The Silver Anniversary Collection (2CD)

"The Silver Anniversary Colletion" even includes a few of lead singer David Coverdale's solo songs, one of the songs from the 1993 Coverdale/Page album, and a live rendition of the beautiful Deep Purple ballad "Soldier Of Fortune". And all the radio-staples are here:
"Fool For Your Loving", "Victim Of Love", "Is This Love", "Here I Go Again" and "Still Of The Night", and many of the older, less well known but equally good songs like "Love To Keep You Warm" and "Blindman".
I could complain about "Crying In The Rain" not being included, as well as a couple of other tracks off the "Saints & Sinners" album. And I will.
But what is here is mostly great, and rarely less than good. An excellent career summary.

Let me start by saying that I have been a fan for many years and I feel I have the right to critisize as well as praise. I had been looking forward to this release ever since I heard it was coming out. It is good, however, the emphasis seems to be on the softer side of Coverdale`s work. Whitesnake, the early days in particular, were never the heaviest band, but there are too many slow songs. Coverdale sings them all beautifully but it gets a bit depressing listening to so many heartfelt songs without a beefy rocker like "Take me with you" or "Mean business" to get the blood pumping. The ironic fact is that no songs from Coverdale`s finest collection of softer numbers, 1978`s "Northwinds (arguably his best work), appear. Also absent are many of Coverdale`s most famous (or infamous) double-entendres, with no "Slide it in" or "Lie down (a modern love song)" on the collection.

Another problem is the strange re-evaluation of the early songs. Old favourites like "Lovehunter" and "Trouble" are astray whilst obscurities like "Love to keep you warm" and "The time is right for love" appear. Also, the "Slide it in" era tracks are represented in their original British mix. The U.S. mixes were so much more powerful. They have got the "Ready an` willing" and "Come an` get it" era numbers perfectly balanced and all the big hitters from the "Whitesnake" LP are here, sounding as great as they always did. Too much of "Slip of the tongue" appears. It gets four of its songs on here while the "Lovehunter" and "Saints and sinners" albums get three between them. "Too many tears" should never have appeared here. I don`t care for it much as it goes too far in the pursuit of the white-boy-soul-trip, further even than "Stormbringer" era Deep Purple, and sounds too much like Michael Bolton. Notice though, how solid the songwriting is all the way through, from start to finish, showcased best perhaps on the acoustic version of "Sailing ships", originally an overblown Led Zeppelin pastiche, transformed here into a work of frail beauty featuring just that voice backed by a solitary acoustic guitar.

The Coverdale/Page album gets three tracks. If they had substituted "Take a look at yourself" for "Don`t leave me this way" (one of Coverdale`s best ever vocals), then the selection would have been perfect. "Shake my tree" and "Pride and joy" still sound incredible and make you crave for a reformation with Mr Page. There is maybe one track too many from Coverdale`s solo "Into the light" album, especially when you consider there is no room for his solo "Days of thunder" soundtrack rarity "The last note of freedom" or "Only my soul".

The CD book has a great essay in it, telling the tale of the various guises of Whitesnake. However, there is no mention of the musicians who performed on the individual tracks, but then again, there are so many they would need another four pages on the booklet. This, like all compilations, is a matter of your own favourites. Someones always will always get missed out. Unfortunately for me, a few of mine aren`t here but this album is solid enough to prove that, in David Coverdale, the rock world is blessed with one of the finest singers and songwriters ever. I salute him.

Let me just say that I have been a fan for many years, indeed growing up with Whitesnake. I have been looking forward to this release since I heard it was coming out. It is good, but it could have been better. The emphasis seems to be more on the softer side of Coverdale`s work. Whitesnake, the early days in particular, were never the heaviest band, but there are too many slow songs. Coverdale does sing them beautifully but it can get a bit depressing listening to so many heartfelt songs without a beefy rocker like "Take me with you" or "Mean buisness" to get the blood pumping. There are also a lot of Coverdale`s famed double-entendres absent, with no "Slide it in" or "Lie down (a modern love song)" appearing.

Another problem, in my opinion, is the strange re-evaluation of the early songs. Old live favourites like "Lovehunter" and "Trouble" are astray while obscurities like "Love to keep you warm" and "The time is right for love" appear. Also, the "Slide it in" era tracks are represented in their original british mix. The U.S. versions were so much more powerful. They have got the "Ready an` willing" and "Come an` get it" era tracks perfectly balanced and all the big hitters from the "Whitesnake" LP are here, sounding as great as they always did. Too much of "Slip of the tongue" appears. It gets four of it`s songs on here while the "Lovehunter" and "Saints and sinners" albums get three between them. "Too many tears" should never have appeared here. I don`t really like it as it goes too far in the pursuit of the white-boy-soul-trip, further than "Stormbringer" era Deep Purple, which was a million times better.

The Coverdale/Page album gets three tracks. If they had substituted "Don`t leave me this way" (one of Coverdale`s best ever vocals) for "Take a look at yourself", they would have got the selection right. "Shake my tree" and "Pride and joy" still sound incredible. There is maybe one too many from Coverdale`s solo "Into the light" album, but let`s indulge the man. It is his album after all.

The CD book has a great essay in it, telling the tale of the various guises of Whitesnake. However, there is no mention of any of the musicians who performed on the tracks, but then again, there are so many they would have had to put in an extra four pages on the booklet. This, like all compilations, is a matter of your own favourites. Someones will always get missed out. Unfortunately for me, a few of mine aren`t here but this is a fine representation of David Coverdale`s songwriting and powerful singing.