Whitesnake Releases Deluxe Edition of the 1987 Album… and It Looks Bad to the Fucking Bone!

Like most people my age, my first introduction to Whitesnake was the release of their 1987 eponymous release featuring co-writer/guitarist John Sykes, drummer Ansley Dunbar, and bassist .  “Here I Go Again” stormed the charts, filled the airwaves, and dominated MTV.  Billed as a visual supergroup comprised of Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy Osbourne), Vivian Campbell (Dio), Adrian Vandenberg (Vandenberg), and Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne/Quiet Riot), it didn’t take long at all for Whitesnake to hit the road in support of this album and before long went from opening act to selling out arenas as headliners.  The 1987 album was such a remarkable album to me at the time and it made a huge impression me and opened the doors for me to discover (and later very much appreciate) the legacy of music that they had created throughout the 70s and early 80s.

I’m not one to be super excited about anniversary re-issues but when done right, it can be a real treat for the fans.  That’s exactly what David Coverdale with this 30th Anniversary Deluxe re-issue of the 1987 Whitesnake album.  The 4-CD/DVD collection includes the original album with newly remastered sound, unreleased live and studio recordings, classic music videos, concert footage, a 30 minute documentary, featuring a new interview with David Coverdale, Whitesnake’s founder and lead singer. The music comes with a 60-page hardbound book that’s filled with rare and unseen photos from the era, an extended essay based on new interviews with Coverdale, plus a booklet of the album’s lyrics, handwritten by Coverdale.

WHITESNAKE “1987”: SUPER DELUXE EDITION comes with an entire disc of unreleased live performances featuring Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell & Tommy Aldridge, recorded during the band’s 1987-88 tour. The music includes live versions of several tracks from “1987”, plus Whitesnake classics “Slide It In,” “Love Ain’t No Stranger,” and “Slow An’ Easy.”

An additional disc spotlights the creative process behind WHITESNAKE “1987” with a selection of 11 unreleased demo and rehearsal recordings, including early versions of nearly every song on the album called 87 Evolutions. The final disc introduces newly remixed versions the album’s four singles, and includes rare radio mixes, as well as songs from 87 Versions, an EP released exclusively in Japan.

The DVD from WHITESNAKE “1987”: SUPER DELUXE EDITION includes music videos for the four singles, all of which have been carefully restored and remixed in 5.1 Surround Sound for the first time ever. In addition, the DVD also features a new 30 minute documentary about the making of WHITESNAKE “1987”, a new promo video made especially for this set of the 1988 version of “Here I Go Again” and unreleased live footage from the 1987-88 tour.

As you can see, this is a pretty massively awesome release and for under 40 bucks you can’t go wrong with this one.  You can order the album here: http://tinyurl.com/ycz93uzl

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