HISTORY
GREATEST HITS
Whitesnake came back on to the live
scene in 1994 in support of the Greatest Hits CD (though DC
claimed this was just a coincidence and he would have toured regardless
of the CD's release).
Greatest Hits only covered the last three
Whitesnake
albums, namely Slide It In, 1987, and Slip
Of The Tongue. Indeed, it could easily have gone under the title
of Whitesnake: The John
Kalodner Years such was the absence of older material. DC
claimed that EMI (the band's British label) had wanted to release remixed
versions of the pre-1984 hits, and they would have done, had it not been
for the fact that the original master tapes had been lost (allegedly with
DC's
ex-manager).
As
rumours of a new Whitesnake tour began so did speculation on the
band's line-up. Would DC bring back all the old faces? Former 'Snake
guitarist Bernie Marsden was quoted as saying
he'd literally walk to rehearsals, and both Micky
Moody and Mel Galley were keen to play with
the band again. Rumours also suggested the return of 1987 hero John
Sykes and the recruitment of Luke Morley from British rockers
Thunder.
As it turned out such rumours were pretty wide of the mark. The final line-up
consisted of Whitesnake veterans
Adrian Vandenberg (guitar) and Rudy
Sarzo (bass), ex-Ratt guitarist Warren
De Martini, former
Nelson keyboard player Paul
Mirkovich, and ex-Heart drummer Denny
Carmassi.
The album and tour were a great success, although the album did
not do too well in the USA. The set consisted of mainly mid to late 80's
material with the odd Coverdale/ Page track,
although it did include snippets of the old days. Songs such as Mistreated
and Soldier Of Fortune were dusted off, with old mainstay
Ain't
No Love... included in the encore. With the exception of a few dodgy
De
Martini performances and a dreadful Carmassi drum
solo the band sounded great.
Whitesnake were back....