New Van Halen

[Gordon Williams]

The CD Warehouse in my area somehow got the new Van Halen before the national release date (they did on the last Black Stone Cherry, as well).

Anyway, I bought it Friday night, and have already listened to it twice, and I am VERY impressed.

Sonically, it may be the best Van Halen album ever. Everything sounds great in the mix, to me. Eddie's playing a lot of down-tuned guitar, and it sounds fantastic! Alex is back with great sounding drums.

And believe it or not, the bass playing (and the mix from the studio) both sound awesome! I mean, when your Dad is Eddie Van Halen, the kid is going to keep getting better on the bass guitar.

This may not be quite as good as the debut, song wise, but it is easily back to the classic DLR era Van Halen sound. After two listens, I think the second half is better than the first half, but the whole thing really, really cooks!

And again, I can't say how much I think the production is top rate! After the awful production of "Van Halen 3", it is great to hear the band sounding this good again. Plenty of humor injected in David Lee Roth's lyrics, and performance.

I find myself having a hard time saying this...BUT....the long wait for new Van Halen music may have been worth it!

I think I can say this without "fear of retribution"...but, if you liked DLR era Van Halen...then, no need to wait until you hear more of this album. It's a "MUST HAVE" in my book. Will be in heavy rotation for a long, long time.

[Alan Christensen]

You Really Got Me from Van Halen on Vimeo.

Yeah, the store said they got screwed? Not sure why only one copy. Anyway, I listened to it and my favorite songs are You and Your Blues and Blood and Fire. Also, I'm not sure why this wasn't on the DVD. :(

[RJhog (Admin)]

Very cool Van.  Thanks or posting.

[Niels (Mod)]

Only question is: Why is Dave singing through his nose?

[Jon]

I listened to most of the album on the drive to work today, and must say that I too am impressed.

While what I've heard so far is very good, like Gordon I'm digging the second half (of what I've heard) more than the first half. That's not to say that the first half sucks, far from it.

Definitely not a letdown and even though it's been 28 years since a DLR fronted VH album, I'm more than happy.

Maybe GnR can take a hint from this....

[Niels (Mod)]

Funny. I thought exactly the same about GnR. In fact, I also thought that maybe Led Zeppelin should try and make an album, even though I've allways meant, that no J. Bonham, no LZ, but Van Halen has shown the way. It CAN be done.  

[Scott]

Picked mine up on the way home from work yesterday.  Got through about half of it, and Im on the bandwagon!  Loved it...

[RJhog (Admin)]

I'm floored.  Literally (or is it figuratively) knocked to the friggin' floor.  Who knew Wolfgang had this in him.  Listen to the bass at the start of She's The Woman. 

[Jon]

First complete listen done and, for once, the pre-hype is not wrong. This album is stunning. I am stunned. 

[Gordon Williams]

So far, that is everybody diggin' it! We did not know if they "still had it in 'em" did we?? Shall we go ahead and award them "Album of the Year" for 2012??

Wish their concert tickets were not so expensive.

On another note, about classic rock bands with (hopefully) some new music...I read at another site yesterday that Bill Ward, the original Black Sabbath drummer, is not happy at all with the "contract" offered him by the band. He repeatedly called it an "unsignable contract".

I am totally bummed about this...I just don't understand how the other guys in Sabbath are apparently not offering Ward equal money. I dont care if Iommi, Ozzy, Geezer, whoever, writes every single note of the new album. Bill Ward deserve his fair share, in my opinion!!

I mean, these guys should all be set for life by now...unless they have been completely stoooopid with their money. But especially Ozzy and Iommi...they should have tons of money to carry them through whatever life they have left. And they should have plenty of money left to give to family when it comes inheritance time.

 

[Jon]

And with Iommi with cancer I believe, I don't know if this is still going to go thru. We shall see!

And yeah...if nothing else comes out this year that completely blows VH out of the water, I can see it being on top of most everyone's top 10 list.

I have a subscription to Idolfeyment Weekly (good bathrrom reading), and a few issues ago they were going thru stuff "they" coming out this year they were psyched about. Not one mention was made of VH. Doesn't make much sense to me, but I don't write for 'em, so there you go.

[Alan Christensen]

[Jon]

This is a pretty good cover!