, their 12th studio album features 16 songs that remake songs from Deep Purple’s third (known as Mark III) and fourth reincarnations (Mark IV), which includes the time that David Coverdale was part of the group. Songs on their eulogy include Burn (a song that Whitesnake often cover in their concerts), Mistreated (an epic circa eight minute song, perfect for their upcoming live tour) and Soldier of Fortune (a hugely popular album track from Deep Purple’s ninth album Stormbringer).The album is also significant for introducing another new member to the carousel Joel Hoekstra, who substitutes Doug Aldrich, having previously performed in the jukebox musical Rock Of Ages.
The Purple Album was recorded in David Coverdale’s adopted home of Nevada and is released on May 19th via EMI. It will be succeeded by concerts that Hoekstra described to Guitar World’s website as “one-of-a-kind”.
