Jimmy Page has publicly mentioned the prospect of releasing an expanded version of his 1993 album with David Coverdale, Coverdale Page.
A post published on Page’s official Facebook and Instagram pages on April 18 gives a history of the Coverdale Page project and ends with “there’s one track called ‘Saccharin’, which is really, really good. Maybe those outtakes will come out at some point in an expanded version.”
The post is a longer version of an older “On This Day” entry which was regularly posted on Page’s website since 2012, online archives of the site show. Page stopped updating his website earlier this year and now posts similar “On This Day” entries directly to his social media pages.
Here’s a look at the original On This Day entry, saved on the Mage Music blog:
It’s unclear why Page has now decided to acknowledge the idea of expanding the Coverdale Page album, one year after the thirtieth anniversary of its release.
Coverdale repeatedly discussed his hopes for releasing a box set of the album in interviews since 2018 but seemed to give up on the project last year. “There was just no time. It breaks my heart not to do it, it really does, because it’s a super, super record,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock.
“I really don’t know what to do,” he continued. “I don’t know who [to give this project to],” he laments. “But I pray that Jimmy, I think he has potentially exhausted the Led Zeppelin catalogue, that he would take something like this on if he was enthused.”
Despite the original analogue tapes of the album being destroyed in 2008 Universal Studios fire, digital copies of the album’s recordings remain.
Sony Music Japan released a two-disc, transparent blue limited edition vinyl version of the album on November 22 but neither Coverdale nor Page promoted the release.
The re-release didn’t include any bonus material that wasn’t on the original album and the songs on the album haven’t been remastered. The only bonus listed online was a 24cm by 24cm “mega jacket” that was exclusive to Amazon Japan.
A history of public plans to release an expanded version of the Coverdale Page album
Coverdale spoke to Polish radio station Radio 357 in an interview broadcast on March 20, 2022 (thanks to Royal Orleans member pablak for sharing a recording). In the interview, told presenter Piotr Kaczkowski that he has “maybe four songs and a lot of jam sessions in the can” from his work with Page on the 1993 album.
“There’s a lot of songs that we didn’t get to release,” Coverdale told Radio 357. “I was very excited to work with Jimmy. I thought we did a very good job getting the best out of each other at that time in our lives. And I had [a] very, very creative electricity feeling so I was coming up with ideas and I said to Jimmy ‘We can do another album. We can make Coverdale Page 2.’ And his manager at that time was not encouraging.”
“I’ve utilised a lot of those songs with Whitesnake, like on Flesh & Blood, ‘Gonna Be Alright’ was one of those guitar licks I had for Coverdale Page 2 and on Restless Heart, I don’t know whether you remember when we spoke so long ago, two of those songs I’d written for a Coverdale Page 2 which was ‘Woman Trouble Blues’ and ‘Take Me Back Again’.”
“So at least these songs are getting exposure but we still have, I think, maybe four songs and a lot of jam sessions in the can,” Coverdale added. “It’s just very dangerous now for … Jimmy doesn’t have a studio at home. I have a studio around the corner from my house so I can do all this remixing during the terrible Covid experience. But Jimmy can’t get to a studio. There are still dangerous elements of these Covid variants coming out but we have the thirtieth anniversary in 2023. It’s fantastic, Peter, it’s the thirtieth anniversary of Coverdale Page, amazing to think of, so I would love us to make a beautiful box set for that … as soon as I finish touring, I’m back in the studio.”
Speaking to Antihero Magazine in 2021, Coverdale said he had struck a deal with Universal to purchase the rights to the album. “I’ve just got that album back, the rights to it, from Universal in a settlement deal,” Coverdale said. “Because a lot of my work was lost in that infamous fire. It’s been consistently denied, we were really fortunate to come out with the stuff we did.”
“I spoke to Jimmy about it, and I said, ‘I must tell you, I’m loving working with Rhino, I want to give them first offer,’” Coverdale told Antihero Magazine. “We still have to come to an agreement on that, but the plan is we have so much content, and I suggested to Jimmy, ‘Why don’t you do a mix? We’ll always have the original which we’ll remaster. We’ll find amazing guys to work on it. I said, ‘Why don’t you do the Jimmy Page mix, and I’ll do the David Coverdale mix? You do your own running order, I’ll do my own running order, I think the fans would love it.’”
“We have, I think, four unreleased songs, five, I’m not sure,” he continued. “Because working with Jimmy was so inspiring, it was a particularly prolific period for me. So, I said, ‘Let’s finish off the album. Let’s do a second album.’ We could’ve done it easily, and his manager talked him out of it, it was really sad, and thank God that guy’s out of the picture now.”
“But Jimmy and I maintain a super friendship, and I’m hoping to have some good news for him soon anyway. So, we shall see, fingers crossed. But that is part of the plan, yeah.”
Coverdale also told the “Talkin’ Rock With Meltdown” podcast in February 2021 that “right now I’m working on songs potentially to present to Jimmy Page for maybe a couple of bonus tracks.”
Coverdale also told eonmusic in October 2020 about his plans for a remaster of the album.
“I think you’re in for some nice surprises,” he said. “Jimmy and I have been talking about it, and he’s isolated out in the country, so we just have to make sure, because I’m not getting on a fucking plane, and I certainly don’t expect him to!”
“We’ll have the original album remastered, and we’ve got a bunch of songs we didn’t release, and I videoed most of the writing and recording scenario, and all the way to the shows in Osaka and stuff, so, there’s a shit load of content, but one of the things I suggested to him, I said; ‘why don’t you do a Jimmy Page mix on the record, and I’ll do a David Coverdale mix, and let the fans just get Jimmy’s perspective, and mine.’”
Coverdale first mentioned a remaster of the album in an interview with Eddie Trunk in 2018. “Last year, prior to Christmas, I hosted all my Warner guys, the new people I’m working with. The new team flew up from LA to Reno where Hook City, the Whitesnake studio, is. We spent a day together discussing plans and ideas,” he said.
“And the president said, not the president of the United States, said, ‘How would you think bout revisiting the ‘Coverdale Page’ album?’ And I said, ‘What, remixing?’ Because initially, prior to me getting ill we were supposed to deliver the ‘Flesh and Blood’ studio record to Frontiers by the end of February in order to get it out May-June to coincide with the Foreigner one. And of course my illness just kicked it off the table.
“But at that time I thought March, April, May – Jimmy and I could remix it and mix the unreleased songs that we had, because we had four or five extra songs. At the same time, talking about synchronicity or good planning on the part of Warner, the president or Warner UK was entertaining Jimmy a dinner or lunch and saying, ‘Hey, how would you fancy revisiting the Coverdale Page project?’ And he went, ‘I’ll call David right now!’ And I said to this guy, ‘I’ll call Jimmy right now.’ It was the funniest thing.”
“So definitely when we can, when we both have the time, we will be remixing and adding… I mean, I documented, I filmed the whole process from the first day Jimmy and I sat down to write music at my house at Lake Tahoe. So there’s enough stuff to make a really interesting package for the fans.”
a deluxe reissue of this album would be most welcome now that page is retired page was really hot on this album is best guitar work for years on record they also did some live shows in japan a live cd or album would be a welcome bounus on another note a deluxe edition of pages excellant 1988 outrider album is long over due BRING IT ON HOME
Anniversary reissues are so redundant anyway. The very failure to accede to that deadline will add to the appeal of the release.
Even The Beatles reluctantly joined banal anniversary reissues. And re-departed with Revolver recently. Anniversaries are tedium itself. Kick out the clocks?!
This album was groundbreaking , but true blindness on the part of the fans dominated. They didn;t like David’s dyed hair. End Of Coverdale/Page. Come back and show them what a great album sounds like.