Whitesnake/Northwinds (The Early Years)

David Coverdale's first two post-Deep Purple solo albums, 1977's White Snake and 1978's Northwinds, were combined onto one CD prior to this package, which came out on the Purple label in 2003. That two-fer, however, didn't have the four bonus tracks that appear on this configuration. As it happens, all four of those bonus tracks appeared either on an expanded edition of White Snake (as was the case with the alternate takes of "Peace Lovin' Man" and "Sunny Day") or the expanded edition of Northwinds (as happened with "Shame the Devil" and "Sweet Mistreater"). If you're among the faithful who've kept up with all of Coverdale's product, then you could well already have all of this once, or maybe even twice. If not, this finally gathers everything in one place, complete with a spiffy info-packed 12-page booklet. Taken together, these albums are rather more subdued and, while not exactly laid-back, more in a mainstream late-'70s rock groove than you might expect from a singer who fronted both Deep Purple and Whitesnake, with pit stops for roots rock, AOR ballads, and gently funky stuff. Taken on their own terms outside of the context of Deep Purple and Whitesnake, they're mediocre listening, the product of a man uncertain about where to take his music as a solo act, without the rock-hard hard rock support of one of his steady bands. ~ Richie Unterberger|