Tag: van halen (Page 2 of 3)

As with all of the rest of the first six Van Halen albums, Women And Children First is a classic. Again, utilizing tracks that they had written and were playing in their back yard party and club days. Eddie Van Halen was a genius guitar player and composer for sure, and join that to a badass rhythm section comprising of his brother on drums and Michael Anthony on bass, then add to that mix the ultimate front man in Dave Lee Roth – ladies and haemorrhoids, we have a winner!

This album has a looser feel to the previous two albums, and with the two opening tracks of And The Cradle Will Rock and Everybody Wants Some, you won’t hear a better opening – believe me, no other band in existence could sound like that. The guitar intro and riff, plus the groove to Fools is so infectious it makes COVID look like a mild sniffle. The end to this song where the riff and chord pattern drop down is just the best. Romeo’s Delight is one of the forgotten VH tracks that doesn’t get mentioned a lot in peoples favourites, but this a killer tune full of attitude and great playing with a superb solo. There ends Side 1!

Tora Tora and Loss Of Control start up Side 2, and this as fast as the band go – all pedals are to the metal! The acoustic intro to Take Your Whiskey Home with just Eddie and Dave is pure joy, till the main sleazy riff kicks in – what a killer solo. The surprise on this album is the acoustic blues barroom groove of Could This Be Magic with awesome vocal harmonies. The album closes out with In A Simple Rhyme, another one of the “forgotten” VH tunes that I really love – especially the vocal harmonies. Just when you think it’s all over there is that weird intro that eludes to the next album.

Just 34 minutes of all killer no filler – and yes – every home should have one.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

Before we get started, I’ll just put this out there: if it ain’t Roth, it ain’t Van Halen!

The first six albums are untouchable, and are all classics in my book. Yes, even Diver Down! I’m not the biggest Sam The Sham fan for reasons that I wont mention here. This is the only VH album with him singing that I really like, and that’s because Ed’s guitar sound is incredible.

5150 must have been shaking when this album was recorded, as the guitar tone and sound is just mean and angry. Seventh Seal opens the album and the groove and feel is epic, and the guitar…jeez! The riff and tone to Don’t Tell Me What Love Can Do is off the scale. What a killer sound and the solos…damn! The groove, feel, and tone to Amsterdam is killer, and Reverend Al’s drum sound is huge. Aftershock is on the money musically, and the riff and groove are killer, but I’m pretty sure the vocal line is from some old rock n roll tune. Great to see a full instrumental track on a VH album, and I’m pretty sure there are a lot of those in the VH vaults.

I wrote this on Ed’s birthday, and its still hard to believe that he is no longer with us, but he sure left is a great body of work. It’s the best Hagar era album.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

So here it is campers, review number 400 is on us and doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?! I guess you know where this is going before we start, as I have mentioned previously that the first 6 VH albums are all “knock it out of the park 10/10” records – and this one could be the king of them all.

Starting off with the very un-Van Halen keyboard intro of 1984, the album then kicks into the band’s biggest and most well known song, Jump. Just over four minutes of pop perfection. Then BOOM…straight in the brilliance of Panama. A riff to kill for superb chorus and hook, and who says Dave can’t sing?! To show that VH always take chances, Top Jimmy is next up and there is a hint of Jazz in the mix, as well as a short sharp burst of a killer solo. Side 1 closes out with one of VH’s best deep cuts with Drop Dead Legs. A superb riff and a dirty sleazy vocal from Dave – plus great melodies and bv’s from Eddie and Mike, and we get a great ending which I think is superb.

Over to what could be the best Side 2 of any VH record, and Hot For Teacher assaults your aural openings with Alex pounding the hell out of his kit, leading into a fast shuffle with one hell of guitar intro. The riff alone is to die for and the video was hilarious. Dear Van Hagar fans, name me one song that comes close? I thought not! As close as VH get to ballad city is next with I’ll Wait. A mainly synth driven song, and is followed by a killer one two ending of Girl Gone Bad, and House Of Pain. These two tracks are old (or parts of them are old), and they go way back to the backyard party days. The intro to Girls Gone Bad is epic, and the build up to the main song is awesome – the solo should melt your face off. Who would have thought that House Of Pain would have been Dave’s last contribution to the band for some time – well at least he went out with a bang. What a killer way to end a record. Everything about this song is amazing – and I mean everything!

So that’s it – the last great VH album. No Hagar-era album comes close, and we won’t mention VH3 as it’s a bit weird. There are moments on a Different Kind Of Truth that are great, but essentially 1984 was the peak.

I’m sure it’s no surprise that it’s another 10,000/10 from The Grooveman.

We have reached review number 300!!!

This started as a release from the COVID negativity, and has now turned into a challenge for myself to try and review all of my vinyl records. Only another 1700 to go!

For this little milestone, I have picked this one myself. It’s another of my desert island albums, Van Halen’s – Fair Warning. It was the band’s fourth album and the first not to include any old material from the backyard party days. A lot of fans call this the dark album, as Ed’s guitar sound and Dave’s lyrics – plus the cover art -gave the album that darker feel.

The album starts with a “how the hell is he doing that” guitar intro to Mean Streets, which is my favourite Van Halen track. The guitar sound, the chord structure, the harmonies, Dave’s lyrics, the really cool groove – everything about this track was head and shoulders above anything around at the time, and another benchmark had been made. Even the outro is pure gold with the cool ringing chord sequence. The intro to Dirty Movies is sublime, until the big power riff kicks in and the groove is almost funk. Again, Dave’s lyrics are pure gold, and a killer middle eight make this another sure fire winner. Sinners Swing opens up with one hell of a riff and is almost two tracks in one – with the slow verse and rockin’ choru, and add to that the small but perfectly formed solo – awesome! Hear About It Later closes out Side 1 and is such a killer tune. The guitar tone alone is worth the price of admission boys and girls, and what a great melody and hook. The middle eight is jaw dropping and groovey as hell. Do you want to know what made Van Halen better than all the wannabes? Just listen to this track!

Unchained opens up Side 2 and everyone should be aware of this monster. Quite a simple riff and groove but hit hits the spot. “C’mon Dave gimme a break”. The reggae vibe of Push Come To Shove follows and it’s a freakin’ awesome tune. It was so against the grain for rock bands to do anything like this at the time, especially hard rockin’ bands like VH. The solo is just so freakin’ cool. The other single from the album, So This Is Love, is next up and it has a rocked up do-wop vibe – complete with a short snappy solo. Sunday Afternoon In The Park is a short weird intro piece to One Foot Out The Door, and is the first time a synthesizer was used on a VH record – Edward bolted it onto his guitar! One of Edward’s best solos is towards the end of One Foot Out The Door – it’s just jaw dropping in its execution.

I know I say this a lot, but we will never see the likes of a Van Halen type band again. When I think about Edward no longer being with us it makes me so sad. This is obviously an everyone should own one.

10,000/10 from The Grooveman.