The Coverdale Page project is one of the more bizarre in the annals of rock and roll history.  Jimmy Page abandoned the idea of being a solo act and just had to work with some well known heavy metal singer.  The Led Zeppelin remasters project in 1989-1990 produced many reunion rumours which went nowhere and his working with the former Whitesnake singer looks much like a rebound relationship.  The Coverdale Page cd, released in March 1993, seems to provoke such divergent reactions that a middle ground is hard to reach.  But in general it was a solid release with some impressive music.  This seven date tour of Japan, along with cameos in Reno and Vancouver in 1991 represent the total live output of the duo before going their seperate ways.  The December 22nd show at a gymnasium in Nagoya is their final live appearance.  The tape source is a complete excellent DAT stereo audience recording capturing every nuance of the performance.

This tape first surfaced soon after the event and was released on The Final Stage (CP-003/4) and the Italian production Over Now on Banzai in 1994.  Discs three and four of First & Last, where it was coupled with the first show of the tour on December 14th in Tokyo, also document Nagoya.  More recently it appears on the Russian release Don't Leave Me This Way on Azia Records (JPDC-0349/0350) in 2003.  Wardour debut thirty seconds at the introduction not found on previous releases and is comparable in sound quality to the earlier versions of the tape.  There have not been too many silver releases of this era in recent years (Cannonball released the December 18th Tokyo show on Rock And Roll Night and the two Osaka shows on Two Days In The West in 2004) so this is a welcome title.  Like all Wardour products Over Now is limited to three hundred copies and comes with thick glossy paper inserts with some dramatic photos of the event. 

The concert itself is interesting as a curiosity and a rarity but is very uneven as an artistic statement.  The set list is anchored by songs from their album and augmented by Whitesnake and Led Zeppelin songs.  The Zeppelin songs are actually the weak point of the show sounding unrehearsed and sloppy.  Bassist Guy Pratt didn't learn the breaks in "Kashmir" and Coverdale botches the lyrics of "In My Time Of Dying".  "Black Dog", by contrast, is given an interesting arrangement with pregnant pauses used to create excitement.  "Take Me For A Little While" contains a snippet of "Stairway To Heaven" and the keyboard solo in "Pride And Joy" has a reference to "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" to celebrate the coming yuletide season.  "Shake My Tree" contains Page's theremin solo seguing with "Whole Lotta Love" is a tremendous live number that brings down the house in this performance.  Over Now is a very good release whose artistic merits are questionable but is worth having as a curiosity.