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.
