Van Halen (& related) ~ USA ~ Los Angeles, California

OU812 (1988)

This is the first time I've heard this title. By 1988 I would not even have known Van Halen were still around. I was safely in the workforce and deep diving into the European underground. 5150 isn't so bad, so how does the follow up rate? Oh good grief, 'When It's Love' sucks. You'd think by '88 that schmaltzy scene had played out, but it was actually the opposite. Oh hey, I actually recognize 'Cabo Wabo'. Guess I have heard something from this album after all. It's not an awful song, though Hagar crows too much for my liking. Side 2 gets off to a better start. Much more energetic, calling on their early 80s past. 'Feels So Good', OK yea, another one I recognize. Guess they were sneaking these tracks in my subconscious while I wasn't paying attention. I don't like it, though the organ emulation is interesting. Overall this album earned the disdain I had previously tagged Diver Down with.

Source: 1988 Warner Bros (MC)

3/8/25 (review)

Diver Down (1982)

I had this title rated really low. April '82 is when it was released. Second half of my high school junior year. There's no way I ever gave it a chance. I had already walked back my appreciation of Van Halen a couple of years earlier. I wanted heavier material by '82. After some 43 years, let's give it a more objective listen. So it it really that bad? Not at all. What's intriguing are the instrumentals, many more than usual. 'Pretty Woman' is one of their trademark cover tunes, and the instrumental 'Intruder' is the perfect setup, and usually not included, which it should have been. My memory had it that this was much more lightweight than its predecessor. That's not true either, though it most certainly is more friendly. The Dixieland and Happy Cowboy moves are more puzzling than embarrassing. Overall it's a bit more experimental than prior, while not losing focus on their commercial sensibility. Will I keep it? Nooo, but once again, much better than my original assessment. Other than the debut, that's the case for all of them from the past.

Source: 1982 Warner Bros (MC)

3/8/25 (review)

David Lee Roth - Eat 'em and Smile (1986) 

For Roth's follow-up Skyscraper I stated: "Hey - not bad at all. Better than what same era Van Halen were up to... ...Roth sounds like Roth and to me that means he's always "hot for teacher". Having Steve Vai on board was a stroke of genius. Vai gets a fat paycheck and Roth earns credibility while still acting out his macho bad boy routine. Good hard rock on the whole, though nothing revelatory." A fair assessment of this full length debut too (there's an EP prior). Perhaps Vai's own solo style is more on display than prior. A Van Halen with Stevie instead of Eddie wouldn't be an unfair conclusion. Roth was out there earning his paycheck, gotta give him that. Good stuff, just nothing I need to own at this point. 

Source: 1986 Warner Bros. (MC). Also have a sealed LP that I will be selling now.

1/30/25 (review)

5150 (1986)

Better than I remembered hard rock with Sammy taking over. Side 1 is the better of the two. A little too poppy at times, but not an embarrassment.

Source: 1986 Warner Bros (LP)

7/29/24 (review)

David Lee Roth - Skyscraper (1988) 

Hey - not bad at all. Better than what same era Van Halen were up to I believe. And do I hear organ on that first track? Didn't expect that. Roth sounds like Roth and to me that means he's always "hot for teacher". Having Steve Vai on board was a stroke of genius. Vai gets a fat paycheck and Roth earns credibility while still acting out his macho bad boy routine. Good hard rock on the whole, though nothing revelatory. The conclusion? The premise was accurate - reselling it for a profit.

Source: 1988 Warner Bros.

10/21/23 (review)

 

Van Halen II (1979)

As I stated on Def Leppard's High 'N' Dry: "One year later, during the summer of 1981, out came High 'N' Dry which I purchased on the spot. Had you asked me on Day 1 what I thought of the album, I would have told you it was great. But I knew it wasn't. Over the next year, my interest in the album had started to wane. As did my interest in the group in general. I was looking for heavier material, and more bands were cropping up to offer just that." Replace summer of 1981 with spring of 1979, and High 'N' Dry with Van Halen II and you have the exact same scenario. I was 14 and the testosterone was really starting to cook.

One of these days I'm going to write about Van Halen's debut, which I consider one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time. Unfortunately for us who enjoyed the band's heavier material, they more or less abandoned that for more radio friendly fare (the exception being parts of their 4th album Fair Warning). For whatever reason Van Halen didn't embrace 'Atomic Punk', 'Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love', 'I'm the One' and 'On Fire' - but rather they followed the path of  'Jamie's Cryin'' and 'Ice Cream Man'.

Really, Van Halen II's drop is more precipitous than Def Leppard's, at least from a heaviness perspective. 'Dance the Night Away' and 'Beautiful Girls' was the sound of the new Van Halen. There are a couple of notable exceptions: 'Outta Love Again', and in particular, 'Light Up The Sky' bring the hard rock goods. Even the one / two punch of 'Spanish Fly' and 'DOA' are emasculated. Hardly 'Eruption' and 'You Really Got Me'. 

Nostalgia plays a big role in me keeping this (for now). As noted above, I bought it new in 1979 having fallen hard for their debut. In playing it last night, I knew every note of the album though I don't think I've heard it in over 40 years.

Ownership: 1979 Warner Bros (LP). Picture innersleeve. Club edition.

9/5/22 (review)

Fair Warning (1981)

I spoke some of my history with Van Halen on the Women and Children First album. Though I never bought that album real time, I did splurge for Fair Warning upon release. And that's because they were playing the heaviest songs on the radio. And those would be 'Mean Street' and 'Unchained', both I would consider at the top of the heap for Van Halen. A nice return to form, recalling their massive debut. At the time, I wasn't so enamored with the rest, looking for more heavy material. In reacquiring this title, I found myself enjoying the whole thing. Most assuredly their second best album.

4/28/22 (review)

Women and Children First (1980) 

Good ol' Van 'Alen. Ask me what the best hard rock album ever is, and I may very well say it's Van Halen's debut. What a mind blowing release that album was when it was released (and still is). That's a tale for another day. They dropped significantly on VH II, which I purchased and sold. So when the 3rd album came out, I just recorded it off the radio. And that was my copy for a few years, deciding not to buy the album. In reflection, that was the right move. However, I can afford to be more lenient now - and the album is exactly as I remember it. And well I should, since it gets constant airplay. I would argue that Women and Children First is a distinct improvement on II, but a far cry from the debut. Solid muscle hard rock, and the band hadn't lost their way just yet. They were still a "man's band", inching ever closer to winning over the ladies. 

Ownership (LP): 1980 Warner Bros.

1/31/22 (review)

9/5/22 (new entry)