Features

A strident collection of confident, mostly bluesy material, the Doors’ album L.A. Woman sounded like the work of a band with a difficult road behind them and a long road ahead. The reality, though, was quite different. Front man Jim Morrison’s substantial alcohol intake was taking its toll on his health and creativity, not to mention his relationships with his band mates.

Since his shocking, untimely death in 2016, David Bowie’s life’s work has largely been reviewed, dissected, reappraised, reissued, and re-appreciated by his audience. This is mostly true of his acknowledged classic material and the artifacts (live and otherwise) taken from those periods.

35 years ago this month, the Monkees released the first of what would ultimately prove to be three collections of rare and previously-unissued tracks from the vault, offering fans an opportunity to hear songs that in some cases handily rivaled those that actually did make the cut for singles and album tracks.

Most fans know that Whitesnake’s David Coverdale also fronted Deep Purple (“Smoke on the Water,” “Highway Star,” “Child in Time”) beginning in 1973, after their singer Ian Gillan left the band. Few, however, know about the first time Coverdale and Purple crossed paths, when he was singing in a band called The Government.