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Post by kds on Jun 8, 2020 13:46:03 GMT
I said I wasn't going to compare albums anymore. I lied.
In 2012, two iconic California bands released new albums for the first time since the 1990s, and each album featured the return of an essential member. Van Halen and The Beach Boys. In February 2012, Van Halen released A Different Kind of Truth, their first LP since 1998's ill fated Van Halen III (their lone album with Gary Cherone), and their first album with David Lee Roth on vocals since 1984. In June 2012, The Beach Boys released That's Why God Made the Radio, their first LP since 1992's Summer in Paradise (their lone album without Brian Wilson), and their first full album with Brian Wilson since 1985. Released four months apart, each album would've hit #1 on Billboard if not for a monster release by Adele. So....here....we.....go
That's Why God Made the Radio (2012) vs. Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth (2012)
Each LP was received pretty well by fans and critics alike. Also, both albums feature songs that aren't exactly new. Van Halen used some older songs that dated as far back as 1977 to fill their ADKOT album. The Beach Boys used several songs from the 1998 Joe Thomas / Brian Wilson writing sessions. Each album was a reunion album of sorts, but without key members. The Beach Boys situation was more due to circumstance, with Dennis and Carl Wilson no longer being around. Van Halen's case was more ego / nepotism, with original bassist Michael Anthony having been replaced by Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang back in 2007.
So, let's go into the records themselves. ADKOT definitely had the classic VH sound, albeit without the trademark high harmony vocals from Anthony. TWGMTR features some classic BB harmonies, and the overall quality of harmonies varies from song to song. Each album also features some autobiographical material with VH's Blood and Fire and The Boys' Isn't It Time and Spring Vacation.
While the quality of the VH album is pretty high (despite the mediocre lead single Tattoo), there's not much that really stands out to me. China Town and As Is are very good songs. She's the Woman, which dates back to Van Halen's original demo, is pretty good as well. But, there are some paint by numbers VH moments, notably from Eddie. Few of his guitar solos are as distinctive as the ones that put him on the map in the late 1970s.
TWGMTR is bookended by great songs. The opening Think About the Days is beautiful. After the title track and Isn't It Time, the album has a soft middle section. While the songs are good, the album hits a different level starting with Strange World, and of course, that closing trio which I'd put up there with almost anything The Beach Boys have done.
I can say in the last eight years, I've definitely listened to TWGMTR more. That's partly sentimental, as I was really just getting into the BB in the summer of 2012. I was already on the VH train well before 2012.
I'm declaring TWGMTR to be the better album here. It's got some flaws, but the quality of songs is more consistent. And the VH album doesn't have anything on the same level as From There to Back Again / PCH / Summer's Gone.
Eight years later, neither band has released a follow up. Other than a tour in 2015, VH has been pretty dormant, and Eddie Van Halen is battling cancer again. We all know what happened after the summer of 2012 in Beach Boys World.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jun 8, 2020 14:26:57 GMT
Alright, I'm going to have to listen to ADKOT.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jun 8, 2020 17:25:52 GMT
That's Why God Made the Radio (2012) vs. Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth (2012) Each LP was received pretty well by fans and critics alike. Also, both albums feature songs that aren't exactly new. Van Halen used some older songs that dated as far back as 1977 to fill their ADKOT album. The Beach Boys used several songs from the 1998 Joe Thomas / Brian Wilson writing sessions. Each album was a reunion album of sorts, but without key members. The Beach Boys situation was more due to circumstance, with Dennis and Carl Wilson no longer being around. Van Halen's case was more ego / nepotism, with original bassist Michael Anthony having been replaced by Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang back in 2007. So, let's go into the records themselves. ADKOT definitely had the classic VH sound, albeit without the trademark high harmony vocals from Anthony. TWGMTR features some classic BB harmonies, and the overall quality of harmonies varies from song to song. Each album also features some autobiographical material with VH's Blood and Fire and The Boys' Isn't It Time and Spring Vacation. While the quality of the VH album is pretty high (despite the mediocre lead single Tattoo), there's not much that really stands out to me. China Town and As Is are very good songs. She's the Woman, which dates back to Van Halen's original demo, is pretty good as well. But, there are some paint by numbers VH moments, notably from Eddie. Few of his guitar solos are as distinctive as the ones that put him on the map in the late 1970s. TWGMTR is bookended by great songs. The opening Think About the Days is beautiful. After the title track and Isn't It Time, the album has a soft middle section. While the songs are good, the album hits a different level starting with Strange World, and of course, that closing trio which I'd put up there with almost anything The Beach Boys have done. I can say in the last eight years, I've definitely listened to TWGMTR more. That's partly sentimental, as I was really just getting into the BB in the summer of 2012. I was already on the VH train well before 2012. I'm declaring TWGMTR to be the better album here. It's got some flaws, but the quality of songs is more consistent. And the VH album doesn't have anything on the same level as From There to Back Again / PCH / Summer's Gone. Eight years later, neither band has released a follow up. Other than a tour in 2015, VH has been pretty dormant, and Eddie Van Halen is battling cancer again. We all know what happened after the summer of 2012 in Beach Boys World. Wow. Okay, I can’t go into great depth because I’m not a deeply knowledgeable Van Halen fan and I’ve only heard A Different Kind of Truth this one time. After listening to it, I can say that this does seem like a worthy comparison. Two really solid late career albums that capture each band’s spirit and identity, both with high quality execution. I’m going to have to go with TWGMTR as the winner, of course, but I was quite impressed with how good ADKOT sounds. Nice one!
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 8, 2020 17:31:04 GMT
I'm among those who never listened to VH ADKOT when it was released--even though I was a pretty big fan up through Balance in the mid-90s.
KDS, I think you more or less nailed it in your description. It's surprisingly solid. Roth sounds better than I thought he would. Eddie is great, as always.
For me, what's lacking is the fun. Van Halen were always at their best when they straddled the line between hard rock and party-dance music. This is almost sludge at points, more bottom end and almost prog-like riffs here and there, and the absence of the high harmonies also serves to darken and "heavy it up."
That said, it really is a decent album. (Edge TWGMTR for me, though, as it's simply more in line with my current musical taste.)
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Post by kds on Jun 8, 2020 17:42:15 GMT
I think that element of fun in Van Halen's best work was also missing on Balance and especially Van Halen 3.
I remember going to buy ADKOT the day it was released. After hearing Tattoo and Stay Frosty (a pretty lame Ice Cream Man redux), I wasn't optimistic, despite Eddie Trunk's very positive words on the album. But, I wound up enjoying the album a lot.
I didn't buy TWGMTR until August 2012, and when I did finally get a copy, I honestly think I listened to it every night for a week straight, or more. I did that partly so I'd always associate the album with the summer of 2012, and also because I enjoyed it so much.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 8, 2020 17:45:11 GMT
I think that element of fun in Van Halen's best work was also missing on Balance and especially Van Halen 3. I agree with that. And I have to say that as I keep listening to ADKOT, there have been some moments that feel a bit more fun, even if fewer and farther between than on their early, classic albums.
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Post by kds on Jun 8, 2020 18:18:07 GMT
I think that element of fun in Van Halen's best work was also missing on Balance and especially Van Halen 3. I agree with that. And I have to say that as I keep listening to ADKOT, there have been some moments that feel a bit more fun, even if fewer and farther between than on their early, classic albums. I also think that ADKOT could've been trimmed a little. Most of the DLR era albums were fairly short. Even though it's only 13 songs over 50 mins, ADKOT feels a bit long at times.
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Post by kds on Jun 12, 2020 12:49:06 GMT
A month or two ago, Kapitan posted an entry into a web series called TrainRecords on SIP. One of the good points made by the pretentious fop who dared not show his face for risk of pissing off his Boomer friends was that the late 80s was a great time for artists from the 60s to score big hits - The Stones, George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Starship (AKA Jefferson Airplane), Pink Floyd, the list goes on. But, two pretty unlikely bands also had huge hits in the second half of the 1980s. One was a major 60s hitmaker who has been struggling to write that elusive next #1 - The Beach Boys. One was a band that thrived on touring and a very loyal fanbase, but not so much on chart success - The Grateful Dead. Each band managed to release a light pop tune in the late 80s. So, here....we....go
Kokomo (1988) v The Grateful Dead - Touch of Grey (1987)
Touch of Grey went to #9 in 1987, and remains the Dead's lone Top 40 hit, while Kokomo was The Beach Boys first #1 in over two decades. Each song is very polarizing among the group's fans, and each song is the only track from either band's catalog you're likely to hear on mainstream FM radio in 2020.
While I'm pretty much a novice at best when it comes to The Dead, Grey seems like a bit more of a departure for them, so I can see why Dead Heads might not list it among their favorites. To be honest, while I knew the song , I didn't know it was by The Dead until around 1993. Kokomo, to me, feels a little of a natural progression, especially listening to The Beach Boys output in the late 70s and 1980s, but it was still a bit of a fluke hit. But, it still has those distinctive Beach Boys vocals, despite the trop rock pop sheen.
I don't know if the Dead were going for this, but I've always gotten a summertime vibe from Touch of Grey, even though the lyrics don't scream summer like Kokomo does.
So, who wins this round of unlikely polarizing late career pop hits. I'm going with the Boys on this one. I really enjoy both songs, but Touch of Grey gets a bit repetitive, and really doesn't warrant its length (the album version is almost six minutes, while the single version cuts it down to 4:30). But, I feel you can say that about a lot of Dead songs. As much as I love long songs, I never got into the Dead, or jam bands in general. Meanwhile at a brisk 3:35, Kokomo never wears out its welcome. So, I'm getting to the age where I'm starting to see a touch of grey, I'm opting for a tropical drink melting in my hand.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 12, 2020 12:56:40 GMT
I laughed out loud reading the second sentence. "One of the good points made by the pretentious fop who dared not show his face" is funny.
Good comparison idea, too.
I remember when "Touch of Grey" got into heavy rotation on MTV. I'd heard the name Grateful Dead and always assumed they were some founding heavy metal band a la Black Sabbath. ToG was the first song I'd ever heard by them and the first time I'd ever seen them and, uh, I was not correct. The song always struck me as catchy but at the time it was far too light for my taste, as was "Kokomo" for that matter.
Not sure I can choose between them, to be honest. Neither is a particular favorite by any stretch, but both are pleasant, somewhat lightweight songs.
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Post by kds on Jun 12, 2020 13:06:38 GMT
Neither is a particular favorite by any stretch, but both are pleasant, somewhat lightweight songs.
That's pretty much how I felt about both songs until about my mid or late 20s when I started to warm up to more lightweight music like this.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 12, 2020 13:08:12 GMT
I feel similarly. I've warmed up a lot to the idea of "pleasant, somewhat lightweight songs." Just that these two happen not to be among my favorites even in that vein. No particular hatred for them, though, by any stretch.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 12, 2020 13:41:41 GMT
This is one where I'm familiar with both entries! Like Kapitan mentioned, I also remember when "Touch Of Grey" was heavily featured on MTV. You gotta give MTV credit. As much as they were playing to the youth, they never forgot the old warhorses and always opened their arms to them. I was/am not a fan of The Grateful Dead. I know very few of their songs, but I like "A Touch Of Grey". While The Dead (or at least Garcia) were starting to show their age in 1987, I was surprised to hear them singing about aging, but it does sound like they were doing it a little tongue-in-cheek. I mean, they weren't singing about doom and gloom and...dying. I will get by. I will survive. It's alright! I don't know how much "A Touch Of Grey" sounds like a Grateful Dead song, or how much it was or wasn't accepted by the Deadheads, but I'll bet they approved of it being a hit and getting the group a lot of publicity.
And, of course, as kds mentioned, that is what "A Touch Of Grey" has in common with "Kokomo". Two aging bands who had later career hits with songs that were (slightly?) different from their classic sound. Who cared? It's all good. And that's how I viewed "Kokomo". I was never a big fan of the song, but I certainly approved of it going to No. 1 . I hated "Kokomo" at first, but it grew on me as I heard it more, especially on MTV and on the radio. My love for "Kokomo" faded a long time ago. It's 50/50 if I stay with it when it pops up on an oldies radio station. I usually do not include "Kokomo"on my Beach Boys' "best of" comps. I don't think it is one of their best songs. If it wasn't a hit I think it would be considered just a good song. I also think it brings down the live shows when they insert it near the end during the home stretch.
This one's close but I'll give the nod to "A Touch Of Grey". That was all I had to say but it's alright.
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Post by B.E. on Jun 12, 2020 14:52:57 GMT
Looks like I'm a bigger "Kokomo" fan than you guys. My experience would have been different, though, being younger when I first heard it. My first Beach Boys album was the 1995 compilation 20 Good Vibrations. 19 '60s classics ("Surfin' Safari" - "Good Vibrations") and "Kokomo". I wasn't aware that it was a polarizing song for at least 10-15 years thereafter. It's certainly lightweight, but for what it is - it's great.
"A Touch Of Grey", on the other hand, I'd never heard before. I dislike the Grateful Dead. Or, at least, I think I do. I'll say this - it's a pleasant song. If it comes on the radio, I'll keep it on. That's the most I can say for it. I agree that it's too repetitive and long (though, I mistakenly listened to the studio version) and IMO more generic-sounding than "Kokomo".
Edit: To clarify - I think "Kokomo" is far catchier and better lyrically and vocally.
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Post by B.E. on Jun 12, 2020 15:51:22 GMT
But, it still has those distinctive Beach Boys vocals, despite the trop rock pop sheen. How do you view "Kokomo" in regard to the genre itself and the best of. To me, it's damn near the epitome of it, but I know I'm far less acquainted with the genre than you are.
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Post by kds on Jun 12, 2020 16:24:21 GMT
But, it still has those distinctive Beach Boys vocals, despite the trop rock pop sheen. How do you view "Kokomo" in regard to the genre itself and the best of. To me, it's damn near the epitome of it, but I know I'm far less acquainted with the genre than you are. Outside of my Jimmy Buffett fandom, I wouldn't say I'm too knowledgeable of the genre. A lot of trop rock I've heard is rather pleasant, but doesn't tend to have the good songwriting in Buffett's material. That being said, I'd say that Kokomo has everything I'd want in a trop rock song. It's got a good melody, a great chorus, a light airy feel with some steel drums, plus the "let's get away from it all" type of lyric.
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