Whitesnake: The Purple Album Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Whitesnake: The Purple Album Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 8, 2023

Though they're really not the norm anymore, many recording careers in the veritable days of yore were made out of so called "cover versions", with, to cite just one "generic" example, all sorts of so-called "easy listening" artists from the forties through maybe around the late seventies churning out their often quite inventive versions of others' big hits. The Purple Album by Whitesnake may answer the unasked question "when is a cover version not really a cover version", for if its title cheekily mimics a less saturated color for an album title made famous by the Beatles, it also just as cheekily refers to Deep Purple, which of course has strong ties to this particular aggregation. These "cover versions" offer tunes understandably culled from David Coverdale's tenure with Deep Purple, but that doesn't mean Whitesnake necessarily recreates these exactly as they were originally recorded. Rhino has put together a release that offers two CDs featuring both a 2023 remix of the album along with a glut of bonus recordings, along with a Blu-ray disc that kind of interestingly does not offer hi-res audio of the album, but instead an enjoyable collection of Whitesnake music videos, live performances and interviews. The only downside for some audiophiles, aside from there being no hi-res audio version of the actual album will be the fact that the Blu-ray disc only offers lossy Dolby Digital options.

This another hybrid media release where one fan's "major feature" may be another fan's "bonus content", so I'll simply use this part of the review to document the contents of the Blu-ray disc in this set.

Music Videos are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0:

1. Lady Double Dealer (HD; 3:58)
2. Stormbringer (HD; 5:21)
3. Sail Away (HD; 4:55)
4. Soldier of Fortune (HD; 3:23)
5. The Gypsy (Tour Video) (HD; 5:35)
6. Solider of Fortune (joel with the Hook City Strings) (HD; 3:20)
7. Soldier of Fortune (Hook City Strings) (HD; 3:21)
8. Lay Down, Stay Down (HD; 3:58)
9. Holy Man (HD; 4:52)
10. You Keep On Moving (HD; 5:13)
11. You Fool No One (HD; 7:01

Live Videos are presented in either Dolby Digital 2.0 or Dolby Digital 5.1:

1. Burn (Live Music Video) (HD; 7:48)
2. Burn (Live In the Still of the Night) (HD; 8:32)
3. Soldier of Fortune (Tokyo) (HD; 3:59)
4. Five Live (HD; 34:37)

   Burn

   The Gypsy

   Mistreated

   You Fool No One

   Soldier of Fortune

Behind the Scenes (HD; 24:29) is a kind of quasi- Behind the Music piece filled with some great interviews with the band discussing the album.

Song by Song (HD; 39:43) is even better in my estimation, offering the band discussing each song in some detail.

Whitesnake: The Purple Album Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Whitesnake: The Purple Album is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Rhino and Round Hill Music, all AVC encoded but variously in 1080p or 1080i, and (as can be seen in the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review) a variety of aspect ratios as well. None of this material is probably going to set videophiles' hearts on fire, but the music videos in particular look nicely sharp and well detailed, even if they expectedly offer any number of visual "bells and whistles" that can add all sorts of psychedelic touches to the image. The live videos are a somewhat more variant bunch, with, for example, the Tokyo snippet in 1.33:1 and obviously sourced from an older tape source, but some others offering a more detailed and contemporary appearance. The Behind the Scenes piece is decent if not outstanding, but the Song by Song material is typically very sharp and well defined. Some of this material is certainly up and arguably a bit past 4.0 range, while other moments drift down into 3.0-ish territory, so I'm kind of splitting the difference.

Whitesnake: The Purple Album Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As mentioned above, it's no doubt going to disappoint some fans that only Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 options are offered, and in fact the 5.1 option is only available on the Live Videos. Longtime readers of my reviews know I also chafe a bit at Blu-ray discs that don't offer any lossless audio options, but as far as the surround track in particular on this disc goes, it provides good surround activity with the band maintaining prominence over any crowd sounds, and with a reasonably fulsome midrange and low end. The stereo tracks are reasonably well imaged, though kind of interestingly I'd probably give the edge to the sound of the music videos over some of the live performance material.

Whitesnake: The Purple Album Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

With the assumption that those reading this review are probably most interested in the Blu-ray disc, the "other discs" in this package offer two CDs. CD 1 offers a really nice sounding 2023 remix of the original album, with Disc Two offering the The Purple Four Five Live tracks included on the Blu-ray disc, along with some really fantastic bonus material, including alternative mixes of several songs, and David Coverdale's Deep Purple audition tape featuring the Fabulosa Brothers. A nicely appointed insert booklet is also included.

Whitesnake: The Purple Album Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is one of those "glass half full, glass half empty" releases. The music is driving but often quite lyrically beautiful, with some lustrous production values, and the overall release offers a good deal of variety. That's the half full side. Counterweighing those positives for audiophiles in particular will be the lack of a hi-res mix of the album on the Blu-ray disc, as well as only lossy audio options for the video content. What's kind of interesting about all of this is the fact that Rhino relatively recently released Whitesnake: Still Good to Be Bad, which had a similar "hybrid media" approach to things, but which had some arguably less consistently good video, including live performances, but offered lossless audio options.