Northwinds | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 10 March 1978 [1] | |||
Recorded | March–April 1977 | |||
Studio | AIR Studios, London, UK | |||
Genre | Blues rock, hard rock | |||
Length | 38:53 | |||
Label | Purple (UK) Polydor (Japan) | |||
Producer | Roger Glover | |||
David Coverdale chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
Singles from Northwinds | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Northwinds is the second solo album by former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale,released in March 1978. The album was released as a part of a compilation album Whitesnake/Northwinds in 1988,was reissued alone in 2000,and released again as part of a double compilation album now titled as The Early Days (2003).
A reissue is set to be released as Into the Light:The Solo Albums ,including Coverdale's solo works via Rhino Entertainment on 25 October 2024.
Originally entitled North Winds,the hard rock album leans more towards blues-based and R&B influenced rock. [3] Coverdale also touched on the genre in his preceding album, White Snake .
The original release of Northwinds contained eight tracks,with two more songs added on recent reissues. Four tracks ("Keep On Giving Me Love","Queen of Hearts","Only My Soul","Breakdown") from this album would later be combined with the tracks from the EP Snakebite from his band Whitesnake,to form the album Snakebite .
A number of other titles,written by Coverdale,were published at the time,which have yet to be released. The titles include "It Would Be Nice","Love's a Crazy Game",and "Till the Sun Doesn't Shine Anymore".
The album received mixed to positive reviews. Bret Adams of AllMusic gave it 3/5 stars,considering it "a huge leap forward in quality from the previous year's White Snake",highlighting "splendid "Time &Again" ... "Only My Soul" offers a rich musical stew" with Coverdale's "ethereal singing" holding "it all together". [3] Richie Unterberger gave 3/5 stars to the 1988 double compilation,concluding "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". [4]
Victor Valdivia writing for PopMatters a 6/10 review about both 70s albums states it is from a pre-late 80s period image when Coverdale "was considered a talented singer with a bluesy voice far more reminiscent of Bad Company's Paul Rodgers than Zep's Robert Plant" and the album sounds "absolutely nothing like Led Zeppelin. Not only is Coverdale's voice much lower and bluesier than it would be in later years,but the music meanders all over the place,from horn-driven funk and R&B,to jazzy piano noodling and a more compact style of hard rock than he would ever try in his career's later incarnations",highlighting tracks "Shame the Devil" and "Give Me Kindness",but also "badly dated" production. [5]
Neil Jeffries in 2021 Classic Rock retrospective included the album as 4th out of 20 on a list of Coverdale-Whitesnake's best albums, [6] saying "is a remarkably mature album that can still send shivers down the spine 30 years after it was recorded",praising his singing on "touchingly sparse "Time &Again" or "Only My Soul" has rarely been bettered",concluding that "all in all,Northwinds is the antithesis of Whitesnake's super-slick 1987 ,but it's a fine demonstration of the breadth of Coverdale's talents". [7]
Northwinds is set to be reissued on Whitesnake's complication box-set featuring Coverdale's solo albums titled Into the Light:The Solo Albums by Rhino Entertainment on 25 October 2024 as a multi-disc box set,including remixed and remastered versions of the album. [8]
All songs were written by David Coverdale,except where indicated.
On the original LP release,"Northwinds" is the first track and "Keep On Giving Me Love" is the second; [9] on later reissues these are swapped.
Musicians [9]
Year | Chart | Position |
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1982 | UK Albums Chart [10] | 78 |
Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale,who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entity,Coverdale is the only constant member throughout their history.
David Coverdale is an English singer and songwriter,best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake. He was also the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976,after which he released two solo studio albums,White Snake (1977) and Northwinds (1978),before forming Whitesnake in 1978.
Snakebite is the first official release by the British hard rock band Whitesnake. The original EP initially featured only four tracks and was released in the UK in June 1978 and never published in the US. Snakebite was re-released in September 1978 as a Double Extended Play containing four extra studio tracks taken from David Coverdale's second solo album Northwinds. The EP sleeve is entitled David Coverdale's Whitesnake and features photographs of the live band in concert. All tracks from the original EP also were used as bonus tracks on the 2006 remaster of Whitesnake's debut studio album Trouble.
Slide It In is the sixth studio album by English rock band Whitesnake. Originally released on 30 January 1984 in Europe,by Liberty/EMI,it was remixed for the American market,later issued on 16 April 1984 in North America by Geffen. In Japan,it was issued a "European" Mix release date on 23 March 1984,and an "American" remix on 21 December 1984 by CBS/Sony. Widely regarded as a moderate success,it helped open the American market to the band's sound and breakthrough throughout the later 1980s. Historically,it was the final Whitesnake recording to use the band's original "snake" logo.
Trouble is the debut studio album from British hard rock band Whitesnake,led by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale released on October 1978. It reached No. 50 on the UK Albums Chart. This followed the four-track Snakebite EP,later available in the US as an import album from continental Europe. The album later received a reissue by EMI/Parlophone in 2006,containing bonus tracks from their previous EP.
Lovehunter is the second studio album by British band Whitesnake,released in 21 September 1979. It was the bands first UK Top 30 album,charting at No. 29 on the UK Albums Chart. "Long Way from Home",the leading track on the album reached No. 55 on the UK charts,while "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" was one of the most popular and praised Whitesnake's songs in the beginning. The album became controversial because of its cover art.
Restless Heart is the ninth studio album by English hard rock band Whitesnake,released by EMI on 26 March 1997 in Japan and 26 May in Europe. It was produced by the band's vocalist David Coverdale and originally conceived as a solo album. However,EMI pressured him into releasing the record under the moniker "David Coverdale &Whitesnake". Musically Restless Heart features a more subdued sound compared to Whitesnake's previous two albums. It is also the only full-length Whitesnake studio album to feature guitarist Adrian Vandenberg throughout,despite having been a member of the group since 1987.
Saints &Sinners is the fifth studio album by English hard rock band Whitesnake,released on 15 November 1982 by Liberty Records. The album was the last to be recorded by the Ready an' Willing line-up as the members had strained relations alongside the musical direction and the band's management despite commercial successes in their native. Guy Bidmead produced the album as Martin Birch's replacement at first,but Birch returned to finish the album during the recording.
Live...in the Heart of the City is a 1980 live album by English rock band Whitesnake. Originally released as a double-vinyl album,and double-play cassette,it utilises recordings made in 1978 and 1980. The album charted at number 5 on the UK Albums Chart with Platinum certification,and number 146 on the Billboard 200. The Classic Rock magazine in 2011 and 2023 placed it among the best live albums ever.
Michael Joseph Moody is an English guitarist,and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden he founded the Moody Marsden Band,and later,The Snakes,having previously collaborated with unofficial 5th Status Quo member Bob Young in Young &Moody. Along with Marsden and ex-Whitesnake bassist,Neil Murray,he formed The Company of Snakes and M3 Classic Whitesnake with which they mainly performed early Whitesnake songs. From 2011 to 2015,Moody toured and recorded with Snakecharmer,a band he co-formed.
Bernard John Marsden was an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake,having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs,such as "Fool for Your Loving","Walking in the Shadow of the Blues","Ready an' Willing","Lovehunter","Trouble",and "Here I Go Again".
White Snake is the first solo album by David Coverdale,released in May 1977. Coverdale would use the album title as the name of his future band,first known as "David Coverdale's Whitesnake" and soon afterwards shortened to Whitesnake. The album was released as a part of a compilation album Whitesnake/Northwinds in 1988,was reissued alone in 2000,and released again as part of a double compilation album now titled as The Early Days (2003).
Into the Light is the third solo album by English singer David Coverdale,released by EMI on 25 September 2000 in the UK,27 September in Japan and by Dragonshed on 21 November in the US.
The Early Years is a double CD compilation album released in 2003 by David Coverdale of Deep Purple and Whitesnake,not to be confused with the Whitesnake compilation album The Early Years released in 2004. It contains his first two solo releases,White Snake,and Northwinds,released in 1977 and 1978,respectively. Both albums retain the bonus tracks found on the Spitfire reissues from 2000.
"Now You're Gone" is a song by the English hard rock band Whitesnake from their 1989 album Slip of the Tongue. It was written by singer David Coverdale and guitarist Adrian Vandenberg. The power ballad follows an alternately slow/fast-paced rhythm,and the lyrics tell about longing for the woman after a break-up.
"Slow an' Easy" is a song by the English rock band Whitesnake from their 1984 album Slide It In. The album provided the group with a commercial breakthrough in the United States,and this specific song,which was released as a promo single,became a hit on rock radio. "Slow an' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger" reached #17 and #34 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart,respectively.
Whitesnake is the seventh studio album by English rock band Whitesnake,released on 23 March 1987,by Geffen Records in the US and by EMI Records in the UK one week after. It was co-written and recorded for over a year in what would be the first and final collaboration between vocalist David Coverdale and guitarist John Sykes,the final album to feature longtime bassist Neil Murray and the only album with drummer Aynsley Dunbar. The album,besides its commercial success,is remarkable for the band's change to a more modern glam metal look and sound,and the first recording to use the band's new logo which would characterise them in the future.
Live... In the Still of the Night is a live concert DVD by the band Whitesnake. The concert was filmed on 20 October 2004 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. It was released regularly on 5 May 2006 featuring the recording of the live performance,behind-the-scene documentary and a photobook. The limited "special collector's" edition which was previously released on 7 February 2006 includes a bonus live album CD with ten selected songs from the same show.
Into the Light:The Solo Albums is a compilation album by British hard rock band Whitesnake,compiling singer-songwriter David Coverdale's solo albums,White Snake (1977),Northwinds (1978) and Into the Light (2000). It features "revisited,remixed and remastered" forms of previously released and unreleased material from the installment of the three solo albums. The title of the complication derives from Coverdale's third solo album. The complication is set to be released via Rhino Records on 25 October 2024.