Whitesnake recently released the latest installment of its deluxe reissue campaign, a four-CD/DVD set focusing on the band’s 1997 studio album, Restless Heart.
The Restless Heart: Super Deluxe Edition features newly remixed and remastered versions of the album, various unreleased demos and studio outtakes, and a DVD containing official music videos, fan videos, and a short making-of documentary.
Frontman David Coverdale tells ABC Audio that the new collection is “packed solid” with quality, like an “amazing box of chocolates.”
He’s “doubly excited” about the deluxe package’s arrival because the album wasn’t even released initially in the U.S.
Coverdale says he wasn’t happy with the album’s original mix, so the remix was beefed up with added tracks from current Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra and ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian.
“They brought in this early Whitesnake vibe,” Coverdale notes. “[And Derek is] almost like the son of [late Deep Purple/Whitesnake keyboardist] Jon Lord, bringing this element…of scorching Hammond organ.”
The new mix also features a different running order than the original Restless Heart, and David explains that’s because he put “a lot more thought [and] a lot more care” into the updated version. He adds, “These things I’m looking upon as my legacy as an artist.”
Restless Heart was a particularly diverse collection of tunes for a Whitesnake album, which Coversale says was because the project originally was intended to be his third studio album.
Besides hard rockers and power ballads, the album included two power blues songs and a cover of the 1966 R&B hit “Stay with Me.”
Meanwhile, another interesting element of the Super Deluxe set is an “Evolutions” disc, which features tracks that show how each song evolved from demos to the studio version.
Visit Whitesnake.com for full details about the reissue.
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