DAVID COVERDALE is “wide open to another collaboration with JIMMY PAGE”
02-06-2023
During the second installment of his “QT With DC” video series, WHITESNAKE frontman David Coverdale was asked about a possible follow-up to his collaboration with Jimmy Page. The well-received COVERDALE PAGE set was recorded in several studios on both sides of the Atlantic over the winter of 1991-92 before it was finally released in March 1993.
“As Sean Connery said about James Bond: ‘Never say never,'” Coverdale said: “I have no idea. I treasure the time I worked with Jimmy. I think we got the best out of each other at that particular time in our lives. And that was the whole purpose of doing that. I’m there for Jimmy if he needs me for anything, as I hope he’s there for me… But I’m not sure if that’s gonna happen. But I’m wide open.”
Back in November 2021, Coverdale discussed a possible reissue of COVERDALE PAGE‘s eponymously titled LP in an interview with 107.7 The Bone‘s “Lamont & Tonelli”. He said: “I was very excited. Jimmy and I worked very well creatively, as you can hear, and we had another four or five songs which were unmixed. And I said, ‘Jimmy, I’ve got all these other ideas. Let’s just do a COVERDALE PAGE ‘2’ or let’s make a double album.’ And sadly, his manager at the time talked him out of it, which was infuriating. However, some of those songs that I had to present to Jimmy are on (David Coverdale & WHITESNAKE‘s 1997) ‘Restless Heart’ record — two of ’em. It was ‘Take Me Back Again’ and ‘Woman Trouble Blues’. Those were originally ideas for Jimmy and I, had we made a second album. But in 2023, it’s the 30th anniversary, so look for something special. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Coverdale previously spoke about his collaboration with Page during a February 2021 appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. At the time, he said that he and Jimmy were planning a “very big, luxurious, complete box set for the LP’s 30th anniversary in 2023.”
As for what extra material might surface on the expanded “Coverdale Page” set, the WHITESNAKE singer said: “We’ve got four unreleased tracks, which just need to be mixed. But since we reconnected, I’ve been messing around, writing at home. And I have two ideas which could make really fun tracks — just to throw at him and ‘see what you can do with this.’ The way we did it before — we wrote really very potent music together.
“The other thing that I recommended to him was, ‘Let’s remaster the original, but I’d love you, in England, with a mixer of your choice, to do the Jimmy Page mix of the album, and I’ll do the David Coverdale mix as bonus stuff,'” he continued. “And I think that’d be great. He trusts me, I trust him, and I think it would be great for the fans to get Jimmy‘s take on it, ’cause we did everything 50/50 on the project. It was an amazing three years together. I loved it. So, yeah, that’s definitely in the pipeline.”
Upon its release, “Coverdale Page” sold strongly, peaking at No. 4 on the U.K. album chart and No. 5 in the U.S. The album eventually went platinum in the U.S., despite the fact that the project as a whole was marred by the “LED ZEPPELIN clone” tag, including from ZEPPELIN frontman Robert Plant, who openly expressed his disdain for Coverdale, referring to him as “David Cover-version.” Coverdale was equally vitriolic in his response, saying about the LED ZEPPELIN singer, “There’s certainly no love lost between myself and Robert… I wouldn’t send him cat food if he was starving.”
Coverdale later apologized to Plant, saying in a 2013 interview with TeamRock Radio‘s “Classic Rock Magazine Show”: “I hold Plant in the highest esteem as a human being, and as an artist, and I really would like to, you know, sit down, buy him a drink, shake hands and say: ‘I’m really sorry,” you know, “Can we be friends again?’ I don’t hold any animosity, just disappointment in myself that I took the bait and ran with some ugly things. Because it’s not appropriate for somebody I respect so much.”
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