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dp344 Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 09-2005
Posts: 1589
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Whitesnake's fantastic voyage


Classicrockrevisited
17/4/2015, 19:21 Link to this post Send Email to dp344   Send PM to dp344
 
Rezi Profile
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Registered: 04-2004
Posts: 16629
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Re: Whitesnake's fantastic voyage


Thanks, Dp344!

Usually the only flaw with books like these - band biographies based on interview material - is that you are not told if say Coverdale said this thing in 1978 or 2008. I for one prefer footnotes.
17/4/2015, 20:09 Link to this post Send Email to Rezi   Send PM to Rezi
 
Desperateheart Profile
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Registered: 09-2013
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Re: Whitesnake's fantastic voyage


Just re read the section on the 1987 period, and to balance things up also the Sykes interview in Rock Candy magazine last year.
It’s amazing how the balance of power had quickly changed in WS over 2 years. You got DC broke (having to do commercial voice overs, unable to pay his car tax), can’t sing, Sykes on his case, almost charting his own direction for the new record with Mike Stone producing. Perhaps the reason for his vocal nerves was the nature of the new material, more demanding, fast paced, requiring DC to sing outside his normal range. He’d done a bit of that of course on Slow and easy, but not to the same extent. No wonder shows were so short on the 1987 dates!
So, half way through the project Sykes is in charge, don’t forget also having a 50/50 split on song writing and publishing. Worse still for DC, the $3m debt to Geffen was in his name, not Sykes’s if I’ve understood correctly.
As we know DC eventually regained his vocal ability, wrestled back control and sacked JS. JS could have held out on completing the LP to protect his position I guess.
Presumably DC was able to sack him being the senior partner, so to speak with his track record in the business.
28/1/2020, 10:28 Link to this post Send Email to Desperateheart   Send PM to Desperateheart Blog
 
Old Timer5 Profile
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Registered: 07-2006
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Re: Whitesnake's fantastic voyage


Interesting post Desperateheart. It's only in recent years that I've become aware of just how much financial difficulty DC was in at that time, and it's quite unbelievable considering he'd been in successful bands for 14 years before 1987. And In America, I'm not sure just how important David Coverdale was to Geffen's vision for breaking WS. As for Sykes- I think he's a talented guitar player and he clearly played a huge part in the 1987 album. However, I don't concur with some people's view that the success of the album was largely down to him. I can't think of anyone else who could have sung these songs the way DC did, and the fact that Sykes has done nothing of note for so long says a lot about how integral David Coverdale was to his success.
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Desperateheart Profile
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Registered: 09-2013
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Re: Whitesnake's fantastic voyage


Haven't been on this board for a while and on a bit of an 1987 fest at the mo, so catching up on some old posts.

thanks for the reply oldtimer5. you're of course absolutely correct, the prospect of replacing DC in WS is/was unthinkable. To be fair Sykes in recent years has denied he ever suggested otherwise. It's understandable he got frustrated with the slow progress completing the vocals however, as the songs and backing tracks had been completed some time back.

Re the 1987 demos included on the 30th anniversary CD edition, I've never been clear whether Cozy is on any of them, doesn't sound like it TBH.
3/3/2022, 10:18 Link to this post Send Email to Desperateheart   Send PM to Desperateheart Blog
 
jmorton Profile
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Registered: 03-2006
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Re: Whitesnake's fantastic voyage


As with anything the truth is probably in the middle. As I recall DC had to accept all of Whitesnake's debt after he kicked John Coletta to the curb in 1983. Who knows how bad the WS finances were by that point. He needed a strong Peter Grant type manager in 1984 and didn't really have it. It really was David Coverdale. Then Geffen steps in and fronts for a big tour ... sales were good but not great after Slide It In.

The inflection point wast DC's vocal/financial issues in 1986-87. I don't think Sykes tried to "mutiny" but I'd wager to say he wouldn't have fought against it either. Remember that Sykes was a bit of a control freak and we all know DC is so there was always bound to be a point where that wasn't going to be something tenable in a band.

OldTimer is right though ... as great as Sykes was those songs wouldn't have come across as well without the powerhouse vocal performance from Coverdale. Also the biggest hit and the one that made them megastars in the US was a song written with Bernie ... not Sykes.

As for firing JS ... well. Who knows. History is weird. Sykes has made a ton of money off that album.
9/3/2022, 22:37 Link to this post Send Email to jmorton   Send PM to jmorton
 


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