David Coverdale is still one of the most commanding front men out there and Whitesnake is a treasured part of metal's history. Following his departure from Deep Purple, Coverdale formed Whitesnake in the middle of the punk hey-day and confounded critics to take his home country England by storm. He released a series of blues-based rock records that never quite matched his European success here in North America. That all changed with the Slide it In record and a new band featuring guitarist John Sykes. That record set the stage for the monster recordings to follow. Whitesnake and Slip of the Tongue cranked out hit after hit and the band dominated MTV for several years. Their live shows were an event and sold out on both sides of the Atlantic.
Geffen has just released The Definitive Collection which makes a more complete set of songs than the greatest hits which was put out a few years ago. This disc delves into the rich back catalogue of records, such as Lovehunter and Ready and Willing. As far as collections go, this is as good as it gets. A minor grumble would be that it would be nice to have some unreleased tracks or some such bonus material. For any Whitesnake fan, this is a great disc that traces the history from front to back and it's great to have all of it within one package.
With a successful tour behind him and a live DVD already ravaging shelves, let's hope that Mr. Coverdale can give us some new product this year.
