George Harrison – All Things Must Pass

When I started this blog, it was November 29th 2011… the 10th anniversary of the passing of Beatle George Harrison. As I attempt to finish this blog, it’s February 25th, 2012 which would have been George’s 69th birthday.  In music history, on November 27th 1970, George released his 3 record solo album All Things Must Pass.  Today, I’m going to talk about the memories, the music and emotions that I associate with this album.

 

I wish I could say I have many memories of growing up and listening to this album. But, I really don’t. I remember Eric Blume listening to this album during my college days at Dustys Records. I remember that it was a 3 (vinyl) record album and it was lengthy. I remember in my junior high and high school years when my hometown church told us that George’s song My Sweet Lord was bad. This is because if you listened to the chorus, you could hear them singing “Hare Krishna, Krishna krishna” and this should not agree with your Christian beliefs. As a musician, I’ve read of the many outstanding musicians that played on that album including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and the band that would become Derek and the Dominoes, Alan White who would go on to play drums for YES, and of course Ringo Starr. It’s only been in the last 10 years that I’ve really come to know and love this album. In my blog about John Lennon’s death, I talked about my own journey into Beatlemania and my love for the Fab Four. Many of my friends who have known me over the years knew what a big Beatles fan I’ve been for those years. I share a birthday with Ringo. I play drums and I count Ringo as a big inspiration. I saw Paul McCartney live in 1993 in Kansas City and it’s still one of my all-time favorite concerts. But, as I look back on the week leading up to November 29th 2001, the news of George Harrison’s passing was something that left me both devastated and somewhat calming at the same time.

I had been newly married in March 2001.  In the movies, the story usually ends with the couple getting married and the audience is made to believe that everyone lives “Happily Ever After”.  In reality, the story really begins after the wedding ceremony.  In the months following our wedding, my wife and I started dealing with the many issues that married people do. Looking back, I’m not sure we were ready for it. As a hopeless romantic, I thought after we got married, things would be great for us…..just like in the movies. That fall, we spent Thanksgiving with my parents. I felt we had a great time with lots of laughs and games and a general enjoyable time. After we got back home, I asked my wife if she enjoyed the holiday and time spent with my family.  As we lay in bed, she said, “We’re not good for each other”.  I was in utter shock at the words that came out of her mouth.  I had the hardest time sleeping that night. In fact, I couldn’t sleep. I was hurt and my mind was swimming with things to say or do to make her change her mind. All I could think was that our marriage was already over and we hadn’t even been married a full year yet.  The next morning(after limited sleep), I went to check my email as I did every morning. I had received one from my brother Mike and my old roommate Matt to inform me that George Harrison had passed away. As a fan, I was deeply saddened. I’ve always considered the musicians that I admire to be some sort of kindred spirit. This news was just another blow to my emotional well-being. I told my wife of George’s passing and she shrugged it off as just another one of my dead music icons that I obsessed over.  I don’t know if she ever understood how I felt about many of the artists I followed….especially the Beatles.

Being the media junkie that I am, I had the VCR on “RECORD” all day to tape the news stories on George. This was an event I wanted to preserve as a sort of “video scrapbook”.  I watched story after story on him that day from CNN to MTV to VH1 to ABC Nightline. Of course, the obvious stories of his time in the Beatles were highlighted.  Also, much was said about George being the “quiet” and the “spiritual” Beatle. If you know the Beatles history, you know they studied transcendental meditation and other Indian Mysticism. At that point, I thought about my own “spiritualism” and my own Christian faith and what it meant to me. 

Then, the title song for his 1970 album All Things Must Pass would be played.  All good things come to an end.

“Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up has left you with no warning
It’s not always going to be this grey”

It’s been said that George wrote this song in response to the breakup of the Beatles. For many years, musicians have likened the band experience to being married to 3-4 other people. So I likened the breakup of a band to my marriage. So, All Things Must Pass was a song of healing for me. If my marriage would to continue or end, Let it be in God’s hands. This song gave me my own personal peace. We eventually had one son. But, the divorce was final in 2007 after we had separated in late 2005. But, whenever I question “why” this happened, I would always find solace in this song.

In 2002 (a year after George’s passing), Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and a bunch of other of George’s friends put together “A Concert for George”.  These artists and friends of George would perform many of his songs. I knew the Beatles’ songs and the ones he did with the Traveling Wilburys.  Then, I was exposed to some of the lesser known songs from All Things Must Pass.  I have been a longtime fan of Eric Clapton. Clapton and George had been longtime friends since the days of the Beatles. They even were married to the same woman(at different times). Clapton actually wrote his song Layla for George’s first wife Patti. Clapton eventually married her too. But, they still remained friends. In the concert for George, Eric sings the song Beware of Darkness.  I’ve always felt that Clapton conveys an extra sense of passion in any performance he does. I found myself drawn into this song.

Fast forward to 2007 and Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival.  I had seen clips of the concerts on PBS or something like that. The performances I saw were just fantastic. I received the DVD of the 2007 Guitar Festival as a Christmas gift in 2008. I was moved by so many performances. I knew most of the songs that had been played. But, I have such a curiosity about different songs. Clapton makes an announcement for his next song “This song is for someone I wish was here…and he kinda is anyway!”  The song was (and is) Isn’t it a Pity.  Here it was….another George Harrison song.

Once again, I felt myself drawn into the passion and the heartbreak of this song.

Isn’t it a Pity. Now isn’t it a shame.
How we break each other’s hearts and cause each other pain
How we take each other’s love without thinking any more
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity?

Even now, as I listen back to this song, I feel the tears well up in my eyes and the loss I felt.

The past ten years have been a time of music that can be ordered or downloaded through services on the internet. I had looked up the 2000 Remastered edition of All Things Must Pass on Amazon.com. I had saved it on my Amazon wishlist. It was always a purchase I wanted to make. But, since the album was originally 3 record albums long, this remastered CD wouldn’t be a cheap purchase. After working in record stores in the 80’s and 90’s, it’s still hard for me to buy albums at the “suggested retail price”.  So, I put it off over and over again.

So, this past fall, I decided to download the 2001 Remastered edition of All Things Must Pass from Amazon.com. The production is very crisp. The vocal harmonies are beautifully haunting and soothing. George’s signature slide guitar sound slices and cuts through the mix. It may only be a slide guitar. But, the sound is instantly identifiable as GEORGE HARRISON’S Slide guitar. George augments his song Wah Wah with a fantastic horn section. The background vocals singing “Hare Krishna” on My Sweet Lord are evidently clear in the mix too. Most of the songs were songs I had probably heard earlier in my life. I know I had probably heard them in my college years working at Dustys. But, with the Concert for George performances, I was definitely re-introduced to these songs. Another great song that has a great melody and inescapable horn line is What is Life.

2011 saw the HBO premiere of the Martin Scorsese’s documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World.  The first part of the documentary concentrated on his early life and Beatles years and the second half was about his solo and post-Beatles years. I had seen so many clips and footage from the Beatles years. So, I was really looking forward to seeing the clips from the 70’s and 80’s and his solo years. There is some great footage of his Concert for Bangladesh and his 1974 tour. His throat (and voice) seems really raspy and raw on the 74 tour. After furthering my research on this tour, I found out he had been suffering from laryngitis.  But, his band (featuring Billy Preston on keyboards and backing vocals) sound immense with lots of rhythmic energy. We later see George gargling with a mixture of honey and vinegar and water to help with his laryngitis/throat problems. Yet again, I discovered lesser known songs that moved me musically.

This album is so intense with many different layers. I am overwhelmed by the array of musicians that play on this album. From the signature sound of Ringo on drums to Clapton and his “Dominoes” band jamming on the instrumental Plug Me In, I can pick out many different musical personalities. Then, I am reminded that many of these songs were compositions that George stockpiled from his days in the Beatles. Since he was in a band with the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney, his songs had a tendency to get pushed to the wayside. Then, I am touched by the themes of spirituality in some songs like My Sweet Lord, Hear Me Lord and Awaiting on You All. 

The album is so dense and filled so much material. I need a couple of days of no interruptions to take it all in.  I keep thinking that a new generation of music fans have grown accustomed to downloading selected songs instead of complete albums. I still find that to be a very foreign concept. I bought/downloaded this album because of the music I had found through the tributes to George after his death.  I liked the few songs I had heard from this album and was anxious to hear more and I’m still discovering more with every listen.

When I started writing this blog, I associated the title track with my own personal trials and the dissolution of my marriage. It was hard for me to write so much of what was going on. The memories were painful and yet I knew I would eventually publish this and share them online. I started writing more this week so that I could publish this blog on what would have been George’s 69th birthday. Even now, I am reminded how the title track continues to give me some perspective and healing. This week, I was contacted by a friend and former co-worker that his job had been eliminated and outsourced. He had worked for the same company for almost 20 years. He and I had shared a lot of the same hardships.  I was there for him when he went through his divorce. He was there for me during my divorce.  I was there when he legally adopted his son. He was one of my groomsmen. So, I sat here at the computer thinking of his troubles and once again George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass came to mind.  This job loss won’t last forever. He’ll find another job. But, at the same time, I’m reminded of the lyrics from Beware of Darkness.

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night
Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

I would like to think that as I write this and I express the memories, emotions and “the thoughts that linger”,  I am getting them out of my brain and expressing them in a way that I can share.  I am reminded of the joy this album has given me and continues to give me.  I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish these blogs and I can continue on yet another journey as part of this crazy life.  I hope these memories and personal interpretations reach the people reading this too.

Nirvana – Nevermind

As I’ve written this blog over the last couple years, I’ve managed to open myself up to a few bands that I once hated, disliked or expressed great disdain for. So, in that spirit(yet again) let’s explore another band(and album) that I really didn’t want to like. I’m talking about the 1991 culturally proclaimed, game changing, landmark album of the 90’s….Nirvana’s Nevermind

In the fall of 1991, my life faced a major change. I had been working at the Dustys Records store in Grand Island, NE for a year since my college graduation the summer before. Dusty announced that he was closing the GI Location and that meant I needed to seek out new employment. I found a job with the TransWorld Music Corporation as an assistant manager of Music Avenue which was a “lease operated” store inside the Montgomery Wards store at the Westroads Mall in Omaha. 

In the summer of 1991, I was enjoying Van Halen’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Metallica’s self titled “Black” Album, Mr. Big’s Lean into It and lots of Blues/Rock type stuff with a big emphasis on guitar heroics like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton.  By the time I had moved into an apartment(in Omaha) and got hooked up with some basic cable(in late October/early November) and some MTV to watch, I was bombarded with a distinct buzz about the band Nirvana. Now, it wasn’t like I hadn’t heard of Nirvana. We had a copy of the album Bleach for in-store play in the GI store. I was a fan of searing high guitar leads executed by technically proficient musicians. So, Nirvana didn’t seem that way to me. It was a bunch of distortion and bashing. It wasn’t long that the video for Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit was in HEAVY ROTATION on MTV. I remember sitting back in my apartment and watching (then MTV VJ) Steve Isaacs in a big chair with very expressive hands talking about new acts and I think he said something like “You Gotta like Nirvana!”  If you’ve read my blog on the debut album from Boston, you’ll recall my attitude when someone tells me “You gotta get/like…..”

All of a sudden, it seemed that the loud and angry bashing music (like Nirvana and Metallica among others) that I had enjoyed in the late 80’s (and had been criticized for)was now being accepted and embraced. What was once considered “alternative” was now becoming the “mainstream”.  Corporate Music stores in shopping malls are much different than independent record stores to me. In the fall of 1991, trendy people who shop in Malls were buying bands liked Nirvana. This was very odd to me. I was now working in a corporate store where I wore a dress shirt and tie to work. When I worked for Dustys, we wore T-Shirts and jeans. The Mall music store felt out of place and I felt like I wasn’t keeping up-to-date with what was going on musically and it was changing into something else that I didn’t really like and couldn’t control the change.

We were encouraged by TransWorld to play the promo cassettes that were sent by the company. It seemed that they rarely sent new stuff and we really couldn’t open new material for in-store play. Occasionally, we’d break a couple of rules and open a couple out of inventory. In my early days of employment, I do remember a spotlight for “new acts” that included Blues Traveler’s Travelers and Thieves (Which I loved) and Nirvana’s Nevermind.  Since this was a Mall store, It just didn’t feel like the right environment to be playing the aggressive sound of Nirvana.  It didn’t feel like something guys in dress shirts and ties with smooth sterile counter tops would listen to.

Eventually, we were allowed to open a cassette copy of Nevermind to have for in-store play.  I popped the cassette in with the part-time kid (who liked everything). Of course, he loved it. I think he even pushed to have a copy opened for in-store play. Obviously, I had heard Smells Like Teen Spirit many times on MTV. This was the first track on the album. Next up was In Bloom and my initial reaction was that Kurt Cobain’s vocals reminded me of Paul Westerberg of the Replacements.  As an employee of a music store, I had become quite the musical snob. I had the attitude that I knew more about popular music than anyone else. An attitude like “These trendy music buyers have no idea who the Replacements are and so they don’t deserve to buy something from Nirvana.”  I was like Jack Black in the movie High Fidelity.  I wouldn’t say I hated Nevermind.  It just didn’t light me on fire and I didn’t relate to the whole “Angry Young Man living in a world of Hate” attitude either. 

(I realize this video is a backwards/mirrored image. It’s a copyrighted thing)

On January 11th, 1992 (20 years ago), Nirvana appeared on Saturday Night Live the same day that Nevermind went to Number 1 on the US Album Sales chart.  The media, the record companies and the tastemakers noticed this and Nirvana was then categorized as “Grunge”. There were other bands out of Seattle along with Nirvana making it big like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. So, these bands were thrown into the “Grunge” category which also became a “look” too. Bands that dressed in jeans and t-shirts and flannel shirts were unconsciously making a fashion statement too.  This category was touted as THE NEW Sound and the new look too.  I wore flannel shirts in the early 80’s during the winters in Nebraska. When this kind of success and hype hits the mainstream media, the record companies start seeing dollar signs and jump on a bandwagon to sign every kind of band that sounds like this and they abandon the bands they had been promoting if those bands don’t fit into the mold of the NEW sound.  I still had great fondness for a lot of the bands that had started in the late 80’s.  Don’t get me wrong. Some of the supposed “Hair” bands of the 80’s were a little ridiculous. I know that many music fans were sick of them too. There were good bands from that era too. But, they soon got overshadowed by these new “Grunge” style bands and completely written off as something from the 80’s.

As a music fan, you have a tendency to blame an artist for the overexposure they get or if your favorite band is suddenly unpopular and out of the national spotlight, you have a tendency to blame that “new” band for everything.  I know I did. Nirvana was selling and the bands I liked and felt that had more talent on their instruments were being pushed to the side.  Looking back, it’s not the Kurt Cobain or Nirvana’s fault. For years, there have been scores of tales that musicians, songwriters and bands have told of the overpowering RECORD COMPANY that tells the artist what they should do with their look, their sound, their songs just to sell more records. Most musicians just want to play music and write music to satisfy their own musical expression.  It’s those other factors that oversaturate the public consciousness with those songs. The record company comes across something successful, they see dollar signs and it gets played incessantly and it’s also imitated ad nauseum too.

It’s that pressure and the skyrocketing popularity that probably led to the suicide of Kurt Cobain.  The rise of Nevermind to heights of popularity soon turned everyone in the band to bigger than life celebrities and “Rock” stars. Not in their own eyes, but in the eyes of the public that watched their every movement.  I remained skeptical of the “greatness” of Nirvana. I didn’t like the way Dave Grohl played drums. I had a love of drummers who play with a certain “groove”. To me, Grohl was all about bashing plain and simple. Soon, he was heralded as being “groundbreaking” and “influential”.  I knew drummers in college who could thrash and bash too. I didn’t find them to be influential.  Even one of my favorite drummers Chad Smith proclaimed in a 1993 issue of Modern Drummer that Grohl was the best drummer out there.  The band followed up with the album In Utero in 1993. Of course, there was great expectations for this album. They even recorded an episode of MTV’s Unplugged. By this time, I was tired of the greatness that had been bestowed on Nirvana. 

Then, in April 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide and killed himself. There were all kinds of news stories leading up to this about his heroin addiction, his marriage to Courtney Love and their daughter Frances Bean. I was so tired of hearing about Nirvana. On that day in 1994, I was actually in a store called CD Warehouse that specialized in used CD’s when I heard the news that Kurt Cobain had killed himself. My initial thought was “Oh Great! Now, this will make him an even bigger icon in death than he was in life”   Sure enough, MTV News director Kurt Loder made the announcement and made the comment that Kurt Cobain was the “John Lennon of his generation”.  As a giant Beatles fan, I hated that assessment! I was born the same year as Cobain. He was the same age as me. I didn’t see it.  Cobain was then featured as the cover story on Rolling Stone magazine.  This enraged me because (4 years before) when Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter accident, he didn’t get a Rolling Stone cover.  Stevie’s death seemed much more tragic than Cobain’s. Stevie had overcome drug and alcohol addiction and was riding high in his career when he died. John Lennon was killed by a crazed stalking fan. Kurt Cobain killed himself.

In June 1994, I moved back to Kearney and back to work at Dustys Records.  But, my experiences in Omaha had changed me and the music I listened was different too. The early 90’s seemed to filled with the alternative scene and (as my friend Mick said) “young toughs living in a world of hate”.  The clientele of Dustys were now college students that grew up on the grunge movement of the 90’s. They loved it. I didn’t.  So, now I felt like some kind of old fogie that was preaching about how the acts I loved were so much better than what was coming out. I was into blues artists and jam bands like Blues Traveler and classic rock artists putting out new material.  But, what I didn’t see is that I was angry about the music that was now popular and I wore that distaste on my sleeve.  I had always been so passionate about the music I like.  I’m a fan that becomes so passionate that I become almost possessive about it too.  Like a selfish 4-year old, I don’t want to share. If you don’t share the passion for what I like(or dislike), I can be rather difficult to deal with.  Just ask my old friend Bob about the hour and a half drunken rant I pointed at a girl in my college days for not liking the Who. I’m not proud of this.  As I write this, I am beginning to see how “unlikable” I could be.

Now, it’s 2012.  It’s been 20 years since Nirvana’s rise to “greatness”.  So, I figured it’s time to drop any kind of childish jealousy or dislike I had for this band. I have been watching YouTube videos on the making of Nevermind.  I’ve watched documentaries on the band and interviews with surviving members Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic.

I look back at those younger days of the band and I’m reminded how smug and sarcastic Kurt, Krist and Dave were in those days. In the 70’s and 80’s, I grew up with bands that championed the “Rock Star” hero. These guys were definite “anti” heroes. That may have been one of the things I didn’t like about them. As a drummer, I wanted to be in the spotlight. I wanted to be on a stage playing even if it meant doing interviews etc. These guys seemed like some of biggest jerks when it came to public appearances and interview segments. I’m sure it was part of their love of the punk scene and attitude. But, when I think back to how I was at the time, I was the same. I was a sarcastic smart-ass too.  I was working in a record store and I was a giant music snob. Like many of the fans of rock music, I was tired of the Guns N’ Roses look alike bands with the whole “Bad boy” image with tattoos and bandanas look too. But, I wanted musicians with great technical proficiency on their instruments to be the new music of the 90’s. So, here was Nirvana that were minimalists on their instruments and the public was buying this stuff up. 

As I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve consciously tried to drop any pretenses I had for this music 20 years ago. I have continued to listen to the music. Sirius XM radio did a “Town Hall” discussion with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and producer Butch Vig on the 20th Anniversary of the Nevermind album. They were interviewed by comedian John Stewart along with fans asking the guys questions about the songs and the album. Of course, the idolism questions are asked like “Did you know when you recorded this album that it would change the face of popular music and rock n’ roll?” The band inevitably answers almost in unison “NO!”  They all seem so humble about what they did.  Dave Grohl is very humorous about his drumming and his inability to keep the tempos in check. As a drummer myself, I used to hate the thought of a “click track” to keep my timekeeping contained. But, as I’ve grown as a drummer, I’ve realized the need to control the tempo when the other band members have a tendency to rush their bass lines or guitar riffs. The guys also discussed the timeline from when the album was released to the heights of hysteria that followed. As they conveyed the timeline of events, I reflected to where I was at that time in my own personal history.

The album was released in late September 1991. The Dustys store in Grand Island closed in early September. I started my new job in Omaha on September 30th. I lived with my older sister and her family for the month of October until I found an apartment to live. My nephew and niece were 6 and 5 years old at the time. So, I didn’t listen to a lot of my music with a heavier edge around the youngsters. By the time I moved into my own apartment in November, the album was entering the Billboard Top 40 albums. I was dealing with my own stuff.  For a guy like me who would pay attention to the new releases of the day and what was going on, I was completely sideswiped by this new musical movement.  Looking back, I think that was one of the reasons why I was so against this album. The other reason may have been that because I was from the same age group as Kurt, Dave, and Krist, I was dealing with my life and working in a store and wasn’t really complaining about life. These guys just seemed angry at everyone and everything.  I wasn’t that angry…or was I?

So, I finally downloaded the album and have been listening to it.  Considering how negative I had become about the album over the past 20 years, I was able to take a positive look at the whole album. I’m still tired of hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit. In 2011, The Muppets did a comedic take on SLTS for the movie The Muppets and did a barbershop version of this song. Since I never had some sort reverential take on this song, I found it very entertaining. The fact that Dave Grohl is in the movie as a drummer in a Muppet tribute band known as “the Moopets” shows that he had a sense of humor about it too.

As I listened to the band reminisce about the recording of the album and track listing for the album, I’m reminded how the album tracks seem to flow from one track to another. From SLTS to In Bloom to Come As You Are to Breed and then Lithium, I find myself really enjoying the songs as I sing along with an album I had never owned before this.  Kurt Cobain may have been portrayed as an angry, troubled disillusioned icon. But, he really had a good ear for melodies.  Krist Novoselic may have become known as being the band member that stepped out of the spotlight. But, he had some memorable bass lines too. I may not laud Dave Grohl as a great drummer. But, as I dive into the playing on this album, it’s a sign of a good drummer to let the songs ebb and flow and breathe.  He plays with subtleties to bring down the tone of the song and then winds himself up to a flurry of flailing sticks and hair behind that simple drumkit.  As I have criticized Dave for being nothing special, I’m reminded how much I absolutely revere Ringo Starr of the Beatles. Ringo also played with a simplicity that was ultimately what led to his signature fills and licks on the drumkit. So, in the tradition of great drummers who know when NOT to play, Dave Grohl could be praised for his work. Butch Vig should be praised as a producer. He took a very ragtag band and augmented their instrumentation and their vocals and crafted something that(in the end) has very catchy songs, choruses. In my Music and Memories blog about the Clash’s London Calling, I talked about the raspiness of Joe Strummer’s voice. For me, there some kind of musicality to it. It’s individualistic and gives the singer some character. I could say the same about Kurt Cobain’s voice. He has a distinct rasp to his voice. But, yet it’s a signature vocal for him.

In the book 1001 Albums,  writer Robert Dimery writes:

The warped pop songs bit with the belligerence of punk, but hit with the cranked-up power chords of metal. The album instantly established Kurt Cobain as one of rock’s most distinctive singers, capable of delivering extraordinary throat-shredding vocals, but also a songwriter of genuine sensitivity and originality

Was this album filled with “warped” songs that had a pop tinge to them? Yes they did. Were the chords passed down from the Metal bands of the 70’s?  Producer Butch Vig has been quoted that Kurt Cobain wanted Nevermind to sound like a Black Sabbath album.  Was this one of the influential albums of the past 20 years? Could be. I grew up playing in garage bands and the first song we would “jam” to would be Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water.  I’ve talked to people who grew up in the 90’s and when they picked up their instruments they “jammed” to Smells Like Teen Spirit.  As for the people in my age group who loved the “bad boy” bands of the 80’s that were pushed to the side by Nirvana and the other Seattle bands, don’t blame them. The record companies and the marketing people backed this band well.  Nirvana was just a 3-piece band of regular guys that wanted to make an album that they thought sounded good to themselves. From an artistic point of view, when you are happy with what you’ve done, that is the first part in satisfying yourself.  The fact that the general public jumped on it. That is another bizarre occurrence and simply a matter of good timing.

There are my musician friends that scoff at the lack of musical proficiency that Nirvana had and the level of fame they achieved with that. There are my peers from the 80’s that loved the GnR copycats and the Motley Crue wannabes and are still mad at Nirvana for pushing “their” bands out of the limelight. But, the guys in these bands have gone on to say what fans they were of many different styles and genres of music….including heavy metal and pop. I’ve quoted Willie Nelson many times when he talks about music. “Music is a spiritual thing. It means different things to everyone.”  Nirvana’s Nevermind meant something different to a lot of people. At the time, I wasn’t one of those people. But, after 20 years, I can definitely respect where they were coming from.

Van Halen – A Different Kind of Truth

Today (as I’m writing this) is Tuesday February 7th 2012.  For longtime fans of Van Halen, this is BIG day. This is the first new album by Eddie and Alex Van Halen since the 1998 Van Halen album Van Halen III.  The band (at that point) featured singer Gary Cherone of the band Extreme and original bassist Michael Anthony. That was 14 years ago.  In 2012, the band now features original vocalist David Lee Roth and Eddie’s son 20 year old Wolfgang Van Halen.  The drama that has surrounded this band for the past 27 years is legendary.  From the exit of original lead singer David Lee Roth in 1985 through the Sammy Hagar years, this band has been on the musical radar of many fans.  If there is one word for Van Halen fans, that would be “Passionate”…oh and “discerning” and “hypercritical”  Seriously, when Van Halen puts out a new album, it’s a big event for musicians and VH fans everywhere.  Speaking for myself and many of my musician friends from the 80’s, this band is one of the reasons I play the instrument I do.

The band toured with Dave and Wolfie back in 2007-2008. There’s been talk of a new album since then.  This past July 4th weekend, David Lee Roth had posted on his website to “GET READY”. That was all it said.  So, after 7 months of “getting ready” ….finally the new album (titled A Different Kind of Truth) hit stores this week.  There are the fans that will praise it just because they’re fans of the Dave years and hate the Sammy years. My friends know me as a longtime VH fan of all “eras” of the band.   So, I will try to give my first impressions on this new album.

When the buzz about this album started, there were stories that the songs on this album were demos and unreleased songs that the band had written back in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  I, myself, found that odd because I had been reading interviews wtih Eddie Van Halen since 1996 and he said that he’d been writing non-stop since Sammy left and there was all kinds of music that he’d written.  So, when it was reported that the music for this album was composed way back in the 70’s and 80’s, I didn’t see a lot of promise.  Another factor that’s been talked about is the fact that original bassist-Michael Anthony was no longer in the band. Michael was THE unsung factor to the overall VH sound. He has some of the greatest high backing vocals ever.  I don’t like to judge an album by comparing to their past albums etc. So, I’ll try and be objective about this whole thing. Here we go…

1. Tattoo
This is the first single off the album. The band released a video for this a few weeks back. It really didn’t seem that great. It didn’t light me on fire. But, as I listened to the album through today, I found myself singing along to it….hmmmm?

2. She’s the Woman
A few weeks back, the band did a small gig at New York’s Cafe Wha? and this was the only new song on that setlist. I saw some of the amateur video from that night. The core band of Alex, Eddie and Wolfgang all seem to chug along as an unstoppable unit. Dave handles the high notes of this song well on the album. But, if you’ve followed Dave’s career over the past 27 years, he might be struggling to hit those notes in concert. He may have been able to hit those notes back in his twenties. But, he’s creeping towards his sixties now.  It’s a 3 minute song and it seems to end a little short.

3.You and Your Blues
….uh….um…..uh….. next
I was going to comment about the chorus sounding similiar to a DLR solo track. But, I won’t….Oh Wait…I just did…

4. China Town
Now this what I always loved about Van Halen. This powerful freight train rhythm section with Alex Van Halen just slamming those double bass drums.  The brothers Van Halen always had a great sense of rhythm and working off each other.  I’m a sucker for that driving double bass boogie and then a fantastic screaming Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.  AAaaggggHHHH! Love this track.

5. Blood and Fire
This Rock and Roll boulder is picking up momentum. I’m nodding my head to the music on this one. I have found myself singing along to the opening line of the song with Dave.  I get to this song and I’m really starting to like it.

6. Bullethead
”NO I”M NOT! YOU Are!!”
“I’m rubber, You’re Glue….Whatever you say bounces off me and goes back to you!”
I’m reminded of Steve Martin’s bit called Rubberhead from his album Comedy is Not Pretty. 
“Oh I know what you’re saying. He’s funny…but…He’s a Rubberhead.”
“You probably think all Rubberheads throw fish!”
”you want to call me….a Rubberhead. Well go ahead call me a Rubberhead”
…back to the review..
Slammin song….Nice change ups in the song after the eerie guitar solo.  But, kind of a throw away song. 

7. As Is
I hate to compare this song to things I’ve heard before but I can’t help it. The opening drums on this song sounds like the drum intro sounds like Pat Benatar’s LIttle Too Late.  The band goes into a double bass drum guitar hyper-boogie(as Joe Satriani calls it) much like their 1984 song Hot For Teacher.  I even felt myself singing
“I think of all the education that I’ve missed. But, then my homework was never like this!"

8. Honeybabysweetiedoll
I love when Eddie gets weird and makes just odd noises to lead into a song. Dave sounds like he’s channeling some irreverent Frank Zappa in his talk-speak-sing-low voice on this. I love the slamming drums that Alex is playing on this. This is what I liked about Eddie’s love of doing something bizarre and different from what has worked for him before. I always felt he did a lot of experimentation in the “Sammy” years. I was pleased to hear this. I like this a lot.

9. The Trouble with Never
This sound of Eddie’s guitar with Wolfie’s bass(I hope) on the intro just puts a smile on my face. The chorus is very sing-along-able. I really like the rhythms on this song. The band takes the tempo down and Dave starts a low-talking bit for the bridge.  It’s a good song and I’m starting to like this.

10. Outta Space
This definitely sounds like “old-school” Van Halen.  Like a song on the tail end of an album maybe 78-80.  Oh wait….it’s the 2012 version of On Fire from the debut album.

11. Stay Frosty
Wow…sounds likes “Son of Ice Cream Man”  or “Could This Be Magic-Part II”  In the words of Ted Templeman on the Fair Warning,  “C’mon Dave, Gimme a break!”  Don’t get me wrong. That irreverent goofy vaudevillian aspect of the classic Van Halen sound was always something I kinda liked. It shows the band’s versatility for different styles.  A friend of mine commented that he thought this might have been an idea for Van Halen to provide a jingle for a beer company.

12. Big River
I like it. Every one of these songs has the signature sounds of Van Halen. Eddie’s guitar and Alex’s solid drumming. This is no exception. This has a great four-on-the-floor bass drum with a little funkiness on top.

13. Beats Workin’
The last track…starts with some feedback…lots of drum fills with some nods to that heavy guitar and bass interaction that Edward and Wolfie are connected beyond their DNA. 

To sum up the whole album, I really wanted to not like it and be hypercritical and skeptical about it. But, it’s rather satisfying all in all. I was waiting to hear Dave Roth croaking out songs that he wrote 30+ years ago and struggling. He does a little.  Does it seem like Dave might have tried to carry some of these song ideas into his solo career in the 80’s and 90’s?  Could be.  Would Mikey Anthony’s high backing vocals help out some of Dave’s adventures in the higher register?  Absolutely.

I listened to this album on Friday afternoon and then switched back to 1982’s  Diver Down album. Diver Down may be the band’s (and some fans) least favorite album. But, that album was really my first taste of VH when my friend Mick played it for me one Saturday morning.  Back then, I knew nothing about Van Halen except that there was a lead singer named Dave and that the guitar player was married to actress Valerie Bertinelli.  What kind of expectations did I have for that album back then? None really! That was the album that had me hooked and I was quick to buy up every album after that.  Van Halen quickly became one of my favorite all time bands. The reason I liked this band was the guitar tone and style of Eddie and the signature sound of Alex Van Halen and his one-of-a-kind snare drum ‘crack’. After the passing of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, Alex really was the only hard rock drummer in the 80’s that had his own sound that you could easily identify as Alex Van Halen.  Those two elements are on this album. It puts a smile on my face. I feel my head nodding along.

As for the live element, much has been said about the “Dave Years”.  When the conversation comes about David Lee Roth and his vocal abilities, the remark is always made about “Dave is one of the greatest frontmen/showmen in rock”  Well, back in 1984, I would have agreed with that. Dave had a quick wit and tongue when came to great quotes and interview soundbytes.  But, that has been his style for the past 26-27 years. His schtick just got old for me. Thanks to the internet and YouTube, I’ve gone back and looked at live video of the “early Dave year's'”, the “Sammy years” and the “Dave-reunion” years.  For me, I find it annoying that Dave can’t seem to sing the songs in a live sense like they are in the recording sense. He waits to come in on his vocals, comes in late and tries to syncopate it a little.  The band seem to chug together better as a unit in the Sammy years. Sammy always seemed to be one of the guys while Dave is always having to stop on stage to do some little spin or leg-kick or stop to position his body right to sing the right notes. Then, he smiles that giant chesire cat style grin as if to say “Look at me…aren’t I wonderful”  So, I wonder how some of these songs will go over in a live set. There is already video for the “Friends and Family” gig that the band did this past week and Dave “forgot the f***ing words” while performing the song China Town.

But, does that really matter at this point? My other concern for this band is that they are now considered a “Classic” rock band. They have a catalog of 6 (now 7) albums. Do the fans really want to hear the “new” material. I saw Paul McCartney in 1993 and when he would announce “This is a song off of our new album”, there would inevitably be lines up and down the stands of people heading to the concession stands or the restroom. Will Van Halen fans eat up the new stuff or not? Are the fans of the Dave years just praising this because they blindly think that everything good about the band could be attributed to Dave? Where were these fans when Dave did A Little Ain’t Enough and Your Filthy Little Mouth?

The songs contain some solid playing from Eddie, Alex and Wolfie.  That alone is a reason to like this. Hopefully, Eddie is sober and is taking his playing seriously. By all press accounts, he is.  Do I like the Dave Roth vocals? Yes I do. It has some of that character that Dave brought to the band all those years ago.  I still long for the Michael Anthony backing vocals.  My friend Mark made the comment that there really isn’t any memorable songs or melodies with these songs.  I can only sarcastically respond to that with “Well, if you give the fans a sing along melody, they’ll accuse the band of being ‘too poppy’ like they did with the Sammy years”

The truth is I keep putting this album on again and again. Not only to blog about it as I am now. But, to soak it all it in. I find more and more things I like about it. It has strong points and weak points. It has nods to the past and to the formulas that have always worked for this band. I wanted to be skeptical about it. I wanted to hate it. I wanted to pick it apart. But, ultimately, I’ve chosen to really like it.