Cozy has been speaking his mind about the band recently, hinting that he might not be with them much longer. He was also seen in Germany signing autographs "Cozy Powell, ex-Rainbow". Fully rested after the British tour, Rainbow left for a short tour of Japan in May. The dates were recorded for possible use. Quite a surprise was the announcement that the band will be doing a UK festival, on August 16th at Castle Donnington. 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' was quoted as being the next single, and I could see it being a really massive hit, but I hope good sense prevails. Elsewhere, Roger Glover was also at the Gillan gig in March when Ritchie jammed, but he wouldn't go on.

After support act G Force (with Gary Moore) had ground to a halt, Whitesnake were on quite quickly, and without wasting any time went straight into 'Come On', followed by 'Sweet Talker'. Nothing bowled me over, (it was like a rerun of the 1979 tour only lacking in freshness), so I checked the band out (!). Jon Lord seemed in better form than last tour, Coverdale looked fitter than he's done since '74, and Micky was doing his usual cowboy impressions. Behind them all was the silver Ludwig, with the man himself in his pink 'Paice hat'. 'Mistreated' gave me my first shivers of the night, with a lovely new intro. During its finishing climax things suddenly quietened, and David launched into a virtually unaccompanied verse of 'Soldier of Fortune', a magical moment. The set rocked out with a dynamite version of 'Take Me With You', and as the audience seemed to bow their heads as one to headbang, we got our best view of the night!

As a summing up of Whitesnake to date the EP makes a convenient package, one number from each lineup etc. The b-sides seem even weaker in comparison with the a-side. The combination of Paice and Murray is excellent, together with Jon Lord they power along. What it comes down to is Whitesnake finally starting off where they should have been on 'Trouble'.

Partly because it stands out as a classy track, and partly because of an excellent promotional film, 'Fool For Your Loving' enjoyed a lengthy stay in the top 30. The film was shot at the Rainbow Theatre during the soundcheck for the April 2nd show. According to Pierre Caeiro they went through it five times for the cameras, playing along with the single each time. Then during the actual show they filmed the audience. This was added to the mimed footage to give an authentic but very classy bit of film.

"A big improvement on the last two (wouldn't be hard), the change wrought by Ian Paice is quite phenomenal. 'Fool For Your Loving' has superb backing, especially Jon's foundations, and David puts real feel into the song. The title track is very disappointing however, grotty beat and poor lyrics, and vocals. 'Black & Blue' is a dire copy of the awful 'Rock & Roll Women' from the last album. Things pick up for the closer 'She's A Woman', and for once Jon isn't buried in the mix. I'm very suspicious of Mr.Birch these days, his work seems careless, burying the bits you want to hear, and yet he contributed so much to Deep Purple." David Billington

Must admit I think they could benefit from looking around producer wise, but then could anything have saved this album? Sure it all works out on stage, but albums used to be more than pale reflections of a band's live capabilities. Whitesnake have just completed what must be their most successful UK tour to date, though the warm-up at the Rainbow Theatre on April 2nd wasn't too good according to reports, with the PA ruined by Judas Priest the night before!

"I feel it is important to remember that this was recorded before Ian Paice joined. It is still their best album to date, even if it is not up to current stage standards. It opens with 'Come On', a number I've always liked, and which sounds great at twice the speed of the studio version. I think 'Might Just Take Your Life' is better than the Burn version, maybe as David sings more on it - there is also a nice Jon Lord solo in there. I must admit I was apprehensive about buying this record, but I wasn't disappointed! There is a lyric sheet inside, they've even written out Coverdale's introductions." Alan Hutchinson

The record company problems mentioned last issue resulted in Gillan looking elsewhere, finally settling with Virgin Records. In March the band recorded a special session for Tommy Vance at BBC Radio, consisting of a new number from their short UK tour called 'If You Believe Me'. At the end of April they returned to the studios to work out on the new album, provisionally titled 'Glory Road'. They had five weeks booked, up until May 25th. An appearance at the Reading Festival has been set once more, they also did the Loch Lomond Festival on June 22nd. A full UK tour will follow, ending on October 25th.

A re-recording of the Japanese album track, but isn't much better - the fault still being in the production, and the poor drum sound. Somewhere in the mix is a strong catchy tune struggling to get out. The b-side is very IGB like, with double tracked vocals,and isn't as good as the a-side. All the recent numbers seem to be based on a keyboard riff copied by a guitar, and repeated over and over. I'd like to hear Colin Towns use deeper or different tones occasionally - maybe a bit more Hammond - though I know he's conscious of trying to avoid sounding like Lordy. Overall not an auspicious start with Virgin.

This compilation set, coming so soon after the last two efforts, is just bad news for Deep Purple fans. Let's clue you in on it and the accompanying single. Despite me telling them what I thought about the idea, EMI's TV promotions department had scheduled a TV-promoted album, and that was that. They went for 'Black Night' as the a-side of the single, despite it having been reissued only last year as a 12 inch, and despite the fact that the 7" version was still on catalogue. I asked for something new on the b-side and we eventually reached a compromise with 'Speed King' from the 1970 BBC In Concert, which would be new to most people.

"Sounds slagged the album into the ground, and then an understandably annoyed Simper wrote in defending himself and the band. The opener 'Candice Larene' I like a lot, Nick and guitarist Pete Parks have a knack for catchy country material. The sound is very clean,and the guys are obviously seasoned session men. The lyrics to this (and most of the album) are pretty duff. The title track sounds like a bad 'Highway Star'. The closing track 'Time Will Tell', is a real tearjerker: 'Nineteen hundred and sixty eight, find it hard to relate to the songs I'm singing so well, Nineteen hundred and sixty nine is the end of the line, only time will tell'. Nick denied writing it in his letter. The tune is catchy, but the lyrics are laughable. Overall it's a fairly pleasant effort which shines at times, but is ordinary or bad the rest of the time." Brian Bell