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Post by B.E. on Oct 9, 2020 21:46:53 GMT
By the way, I'm not crazy about these numeral album titles: 1984, 5150, OU812.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 9, 2020 22:14:42 GMT
An interview with Ted Templeman:
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 9, 2020 22:19:15 GMT
An interview with Ted Templeman:
Thanks for that! Note this little tidbit, which relates to the vaults discussion.
"When we did that first demo, we laid down 30 songs in one day..."
No idea how many of these songs were later finished and released, but...
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 9, 2020 22:26:44 GMT
Later in the interview, more detail on that:
"Are there a lot of outtakes? Is there much left on the cutting-room floor?" "No, they’re really, really rare. I have the very first demo we did, and we took two days. The last one is 40 songs, I think. Dave said, “That’s all we got, unless you want to hear ‘Happy Trails.'” And then they did “Happy Trails” a cappella. I still have the demo. That was it. I knew halfway through the demo the first day; I didn’t have any doubts. I just had to make sure I had a company that was behind it."
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2020 0:51:36 GMT
Local music writer Chris Riemenschneider* wrote this little Van Halen top 10 in Eddie's honor. Can't quite agree with him on his ratings, but I like when people do ratings!
*Fun fact, an old band of mine once recorded a song I wrote titled with his name in the hopes he'd find it funny enough to come to a show and write about us. That did not happen.
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Post by kds on Oct 10, 2020 1:35:38 GMT
By the way, I'm not crazy about these numeral album titles: 1984, 5150, OU812. OU812 is a slight dig at Dave's first solo LP Eat 'Em and Smile.
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Post by kds on Oct 13, 2020 12:29:32 GMT
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)
The big trend for artists going into the 1990s was the "back to basics" album. Van Halen was no different.
For their first album of the 1990s, Van Halen got back together with producer Ted Templeton, who'd done the DLR era albums, there's not one synth note to be found, and the guitars are turned back up to 11.
The result is the heaviest album of Van Halen's career. As I noted earlier, this throws a wrench in the "Sammy made them a pop band" narrative, as FUCK is the least poppy Van Halen album to date.
Although, I'll say that the album could've used a little more balance, maybe a Dance the Night Away or Dreams kind of song. Some of the heavier tunes sort of blend together. Man on a Mission and In N Out might as well be the same song. The lyrical topic of Spanked (phone sex) probably would've been better handled by the original version of the band. Judgement Day and Pleasure Dome are good, but not really memorable. The short guitar instrumental 316 probably would've worked better around the midway point of the album to break up the tempo a bit.
Now, the highs are really high. The opener Poundcake is a relentless rocker, probably best known for it's opening in which Eddie plays guitar with a drill. Runaround and The Dream is Over are great songs. Top of the World is far and away the best album closer of the Hagar era, and probably the one song on the album that has some of that old VH pop sense.
The massive song is Right Now, which features piano and organ in lieu of the synths found on the 1980s VH albums. It might be the most enduring song of the Hagar era of the band, thanks in part to a great chorus, very memorable music video, and more infamously a tie in with the ad campaign for Crystal Pepsi.
Despite the lack of balance, FUCK is worth an 8 because the great songs are that great, and while some album tracks are better than others, there's really nothing bad here.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 13, 2020 14:18:56 GMT
I listened to this song because I read that it influenced "Runnin' With The Devil". Apparently, it directly influenced at least TWO hit songs. Notice the "I got to get away, I got to get away" part that Lenny Kravitz rewrote for his massive "Fly Away" hit. (They still play that on the radio, by the way, I heard it last week.)
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Post by kds on Oct 13, 2020 16:27:19 GMT
Balance (1995)
In the almost four years since Van Halen released an album, the world of hard rock had changed significantly. Unfortunately, Van Halen's tenth album reflects those changes, as the band releases their darkest, muddiest album to date.
The album gets off to a good start with the first three songs. The Seventh Seal opens with the sound of gregorian chants, which usually hints at a "serious" album (Iron Maiden also released their tenth album in 1995, and it was also a more serious affair lead off with similar chants). But, once the band kicks in, it's a pretty solid songs. Can't Stop Loving You, possibly the only song that sounds like classic Van Halen, follows. Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do, which was the first single, is almost Sabbath esque, but has some great solos from Eddie.
The rest of the album varies in quality. Amsterdam is decent, but should probably be more fun than it is. Take Me Back has a pretty good chorus, but at the end of the day, doesn't really land. Doin' Time is the most appropriate title ever given to a drum solo, and it leads into an instrumental called Baluchitherium. Despite the clunky title, it's a good piece. Not Enough is a rare piano based power ballad, and it's alright, but nothing special.
The album closer Feelin' is overwrought nonsense redeemed only by a brief fast faced solo section. But, it tries too hard to be an angsty epic. Van Halen doesn't do "deep" well. I usually don't seek out Van Halen for great lyrics, but Goddamn - "And John Paul's all bulletproof, it puts me through the roof."
Six
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Post by kds on Oct 14, 2020 12:43:59 GMT
Best of - Volume 1 (1996)
Why include a greatest hits collection here? Well, it does include three non album tracks from 1996. Oh, and it also killed the band.
Sammy Hagar was already a little salty about Van Halen being asked to do a song on the Twister soundtrack for the 1996 summer blockbuster season. That song was the riff heavy Humans Being. Not much of a verse but the "Shine On" refrain is quite good, and Eddie redeems the song a bit some solo time. Considering the fact that Sammy really didn't want to do it, it was a little surprising that the song was resurrected and included on the setlist for the 2004 reunion tour.
Is Sammy didn't like the idea of a soundtrack song, he definitely didn't like the idea of Van Halen recording two new songs for a compilation.........with David Lee Roth!!! That was the final straw for Sammy who ended his tenure the band.
The two new songs - Me Wise Magic and Can't Get This Stuff No More - are decent, but not really worth killing a band over IMO. Me Wise Magic has a great dramatic intro, but Dave's low vocals are on the verses are a bit of a turn off. Can't Get This Stuff No More is a far better song IMO, with better vocals from Dave. Also, from the quality of Dave's voice, it's pretty clear the brothers Van Halen goofed a bit here. And that was especially apparent when the reunion of the original lineup went up in flames during an appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards (as presenters - this reunion never even saw one live performance).
So, by the time this album hit shelves in October 1996, Van Halen had burned bridges with both of their vocalists.
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Post by kds on Oct 14, 2020 16:12:45 GMT
Van Halen 3 (1998)
Well, seems the conversation fizzled out once we got a little removed from the "classic" Van Halen era, but I'm going to continue towards the finish line.
I was actually excited when Extreme's Gary Cherone would be the next singer for Van Halen. Extreme were a very good band. Van Halen were a great band. It'll work, right?
Nope
This album is a stinker. Now, I feel like Gary gets unfairly blamed when we know Eddie was the musical driving force, but Gary doesn't deliver his finest vocals here (at times, he sound like he's trying to imitate Sammy).
There are few highlights across the 65 minute (Jesus Christ) album. The lead single Without You is OK. Fire in the Hole sounds like a Balance outside, and is a pretty decent song. The rest is a fairly joyless affair. A Year to the Day continues were Feelin' left off, but at almost nine minutes!!! Once sounds like it's trying to channel mid 80s Peter Gabriel. The capper is the closing ballad How Many Say I, sung by Eddie himself. Eddie Van Halen was a lot of things, singer is not one of the them.
This is an overly long, tough listen, and even Eddie's playing can't redeem it, and his playing on this album is pretty...ordinary. Van Halen should never be ordinary, joyless, or boring. This album is all three. Maybe that's where they got the title.
2
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Post by kds on Oct 14, 2020 19:56:39 GMT
Best of Both Worlds (2004)
In 2004, a new two disc compilation of Van Halen was released with equal representation from the Sammy and Dave versions of the band (none from VH3).
To promote the compilation, the Van Hagar line up got back together, recorded three new songs, and went on tour. Maybe all was right in the world after all.
The three new songs all sound pretty rushed to me, and under produced. It's About Time has a good chorus, but not much else. Up for Breakfast is a messy array of double entendre with a side of bacon. Learning to See is the best of the trio IMO, but the power ballad sees VH try to go "deep" again, so the result is decent music with pretty awful lyrics.
The tour was a bit of a disaster. Eddie was off the wagon the whole time. Although, I attended two shows on this tour, and you'd never know it. And there was a clear divide between the brothers Van Halen, and Sammy & Michael Anthony. Apparently, Eddie and Alex tried to kick Mikey out, but Sammy insisted he would not tour without Anthony on board.
A proposed second leg of the tour never happened, and Van Halen was back in limbo, with Sammy returning to his solo career.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 14, 2020 20:29:33 GMT
Best of Both Worlds (2004)In 2004, a new two disc compilation of Van Halen was released with equal representation from the Sammy and Dave versions of the band (none from VH3). With two CDs to fill, they couldn't come up with one Gary Cherone song?
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 14, 2020 20:42:21 GMT
Honestly, if you're trying to fill two CDs with the best available songs, there isn't a slot for a single Cherone song. (This from a big fan of Extreme.)
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2020 12:12:49 GMT
Best of Both Worlds (2004)In 2004, a new two disc compilation of Van Halen was released with equal representation from the Sammy and Dave versions of the band (none from VH3). With two CDs to fill, they couldn't come up with one Gary Cherone song? Nope. This is a best of compilation, not a full career retrospective.
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