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.
