Tag: van halen (Page 2 of 3)

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.

Back in the mists of time, well 1976 to be precise, Van Halen were just another struggling band trying to make it in Pasadena, and the occasional foray into Hollywood where the band had a decent local following. Gene Simmons claims he found them whilst playing one of these shows, and offered to record a demo with the band and he would shop it to labels. Of course, he had a slight ulterior motive as he saw the hot shot guitar player as a replacement for Ace, who Kiss were having a few problems with at the time.

The most interesting thing about these demos, as well as listening to the original versions of these songs before Ted Templeman waved his magic, is that Eddie hadn’t yet evolved the tapping technique fully yet. First track, On Fire, is not far off from the version you here on the first album. Woman In Love, although having the same title, is nothing like the version that would end up on VH2. House In Pain, as we all know, had a slight name change to House Of Pain and would finally make it on to 1984. I actually really like this version. The other thing you notice is that way back in ’76, they had tunes nearly fully formed that would not make it to album some 8 years later. Runnin’ With The Devil is not too different from the first album, even Ed’s solo. She’s The Woman is the last track on the first side and would not make it to an album until A Different Kind Of Truth, and again, is nearly all there and this version is better imho.

Side 2 carries on with Let’s Get Rockin’ that was never fully released – except for a couple of snippets. Big Trouble is another tune that wasn’t released, and it’s not up to the band’s usual standard, but it does have an interesting middle section with some great guitar. Somebody Get Me a Doctor is just about complete structure wise, but would benefit huge from Templeman’s magic. Babe Don’t Leave Me Alone is just a straight up 70’s American rock song, that bands like Angel would put out. Last track is Put Out The Lights and is just another ok tune.

In my opinion, there is still enough great tunes on here to have got the band a deal at the time. No record company bothered until Ted Templeman saw them nearly two years later, by which time Ed had the full arsenal of tricks.

8/10 from The Grooveman.