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Post by Kapitan on Oct 7, 2020 19:25:00 GMT
Van Halen II (1979)Van Halen II might not have the same iconic status as its predecessor, but it's really almost as good. It pretty much sticks to the formula of great guitar work, great hooks, and (I failed to mention earlier) great background vocals. One quibble - the opener. Granted, it's a good cover of You're No Good, but it doesn't exactly blow the doors open like most VH openers. Perhaps Somebody Get Me a Doctor or the criminally overlooked Light Up the Sky (which was the opener on the final VH tour) would've been better openers. Dance the Night Away is a pop rock classic. Bottoms Up, Somebody Get Me a Doctor, and Women in Love are classic party rock. The closer, Beautiful Girls, features one of Eddie's best ever riffs. I'll go nine for this sophomore album. I don't revisit this album often, but it really is good. They don't really introduce anything new to the palette, and "Dance the Night Away" is lonely as the sole undisputed classic, in my opinion. But it's a really good album for sure.
The screech-squeal is something I don't much care for. I think he got it from RnB music: Prince used to do it all the time, too, more live than on recordings, but you find it there, too. It bugs me, to be honest.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 7, 2020 19:29:10 GMT
"Eruption", like the Queen instrumentals, doesn't do much for me. Just not interested, regardless of how impressive it is. I wonder what you'll think of "Spanish Fly" on VHII. It's an acoustic instrumental and is even shorter than "Eruption": it only lasts a minute. Personally that's an approach I like in rock instrumentals on non-instrumental albums: it's a chance to show what you want to show, but you're not derailing things entirely to do it.
(Obviously instrumental music is a whole other thing and I wouldn't put any restrictions on that, like, say, Joe Satriani or Al Di Meola.)
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 7, 2020 20:19:26 GMT
Woman and Children First (1980)1980 is widely regarded by hard rock / heavy metal fans as a banner year with huge releases from AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Saxon, and of course Van Halen. Woman and Children First has a little more variety than the first two albums, and is also the first VH album to feature keyboards, most notably on the album opener And the Cradle Will Rock. That song is followed by another VH classic Everybody Wants Some. Fools and Loss of Control are pretty heavy songs, as it the fast paced Romeo Delight, which would be the opener of the majority of DLR era VH shows going forward. The heaviness is balanced out a bit by the band's first showtune-esque number Could This Be Magic. As a fan of light and shade, I don't mind having this light song between Take Your Whiskey Home (a personal favorite) and the closer In a Simple Rhyme. Another nine. I'm more in 7.5-8 territory here. A couple of classics, but also our first example of bloat! "Fools," for me, could be chopped significantly and be all the better for it.
"Could This Be Magic" is fantastic in my book, a great bit of the Diamond Dave schtick that keeps it fun. I'm also a really big fan of "Take Your Whiskey Home," to some extent for the same reason as the aforementioned. Van Halen doing blues or showtime music reminds me of Frank Zappa doing doo-wop or 50s rock and roll: you can't quite tell whether it's a joke, but even if it is partly a joke, you know they LOVE it.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 7, 2020 22:18:19 GMT
The screech-squeal is something I don't much care for. I think he got it from RnB music: Prince used to do it all the time, too, more live than on recordings, but you find it there, too. It bugs me, to be honest.
I'm only halfway through at the moment but it feels like Roth has doubled down on the screech-squeal. No longer featured predominantly as an interjection (or exclamation point) but used as part of the main melody. Maybe it's just my tolerance decreasing, but I think it's more than that.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 7, 2020 22:45:59 GMT
I'd heard "D.O.A" before, but man that's a heavy track! I love it. I'm about to lose KDS, but it actually reminded me of Nirvana in that regard. I hadn't heard "Women In Love..." before, that was the prize for me. Same with "Somebody Get Me A Doctor". Those tracks along with "Beautiful Girls" and "Dance The Night Away" carry the album. I was getting worried that I'd have to offend you guys with a '6', but then the album ended so strongly that it started to resemble the debut. I like the instrumental on this one a little more, but not significantly. (The virtuosity is still turned up to 11.) 7/10
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Post by B.E. on Oct 7, 2020 23:54:39 GMT
Woman and Children First (1980) A couple of classics, but also our first example of bloat! "Fools," for me, could be chopped significantly and be all the better for it. I agree about "Fools" and bloat. I'd also apply that to "Everybody Wants Some!!". A pet peeve of mine is waiting over a minute for the vocals to be introduced. And, really, the song doesn't even start until the 1:15 mark. Once it does, it's pretty darn good. Both of these songs would work well at 3:30 each. Again, an album finishes strong (saving it - in my estimation). The album doesn't have the highs of the first two but the opener and "Take Your Whiskey Home" are strong tracks. My favorites were actually "Could This Be Magic?" and "In A Simple Rhyme". The latter almost had a Zeppelin or Who vibe due to the more dynamic arrangement (e.g. the slower, acoustic guitar/vocal harmony sections). Heck, that ending was very Beatle-y (prior to the hidden track "Growth"). These tracks carried the album for me, but I thought "Tora! Tora!" was the best instrumental yet as it worked well as a transitional piece. I also liked the breakdown in "Romeo Delight" after the guitar solo. "Loss Of Control" was too weird for me. 7/10
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2020 12:06:33 GMT
I honestly didn't know until yesterday that the riffs at the end of In a Simple Rhyme had a name.
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2020 12:13:38 GMT
Fair Warning (1981)
This album is slightly darker than the previous three. So much so that it was considered a failure when it was first released, and VH had to "entice" radio stations to spin Unchained to boost sales. That sounds funny almost 40 years later as Unchained is one of VH's most beloved songs, and also one of the few DLR songs that stayed in the setlist when Sammy joined the ground. Also, Hear About It Later and So This is Love probably could've easily fit on active rock radio at the time.
The album opens with a firecracker called Mainstreet, a heavy song that deviates a bit from the party rock VH was known for. Dirty Movies is a bit of 80s sleaze before 80s sleaze was really a thing.
One of the most underrated songs here, and maybe in the entire VH catalog for me, is Push Comes to Shove. It's a bit of a laid back blues-ish type number. Also, I'll admit, I could probably do without Dave's monologue over Eddie's playing in the intro.
Nine
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Post by B.E. on Oct 8, 2020 14:33:42 GMT
OK, this is the first VH album I didn't like. The 80s are creeping in a little, particularly with the snare sound/mix on a few tracks. Then you've got the synth abomination of "Sunday Afternoon In The Park". That was an ultimate 'WTF' moment for me. It's just such an unpleasant sound! I had to give that a '1'. (That's also the danger of releasing albums with less than 10 songs - each misstep carries more weight.) As for "Push Comes To Shove" being a laid back blues-ish number, I think it's also Reggae-infused with full-on disco bass. The song is fine overall, but I'm not a fan of disco bass. As for it being a darker album, I can see that. Though, I'm not 100% certain what people mean by that. I did get the sense that the guitar playing was a little more 'metal', though that could be my inadequate familiarity with the genre. The more in that direction VH goes, the less I enjoy it, personally. Not to any of your surprise, it's the popier (is that a word?), more classic rock (as opposed to hard rock) aspects of VH that I'm drawn to. My favorite song (and the only one certain to make my inevitable VH playlist) is "So This Is Love?" (despite the snare drum). I also thought "Unchained" and "Hear About It Later" were pretty good.
5/10
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2020 15:23:58 GMT
Diver Down (1982)
Even though this is the weakest album by the original incarnation of Van Halen, it's still quite good. Van Halen didn't want to rush into the studio, but there was pressure to get an album out, so Diver Down, an album rather heavy on covers, was the 5th album from Van Halen.
The covers are quite good, in particular the opening Where Have All the Good Times Gone (The Kinks) and (Oh) Pretty Woman. The later is preceded by Intruder, a great into link, that manages to be a little Sabbathian at times. Dancing in the Streets doesn't work as well for me. It bops along, and it's fun, but I think that's more about the song itself than VH's performance. I only recently found out that the backing track with something Eddie was tinkering with, and he reluctantly used it for the song.
Some of the originals are pretty good too, most notably The Full Bug and Little Guitars. Secrets is a decent slower tempo song.
While Could This Be Magic provided a good lighter moment on WACF, I feel the cover of Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now fails to land. This is the kind of material David Lee Roth was into at the time though.
The closing Happy Trails is fun though.
I think I'll go 7.5, but I don't like the album enough to round it to an eight.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2020 15:25:17 GMT
The more in that direction VH goes, the less I enjoy it, personally. Not to any of your surprise, it's the popier (is that a word?), more classic rock (as opposed to hard rock) aspects of VH that I'm drawn to. I tend to be in that camp, too. Not that I don't like the heavier riffs here and there--"Unchained" from the album being discussed is one of my favorites--but I'm all about balance. No pun intended. A lot of VH fans seem to dismiss 1984 because it's so poppy; for me, that's a plus.
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2020 15:32:07 GMT
The more in that direction VH goes, the less I enjoy it, personally. Not to any of your surprise, it's the popier (is that a word?), more classic rock (as opposed to hard rock) aspects of VH that I'm drawn to. I tend to be in that camp, too. Not that I don't like the heavier riffs here and there--"Unchained" from the album being discussed is one of my favorites--but I'm all about balance. No pun intended. A lot of VH fans seem to dismiss 1984 because it's so poppy; for me, that's a plus. I think that's a bit of a false narrative about 1984. It tends to get that reputation because of Jump, but it's a pretty guitar heavy album. I think even when they got heavier, they never really lost that pop sensibility (well, maybe a little in the next decade, but we're getting ahead of ourselves).
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2020 15:35:41 GMT
I tend to be in that camp, too. Not that I don't like the heavier riffs here and there--"Unchained" from the album being discussed is one of my favorites--but I'm all about balance. No pun intended. A lot of VH fans seem to dismiss 1984 because it's so poppy; for me, that's a plus. I think that's a bit of a false narrative about 1984. It tends to get that reputation because of Jump, but it's a pretty guitar heavy album. I think even when they got heavier, they never really lost that pop sensibility (well, maybe a little in the next decade, but we're getting ahead of ourselves). That's exactly what I had in mind.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2020 15:39:58 GMT
Diver Down (1982)Even though this is the weakest album by the original incarnation of Van Halen, it's still quite good. Van Halen didn't want to rush into the studio, but there was pressure to get an album out, so Diver Down, an album rather heavy on covers, was the 5th album from Van Halen. The covers are quite good, in particular the opening Where Have All the Good Times Gone (The Kinks) and (Oh) Pretty Woman. The later is preceded by Intruder, a great into link, that manages to be a little Sabbathian at times. Dancing in the Streets doesn't work as well for me. It bops along, and it's fun, but I think that's more about the song itself than VH's performance. I only recently found out that the backing track with something Eddie was tinkering with, and he reluctantly used it for the song. Some of the originals are pretty good too, most notably The Full Bug and Little Guitars. Secrets is a decent slower tempo song. While Could This Be Magic provided a good lighter moment on WACF, I feel the cover of Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now fails to land. This is the kind of material David Lee Roth was into at the time though. The closing Happy Trails is fun though. I think I'll go 7.5, but I don't like the album enough to round it to an eight. I prefer Diver Down to Fair Warning ... mostly for the covers! I think they're generally pretty strong, the strongest songs on the album. ("Dancing in the Street" is an exception. I think they missed on that one.) Though I do like several of the originals, too. They just aren't the highlights for me. "Cathedral" is also an interesting instrumental.
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2020 19:04:40 GMT
1984 (1984)
Van Halen was granted a little extra time to follow up their Diver Down album, so they got to spend most of 1983 putting together their sixth album, and it proved to be their biggest commercial triumph to date.
As noted earlier, some Van Halen fans say 1984 is "too poppy," but as noted Van Halen had always had a little pop influence on their guitar heavy attack. The truth is that the 1984 album is just as guitar heavy as any Van Halen offering. Drop Dead Legs, Top Jimmy, and House of Pain are what anyone would expect or want from a Van Halen record. Panama and Hot For Teacher both became huge songs, and feature all sorts of riffs and Eddie wizardry.
I guess the two "offenders" are Jump and I'll Wait, each of which are bathed in synths. But, they're both great songs, and both feature great guitar solos from Eddie.
To me, the only negative I can really say about 1984 is that I've just heard Jump, Panama, and Hot for Teacher too many times.
But, that's not the songs' fault. And this album deserves a nine.
Unfortunately, it would be the final full album from the original band as the dreaded "artistic differences" were rearing their ugly head.
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