Van Halen ~ Fair Warning (album review) ... Fair warning about the mean streets!

Style: hard rock, classic rock
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1981
Home: California

Members: David Lee Roth ~ vocals
Eddie Van Halen ~ guitars/b. vocals
Michael Anthony ~ bass/b. vocals
Alex Van Halen ~ drums


Fair Warning is not a VH album that typically comes up in conversation, but I can't hear any reason why it really shouldn't. It spurred two minor hits in "Mean Streets" & "Unchained", but hits aren't necessarily what make for a good album. I can think of a couple hit-laden VH albums that I didn't think were as strong or as focused as this. This is not as musically experimental as other VH albums, such as III, but because of that remains far more predictable & maybe a little bit more solid & focused. David Lee Roth puts in his predictable sex-laden imagery that he seems to be unable to live without, though the Anthony/Van Halen rhythm section remains an under-rated force to be reckoned with. Fair Warning has been criticized for not being as much fun as the three VH albums that came before due to the band's heavy touring schedule & the Roth/Van Halen troubles that were beginning to put cracks in the wall, though musically its hard to hear that here as it storms along ... though the storm does have some problems. There's a tendency for the songs to be inter-changeable. While it's a strong sounding album there really isn't a strong knock you flat single like VH had previously & would continue to create. It's a bit uninspired in that sense. "Mean Streets" & "Sinner's Swing!" sound more alike than not & if it wasn't for the odd ducks in the instrumental "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" & the strange groover "One Foot Out The Door" that closes the album you might wonder if you hadn't listened to the same song over & over. There's almost no reason why the great "Hear About It Later" isn't a big VH hit ... except for the fact that it sounds like the others songs here or like others VH have done. This is a stick with what works album for the most part. Though, that is except for "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" which is everything but uninspired as an early synthesizer instrumental that almost foreshadows III & is one of those indulgent moments that so many VH albums have & are really better left on the drawing board or being incorporated into a song. But, since you can't get away from them & they are so common, it's kinda hard to knock a VH album because of them. Later albums would find VH using synthesizers to great effect. But, where this album rises up is in the fact that Eddie Van Halen's guitar hits hard & dirty in a way the party songs of the previous releases didn't always. This is undoubtedly their rawest sounding release to date, rough & tumble. It might be the biggest swagger album VH ever made where Roth is not just singing about loving girls but being messed up by them & not putting up with it. It might be an imitative sounding album, but the boys copy all the good parts that make us love VH where you almost can't go wrong, thus it ends up being stronger than it really is. Believe it or not, it was listed by Esquire magazine as one of the "75 Albums Every Man Should Own" & I would agree on some level, though it might not be the album I'd introduce a potential fan to. Check out "Push Comes To Shove" for Michael Anthony's bassline on a disco retro ballad track with under-played guitar, that is Anthony is more upfront than Van Halen which is shock. An interesting little track, a bit out of place, but kinda cool.

Strummin' with the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen - A Tribute Featuring David Lee Roth (album review) ... Bluegrass attack Van Halen style!

Style: instrumental, bluegrass, 80's rock, country
Label: CMH
Year: 2006
Home: n/a

Members: David Lee Roth ~ vocals
Tony Trischka, Dennis Caplinger ~ banjo
Dudley Connell, Larry Cordle ~ guitar/vocals
Marshall Wilborn ~ acoustic bass/vocals
Dave McLaughlin ~ mandolin
John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band, Blue Highway, John Cowan Band, Mountain Heart, Iron Horse, David Grisman & Sons, Cornbread Red, Nashville Bluegrass Band ~ n/a

A quick Amazon search will find many hard rock/metal bands interpreted by bluegrass. Outside of classical, or maybe polka of which Wierd Al has the market cornered, one probably can't find two greater extremes & thus it only makes sense to try to bring them together. Having not heard the other bluegrass tributes, I can only say that this tribute to Van Halen is a pure delight for both rock & bluegrass fans. Many of the hits & a few lesser known tunes are included here with an array of respected bluegrass musicians & bands of the current scene. & every band shines, albeit those that stick most to the Van Halen arrangements tend to come out the weakest (i.e. "Jump", "Running With The Devil"). The best songs are the ones that bring something new to the songs, such as the highlight "Jamie's Cryin" which not just slows the song down but features a sad violin that might be more enjoyable than the original. "Dance The Night Away" is a slow romantic dance bringing the romance back to the song. "Ice Cream Man" & "Could This Be Magic?" sound as if they could have been written in the 1930's. The album advertises that it features former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, but this is a slight misnomer as Roth features only on the first two tracks with the John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band behind him. Most of the songs feature vocals, though the instrumentals "Eruption" & "Hot For Teacher" are great. "Hot For Teacher" has the most interesting opening, a bit experimental before going to the well known riff on mandolin & guitar with violin taking up the vocal line via the creative playing of mandolin king David Grisman. The major problem, for those of us not bluegrass fans, is that due to the acoustic nature & style of bluegrass music each band sounds largely similar sans a few outings such as with Grisman. Though, on the other hand, tribute albums are often disjointed affairs with the differences in bands jarring the flow so this is also a positive. Other songs featured include: "I'll Wait", "Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love", "Feel Your Love Tonight", "Panama", "Unchained" & "& the Cradle Will Rock..."

Van Halen ~ Diver Down (album review) ... Only Van Halen can pull off a drowning trick worthy of Houdini!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, 80's rock
Label: Warner Bros.
Year: 1982
Home: California

Members: David Lee Roth ~ vocals/harmonica/synthesizer/acoustic guitar
Eddie Van Halen ~ guitars/keyboards/b. vocals
Michael Anthony ~ bass/b. vocals
Alex Van Halen ~ drums

Guest: Jan Van Halen ~ clarinet/saxophones

 

An unmentioned rule of thumb for an album's success is that all the songs share some sort of similar musical thread. People buy an album expecting to hear a particular sound. You don't typically record a classical song next to ska or if you do there's some bridge in between allowing the record to rise & fall, nor is Metallica about to include a 16 minute slow blues jam on their next through-the-roof-heavy metal album. Albeit, I say this as Jeff Beck releases an album featuring Puccini & blues-rock & the result is successful. Diver Down is a cornucopia of songs by one of everyone's favorite 80's troubadours that flows more like a mixed-bag greatest hits album or a rarities/B-sides compilation. The latter being the more likely as this isn't particularly strong on hits. This is the opposite of the later For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge which is one pounding in your face song after another which basically all sound alike, while also being the opposite of VH's debut which is a bar band being unleased on the world & burning up the stage in the process. This is an experienced highly polished & super successful band doing some unusual covers in unusual ways ("Oh, Pretty Woman", "Dancing In The Street", "Happy Trails," The Kinks' "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" & "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)") along with some one-minute instruments ("Cathedral", "Intruder" & "Little Guitars (Intro)") & a meager five originals. It's almost as if they didn't have enough originals to make a full album, but yet this doesn't sound sloppy or haphazardly or quickly thrown together. But, then, VH has never made an album that didn't sound like much care, effort & time was put into it, even when the results weren't particularly successful. Further, each song is so different that they actually highlight each member. Roth gets some nice slow rockers to just enjoy singing to ... though sans his crazy vocal pyrotechnics. Eddie enjoys a few rare instrumentals ... which are experimental oddities, including two acoustic only pieces ("Big Bad Bill" & "Little Guitars (Intro)"), though he's done far better with countless other songs just on the arrangements alone. As for the rhythm section ... they've never been particularly fancy & as always lay down the steady rhythm they are good at albeit a bit slower. There's even a vaudevillian number ("Big Bad Bill") featuring Eddie strumming away on a jazz style acoustic guitar & with his dad on clarinet ... one of the strangest songs you'll ever hear from VH, though I'm sure it made dad happy. Only to have it all end on the vocal only "Happy Trails" ... which might even be stranger than "Big Bad Bill". None of the songs are particular rockers, while the instrumentals never are able to sound like more than short mood-setting fillers you might hear on a Satriani album. Diver Down is full of catchy little tunes that might have landed on the radio, but VH isn't really VH when not putting the pedal to the floor. It's a fun album of light party hits & that's exactly what it's supposed to be & for that exceeds incredibly well. On repeated listens it isn't that bad ... for a museum piece ... an interesting exhibition of a party band taking it easy. The highlight of taking it easy are the covers, a great original under played ballad called "Secrets" ... & as always the earth-shattering guitar solos. By any other band this album might be a dead weight but these guys are just too good & it shows.

Van Halen ~ The Best Of ... Vol 1 (hits comp) (album review) ... The best of the greatest band!

Style: heavy metal, 80's rock, hard rock
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1996
Home: California

Members: David Lee Roth ~ lead vocals
Sammy Hagar ~ lead vocals/rhythm guitar
Eddie Van Halen ~ guitars/keyboards/b. vocals
Michael Anthony ~ bass/b. vocals
Alex Van Halen ~ drums

 

 

  I remember watching David Letterman every day after school as a young boy in the 80's. This is back before he'd switched networks. If you know what I'm talking about you're showing your age. One afternoon he interviewed Eddie Van Halen, who was then considered the greatest guitar player in the world, climaxed by being on Michael Jackson's chart-topping Thriller. Today few would probably call Eddie the greatest. Influential, yes. Legendary, yes. A bit odd when it comes to directing the later day career of his band, maybe. I didn't get into Van Halen until later when Sammy Hagar was on board & they released For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (which, if you didn't realize it spells F.U.C.K.). I still remember the video of David in 'Poundcake' playing guitar with an electric drill. Predecessor David Lee Roth was a bit too flamboyant for me & I always liked the more commercial & polished arrangements that came with the Hagar era. Strange enough, I've always seen VH as more a singles band than being the creator of any climactic ground-breaking album. G'N'R has Appetite For Destruction, Black Sabbath has Paranoid ... but what one VH album eclipses all the other albums? The fact that they've had four musical eras based on their three singers (i.e. Hagar, Roth & Gary Cherone) & then the Roth reunion tour doesn't help examine their career for their best music. Luckily, they gave us The Best ... Vol. 1 so we don't have to argue. & VH has a plethora of hits ... & most of them are here. This could easily be the only VH album you ever need to be satisfied. Further, it's in chronological order so you hear a maturing band over two singers & then reuniting with the first to record some new tracks. & no, the new tracks are not detriments to the whole, though they aren't the best parts of the album either. Compilations are not always the best way to get to know a band, particularly for those with long & diverse careers like VH, but this compilation will save you a lot of money buying all their albums & figuring out their career for yourself. Further, a lot of bands rely on the power of the album over all with singles being like songs out of context. I guess it's in their favor that VH doesn't have a ground-breaking concept album. VH knew how to groove, they knew how to rock, they could be simple & straight-forward (i.e. the entire rhythm section) or blisteringly complicated (i.e. any of Eddie's solos), no song sounds alike, they experimented (i.e. the new tracks with Roth) ... but until they get their situation back together square enough for a new studio album this wouldn't be a bad album to have in your collection while waiting. They could easily never do another again, but with this collection you'll always remember them for the killer band the world once recognized them as.