1st New Van Halen CD w/Roth since 1984!!!

[Zarathustra]

It just came out two days ago, but I can't believe there's not a thread here yet. Has anybody picked it up? Cail?? I'm about to grab it, a 6-pack of quality ale, and have myself a listen. This site has an effusive, exuberant review. As reported there, half of the album is reworked versions of previously unreleased material from the classic Roth era, while the other half is entirely new. Apparently, it's one of the hardest rocking VH albums ever. I can't wait to weigh in.

[Vraith]

It just came out two days ago, but I can't believe there's not a thread here yet. Has anybody picked it up? Cail?? I'm about to grab it, a 6-pack of quality ale, and have myself a listen. This site has an effusive, exuberant review. As reported there, half of the album is reworked versions of previously unreleased material from the classic Roth era, while the other half is entirely new. Apparently, it's one of the hardest rocking VH albums ever. I can't wait to weigh in.

I saw a different review not quite as glowing, but still mostly positive...and agreed that it was hard and fast...something like "more atomic punk, less jump." which sounds good to me, so I'll surely pick it up sometime soon.

[Cail]

I need to pick it up. "Tattoo" is growing on me, but I haven't heard the rest of it. Still, my hopes are high, considering I think "Me Wise Magic" (from their Greatest Hits collection a dozen or so years ago) is the best VH song there is, bar none.

Dave's not the greatest singer, he's not the greatest songwriter, but damn if he isn't the best frontman.

[Zarathustra]

Okay, my take ... (forgive the language--2.5 strong ales and counting)

The bad:

There are no hits. That's it. The rest is good, hell the rest is badass.

The good:

1. Wolfgang is a monster. Holy fuck, that kid can play. Blows Michael Anthony away (though I do miss the classic backup vocals). There are times when he's doubling up on Eddie doing some tapping on bass like Billy Sheehan on Dave's solo albums, though not as flashy and forward. This CD makes it absolutely clear: the bottom end has been the missing component of VH all these years.

2. Dave sounds great. For a man pushing 60, his singing is awesome. Also, I realize how much I've missed his sense of humor. Many of the lyrics made me laugh out loud. His sense of humor is all over the CD, in nearly every song.

3. Eddie hasn't lost one bit of his chops. Holy shit that man can play. He hasn't jammed like this .... maybe ever. He plays his heart out. This entire album is a freakin jam. You just don't hear guitarists play like this anymore. After launching a revolution of finger-tapping copy-cats, it's clear that none of the imitators had clue what made Eddie special.

4. The band still has something to say (musically). I can hear just about every period VH has ever gone through on this CD. There is stuff that sounds absolutely like classic VH. You'll hear bits and pieces that make you want to grab your old CDs to see where they came from (Hot For Teacher in track 7 or 8, I forgot). There are also some glimmers of 90s VH, but not as much as I expected. But more importantly, you'll hear an entirely new VH, especially in tracks like #9 (Honeybabysweetiedoll). They still have territory to explore.

5. Alex is rock solid. He, too, is just as good as he's ever been. It's almost easy to overlook his contribution, to take it for granted. But there is at least one tune that lets him shine with no one else playing. Great. Big. Fucking. Drums.

6. Stay Frosty. An acoustic tune that goes electric. Hilarious. Reminds me of something off Women and Children First. Even a classic DLR "yeowl" near the end that doesn't sound like he's hoarse.

7. The sound/engineering is amazing. You don't hear albums mixed/mastered like this anymore. Holy crap, this sounds good. It's clear that Eddie is utilizing sounds that he's never used before, but at the same time not straying too far from "the brown tone."


The backing vocals are different. After a while, I realized why some parts remind me of DLR solo albums: multiple Daves. I really miss Michael Anthony as a background singer, but otherwise he is unnecessary.

Okay, I'm buying tickets for this tour, no matter the cost.

[Cail]

Dave's only 56, that's not exactly pushing 60. I'll pick the damn thing up tomorrow though, sounds like something I'd like.

[Zarathustra]

Me Wise Magic is awesome ... I wouldn't call it their best, but if you like that, you'll like this. It sounds similar to that. Dave's singing really sounds like his singing on those two greatest hits songs. I wish they had been able to get it together back then, and we'd have a decade of "classic" VH by now. Oh well.

Spring for the "enhanced" edition. It includes a DVD with acoustic versions of old and new songs that are worth the extra 3 bucks.

[Menolly]

Well bummer. The local classic rock radio station was giving away concert tickets to the Orlando show on Monday and Tuesday, and the Jacksonville show yesterday and today. I decided to pass on trying for them, as I figured this would just be another "reunion" tour without anything really new to say, even with the new release.

Ah well...

[sgt.null]

i'll be damned if you guys haven't convinced me to at least listen to the new album...

[Zarathustra]

Don't listen on a computer, or with headphones. Put it on a real stereo and play it loud. While typing up my post, I was listening to it a second time on a laptop + headphones, and it didn't sound nearly as good.

[Menolly]

i'll be damned if you guys haven't convinced me to at least listen to the new album...

*nod*

I haven't heard anything from it yet, but will now seek it out.

Don't listen on a computer, or with headphones. Put it on a real stereo and play it loud. While typing up my post, I was listening to it a second time on a laptop + headphones, and it didn't sound nearly as good.

hmm...

Was the second listen still with two and a half+ ales in your system?

[Mortice Root]

Ok, I'm going to pop out of lurker-dom for this.

This album rocks! Abosultely freakin' rocks!

I've probably listened to it 5 times in the last 3 days. I can't get enough of it. I pretty much agree with everything that Z said in his review. Just like he said, the only downside I can see is the lack of a radio hit. There's no "Jump", "Panama" or something in that vein. Otherwise I wouldn't change a thing.

"Tattoo" is actually probably the weakest song on the disc, but it's not bad, just nothing special. The whole disc could have been like this and it would have met my (admittedly not high) expectations. But then the disc just takes off! All of the guys sound utterly fantastic, the music is aggressive, and challenging, and the vocals are classic Dave. Not the best range in the world, but he hasn't lost anything, and damn if he isn't just hysterical. I was grinning ear to ear the whole way through, and I loved this spoken word part in "Blood and Fire".

"Told ya I'd be back. Tell me you missed me. Say it like you mean it!"

Aww hell yeah!

"Stay Frosty" is just a fantastic "Ice Cream Man" type song, "As Is" is incredibly powerful - hell they're all good. The only one that was a little cringe-worthy lyrically was "Bullethead", IMO, but the music was good enough to make up for it. And Eddie - holy crap! 30+ years on and the man is still getting new sounds out of his guitar. And he's playing hungry. Hell, the whole band sounds like they have something to proove, and they nailed it!

The chance to see something like this live has got me so pumped. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a new cd! VH is definetly back!

[Zarathustra]

Was the second listen still with two and a half+ ales in your system?

Oh yeah. I stopped at 3, but the beer had nothing to do with my enjoyment (well, maybe a little). I was mainly talking about the points I made with regards to the mastering/mixing. It sounded flat and lifeless in headphones, but had miles of space on my home system. But you could probably say that about any music. I just didn't want anyone to listen on headphones and think, "What the hell was Z talking about?"

MR, good to see you out of lurkdom. Glad you enjoyed it. I wouldn't say that Dave hasn't lost a thing, however. He clearly has lost a bit of elasticity in his vocal chords, as all men (I suppose women, too) do as they age. I believe Mick Jagger had surgery to correct this, maybe a few other aging rockers. With that said, Dave sounds great for his age, especially considering he was never a very good singer to begin with. He's more about personality and charisma, which he brings in spades with this CD. If you thought he sounded good in 1997, then you won't notice much difference between now and then. He sounds pretty much exactly like he did on Me Wise Magic.

[Mortice Root]

Yeah, saying DLR "hasn't lost a thing" probably is a little bit of over-exubernace on my part. But he does sound good.

I wanted to comment about the bass as well. It's been a while since I've listened to the older albums, but I remember the bass being weak in the mix on just about all of them. But from what I recall, it was a production thing, not so much a matter of Anthony specifically. If I remember, Anthony plays pretty well when you can hear him (Balance, Carnal Knowledge). That said, Wolfgang is great. Clearly, there's something in the VH genes here.

If you get a chance, check out the official website as well. There a cool clip where Dave is interveiwing Alex and Eddie about their childhood that I thought was worth watching. I learned quite a bit.

[Zarathustra]

Good point about the bass mix. They're probably about the same in terms of skill, though Wolf has a few tricks up his sleeve that MA didn't use--probably so that he wouldn't be accused of copying Eddie. However, the main difference here is definitely the way the bass is mixed. Hell, I thought I even heard some of the same effects on the bass as Eddie was using on his guitar, even wah-pedal in one song. It had me scratching my head about whether it was bass or guitar. At the end of "As Is," or maybe "China Town," I even wondered if Eddie filled in a short bass line for his son, it sounded so much like Eddie's finger-tapping.

Blood and Fire is really growing on me. I read that it was an instrumental piece from a sountrack Eddie wrote for an 80s movie, revised with lyrics, so it sounds the most like classic commercial VH. As Is is the 21st century Hot For Teacher. There's even a part in it that briefly sounds just like the "... I think of all the education that I missed...." Honeybabysweetiedoll is the most "new" sounding VH on the disc, and one of the heaviest.

This gets better with each listen. I can't believe I'm hearing new Roth-VH in 2012. My inner 13-yr-old self is grinning ear-to-ear each time I press "play."

[Cail]

That soundtrack was for "The Wild Life". You can hear the song that ended up being "Right Now" on it too.

[Vraith]

So now I've given it a couple good listens.
The bad: I miss the signature of Anthony's backing vocals...You and your blues is boring...but the lyrics are pretty damn amusing, and there's some interesting timing games going on in the bass at points...which brings me to the good already!
Van Halen, the Next Generation [AKA the bassist] is amazing...it's possible that eddie told him everything to play and all he has is great speed and technique [Heh...All...]...but it doesn't sound that way to me. To me it sounds like he deserves huge fame in his own right cuz he's got all the other important stuff, too. In a similar vein, Eddie seems better in every way than he's been in forever.
Highlights...China Town except I kept expecting bloody throat ripping like R/w/the devil/On fire.
As Is/Honey...pie. Purely killer back to back tracks. Great openings, tons going on, crushingness. Just plain sweet.
Lyrics..over all so much fun.
Album over all: I love it, love it...as a whole piece, 2nd or third best of all.

[Zarathustra]

As Is/Honey...pie. Purely killer back to back tracks.

Absolutely. My favorite is Honeysweetiebabydoll. Truly a great VH song. As Is is right up there, too. Stay Frosty is moving way down on my list after a few listens. I think I was too happy about hearing something acoustic, and that swayed my opinion, causing me to rank it too high. You and Your Blues didn't impress me much at first, but it's growing on me. Same with the first two songs (Tattoo, She's the Woman).

A couple songs could be so much better if Dave didn't put such exaggerated emphasis on a few words in the chorus. The way he says, "through blood and fiiirrree." Bugs me. Ditto with "China Tooowwwnn." But otherwise, those are two killer songs. Blood and Fire, particularly, is quite moving after the slow-down where Dave says, "I told you I was coming back," etc., and then they launch into the solo with Dave screaming. That part gives me chills.

The solos are very interesting. Not just a bunch of scales, but tons of emotion. Eddie has always been this way, of course. He's more than just flashy playing, but man those solos are amazing. The one in Honeysweetie blows me away every time.

Love this album. I'm not sure where it would rank, but definitely better than Diver Down, Women and Children First, and Fair Warning. Hell, maybe 4th (of the Roth era) behind 1984, Van Halen, and VH II.

[Zarathustra]

God, when will I shut up about this CD?

I just wanted to add that I love how little repetition is on this album. Maybe that's why I didn't think there were any hits on it, because so many of the songs will play their "hook" and then veer off into another direction. Sure, you'll hear this happening a lot with jazz or fusion or prog, but you don't typically hear "popular" rock music that doesn't repeat the shit out of elements, and go exactly where you expect them to go. There are so many times during these songs that I think, "Wow, that was nice," and just when I'm looking forward to hearing it again, it is whisked away and replaced by something else.

[Cail]

Listening to it on Spotify right now. You and Your Blues is sort of "meh", loving Tattoo, She's the Woman, and China Town.

[Vraith]

Listening to it on Spotify right now. You and Your Blues is sort of "meh", loving Tattoo, She's the Woman, and China Town.

Heh...that's where I got my first listen, liked it enough to get for real right then.
In my opinion [already expressed] you are in for a treat right soon from as is/honey.

Oh, and Z & Mortice I meant to say the first time on things said about bass: Yea, it's definitely more present in the mix overall. A great choice to do so IMO. And effects processing is being used to great effect .
I liked MA's playing generally...but this sounds to me not only beyond anything he did play, but likely beyond anything he could ever have played.