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.
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