It was the hard-rocking sound of hits like “Still Of The Night” and “Give Me All Your Love Tonight” that brought WHITESNAKE worldwide, multi-platinum success. Even so, the band’s founder and lead singer, David Coverdale, has never been a stranger to the occasional ballad, going back to his early days with DEEP PURPLE on “Soldier Of Fortune” and, most famously, with WHITESNAKE on the 1987 No. 1 smash hit “Here I Go Again”.
After WHITESNAKE finishes its current summer tour with FOREIGNER, the band will revisit some of its best acoustic performances with “Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition”. This five CD/DVD collection brings together unplugged and acoustic-based performances recorded over the past 20-plus years, including rare and unreleased studio and live recordings, acoustic demos, concert videos, interviews and more. The extensive set will be available on October 19 for $59.98. On the same day, Rhino will also release “Unzipped” in three other formats: single-CD ($7.98), double-CD ($19.98), and double-LP ($29.98). All of the music will be available digitally and via streaming services.
The first disc from “Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition” mixes rare and unreleased versions of songs like “Summer Rain” and “Forevermore” from the band’s recent studio albums, “Good To Be Bad” (2008) and “Forevermore” (2011). Also included are songs like “Love Is Blind” from Coverdale‘s solo album, “Into The Light” (2000); and a previously unreleased song, “All The Time In The World”. All 11 tracks are available on the single-CD, double-CD and double-LP versions of “Unzipped”.
In 1997, Coverdale and guitarist Adrian Vandenberg played an unplugged concert in Tokyo that was recorded and initially released exclusively in Japan as “Starkers In Tokyo”. That recording has been remixed and will make its North American debut on the second disc of “Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition”. The acoustic performance touches on the different stages of Coverdale‘s career, from his time in DEEP PURPLE (“Soldier Of Fortune”), to his solo albums (“Too Many Tears”), and, most famously, with WHITESNAKE on unplugged versions of hits like “Is This Love” and “Here I Go Again”. These 12 tracks, along with all the music on the single-CD version of “Unzipped”, will also be available on double-CD, and double-LP.
“Some of my favorite love songs are on disc one of this collection… and I LOVE, love songs,” says Coverdale. “Though reluctant at first to go ‘unzipped’ in public, the shows I did with Adrian Vandenberg in 1997, and then Doug Aldrich in 2006, were incredibly memorable… primarily because it gave me an opportunity to be ‘at one’ with the crowd… some songs ask for a softer touch… and those are the songs we have here in this collection.”
“Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition” has even more of unreleased, unplugged recordings, including more performances from Coverdale‘s 1997 tour with Vandenberg, plus several later shows featuring Coverdale and guitarist Doug Aldrich. Plus, more than two dozen of Coverdale‘s unreleased, acoustic demos are also included in the collection.
A DVD completes “Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition” with live, unplugged performances filmed around the world between 1997 and 2015, including a complete acoustic show recorded at the Cutting Room in New York in 2008. A highlight for U.S. fans will be the North American debut of the 1997 concert video “Starkers In Tokyo”, which has been remixed in 5.1 and Stereo exclusively for this new collection. Additional bonus features include an interview with Coverdale and Vandenberg, bootleg videos, the “Love Is Blind” music video and a slideshow.
Coverdale continues: “These songs are some of the most personal I’ve been involved with through my almost five decades as a professional musician, singer and composer…This is me at my most unguarded… innocent… writing, as I still do, for the fun… the expression… the poetry… all LOVE songs.”
“Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition” track listing:
Disc One: Unzipped… In The Studio: The Love Songs
01. Love Is Blind
02. One of These Days *
03. All The Time In The World *
04. Wherever You May Go
05. Easier Said than Done *
06. Fare Thee Well *
07. Summer Rain
08. Forevermore
09. ‘Till The End Of Time
Bonus Tracks:
10. Wherever You May Go (Instrumental) Strings only *
11. Love Is Blind (Instrumental) Strings only *
Disc Two: Starkers In Tokyo
01. Sailing Ships
02. Too Many Tears
03. The Deeper The Love
04. Love Ain’t No Stranger
05. Can’t Go On
06. Give Me All Your Love
07. Don’t Fade Away
08. Is This Love
09. Here I Go Again
10. Soldier Of Fortune
Bonus Tracks:
11. Only My Soul (Acapella) *
12. Fool For Your Loving (Excerpt) *
Disc Three: Snakeskin Boots: Starkers In Europe Starkers In Warsaw (Poland, April 18, 1997):
01. Intro
02. Sailing Ships
03. Too Many Tears
04. Here I Go Again
Starkers In Stockholm (Sweden, December 2, 2006):
05. Intro
06. Give Me All Your Love
07. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
08. Only My Soul (Acapella)
09. All I Want Is You
10. Dog
11. Here I Go Again
Starkers In Cologne (Germany, November 24, 2006):
12. Intro
13. Give Me All Your Love
14. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
15. All I Want Is You
16. Slow & Easy
17. Dog
Starkers In Paris (France, November 30, 2006):
18. Give Me All Your Love
19. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
20. Northwinds (Acapella)
21. All I Want Is You
22. Dog
23. Blindman (Acapella)
24. Here I Go Again
Disc Four: More Starkers Promo Tour Rehearsals (2005):
01. If You Want Me *
02. Give Me All Your Love *
03. Slow & Easy *
04. All I Want Is You *
05. Judgement Day *
06. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More *
07. Dog *
Starkers In New York (New York City, April 10, 2008):
08. Give Me All Of Your Love
09. Can You Hear The Wind Blow
10. All I Want All I Need
11. Lay Down Your Love
12. Fool For Your Loving
13. The Deeper The Love
14. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
15. Here I Go Again
WSTV Jams Excerpts (2012):
16. Easier Said Than Done
17. Fare Thee Well
18. Love Will Set You Free
19. Mistreated
20. Slide It In
21. ‘Till The End Of Time
22. Shake My Tree
Made In Japan Soundcheck Versions (2011)
23. Good To Be Bad
24. Tell Me How
Disc Five: Up Close & Personal
01. Wherever You May Go (Demo Version) *
02. Surrender *
03. Ain’t No Doubt About My Girl *
04. Scat Man Blues *
05. Love’s A Crazy Game *
06. I Will Love You *
07. Oh Baby You’re The One *
08. So Long (Acapella) *
09. So Long *
10. It Would Be Nice *
11. Slide Thingy Blues *
12. Down To The River *
13. Feel Your Love Grow Stronger *
14. Blues Jam Riff *
15. Fun Lick Blues *
16. Don’t Wanna Change The World *
17. It’s So Hard *
18. River Song (Early Version) *
19. Let’s Have A Drink Before I Go *
20. Can You Ever Forgive Me *
21. So Much To Live For *
22. Another Lick While The Missus Is Busy In The Kitchen *
23. Just The Two Of Us (Together You And I) *
24. Oh S___ Blues (featuring Jessica) *
25. Seasons *
DVD Starkers In Tokyo (1997):
01. Sailing Ships
02. Too Many Tears
03. The Deeper The Love
04. Can’t Go On
05. Is This Love
06. Give Me All Your Love
07. Here I Go Again
08. Soldier Of Fortune
09. Love Ain’t No Stranger
10. Don’t Fade Away
11. Only My Soul (Acapella)
12: Fool For Your Loving (excerpt)
Starkers In New York (2008):
01. Give Me All Of Your Love
02. Can You Hear The Wind Blow
03. All I Want All I Need
04. Lay Down Your Love
05. Fool For Your Loving
06. The Deeper The Love
07. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
08. Here I Go Again
Starkers In Warsaw (Poland, April 18, 1997):
09. Intro
10. Sailing Ships
11. Too Many Tears
12. Here I Go Again
Starkers In Stockholm (Sweden, December 2, 2006):
13. Intro
14. Give Me All Your Love
15. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
16. Only My Soul (Acapella)
17. All I Want Is You
18. Dog
19. Here I Go Again
Starkers In Cologne (Germany, November 24, 2006):
20. Give Me All Your Love
21. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
22. All I Want Is You
23. Dog
Starkers In Sofia (Bulgaria, November 24, 2015):
24. Soldier Of Fortune
Starkers In Paris 2 (France, June 4, 2009):
25. Blindman
Starkers In Wolverhampton (England, June 16, 2011):
26. Fare Thee Well
Starkers In Glasgow (Scotland, June 15, 2011)*
27. One Of These Days
Bonus Features:
– One-on-One with David Coverdale and Adrian Vandenberg discussing “Starkers”
– Poor Albert’s Last: Photographic Slideshow (featuring audio from “Sailing Ships”)
– Purplesnake’s “Forevermore” Video
– “Love Is Blind” Music Video
* previously unreleased
WHITESNAKE: 'Unzipped' 5CD/DVD Set Featuring Rare And Previously Unreleased Acoustic Performances Due In October
WHITESNAKE: 'Unzipped' 5CD/DVD Set Featuring Rare And Previously Unreleased Acoustic Performances Due In October
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