Van Halen review

[AlphaMale]

I've spun this about 5 times now and I really am enjoying it! This is the way I want Eddie's guitar to sound. He just wails on this. DLR sounds a little rough here and there but for the most part, there's not much not to like about this release. Well done VH!!

[The Rocker]

Seriously....I didn't, and couldn't read all the moronic comments in this thread about the new Van Halen even before the disc was released but I will say this...and I've been at this a loooooong time. This album fucking rawks.........end of story. If you don't like it......it's your own damn fault!! haha

I agree 100%!!!

[zacharyamelie]

Nothing to do with the release but I just bought two tickets for my 9 year old and to go see them live on March 9th in Buffalo.

 

The opening act is Cool And The Gang!?!? I don't get that one. All I know is 'Cherish' and seeing VH live is something I will cherish for sure.

[Nightrain]

at a first glance, i'm going to say this one is a good album, but not great, probably will end up around 75% by year end, or 80% still a possibility.

I will admit I always prefer Hagar's vocal, and to compare this to the latest Chickenfoot's album, they're probably quite on par in terms of quality but I prefer CF III (80%) over this, but nevertheless, this is a good album.

 

but I wonder, did Wolfie really played the bass here coz I suspect that Eddie took over that role for him

[Glen]

When I read the review over at melrock.com i nearly spat my coffee out........I mean come on, its a decent album, with 4 maybe 5 true rockin cuts..........but.......

 

98%.......... ?

 

I mean WTF.

[Geoff]

When I read the review over at melrock.com i nearly spat my coffee out........I mean come on, its a decent album, with 4 maybe 5 true rockin cuts..........but.......

 

98%.......... ?

 

I mean WTF.

Wow.

 

[Faron]

Just ordered this, looking forward to hearing it

[Geoff]

Not meant to cause a riot, but this is how I saw it after about 4-5 spins. In all honesty, the last spin is the last time I'll ever spin the full thing in my life, but I will keep 3 songs on my Ipod, so they haven't done too bad by me:

 

1 - Tattoo - very bland, irritating chorus hook - bad single choice - 5

2 - She's the woman - about the best they can do - okay rocker - 7

3 - You and your blues - cool riff, but only an okay chorus - 7

4 - China Town - Rubbish, especially the verses - 3

5 - Blood and Fire - okay, strong enough and solid rocker - 6.5

6 - Bullethead - total filler - 2

7 - As is - pointless garbage - 2

8 - Honeybabysweetiedoll - utterly dreadful verses and vibe, with a somehow a half decent chorus emerges - 5

9 - The trouble with never - just terrible - hard to listen to the whole thing - 3

10 - Outta space - some nice guitar, but where is the actual point to another really bad song? - 4

11 - Stay Frosty - I know it's not serious, but it's still terrible - 1

12 - Big river - as boring and bland as a filler gets - 2

13 - Beat's workin' - rubbish, but one of the better bits of garbage, for the riffs - 4

- - Total Score of all Songs - 51.5

- - Average Total Percentage of all Songs (%) - 40

- - TOTAL SCORE inc Songs, Vibe, Production etc. (%) - 40

 

There it is. IMO the best 3 songs are 'She's the woman,' 'You and your blues' and 'Blood and fire,' but aside from that, I really can't see the point in the rest of the songs and the total honest to my lord and saviour jesus christ truth is, that if a band called Tepid Penis released this exact same CD, note for note, no one would blink twice at it. The band name will earn this CD 99.9% of the praise it gets, the songs will earn the other 0.1%.

 

But good luck to them. One way or another, they have earned this right. As a music lover, though, this just sounds like a band who know they don't actually need to record good songs to sell a CD.

[Jez]

It's a great Van Halen album and much better than I expected it to be by a mile. One or two tracks that don't quite hit the mark as of yet, but it definitely gets better and better with subsequent spins. Some of this is prime time VH at their(heavy) best. The groove, the playing and the whole general sound and feel of the record is classic VH down to a tee. Michael Anthony is missed a little, especially his brilliant backing vox and to a certain degree his bass playing groove, but Wolfie (if it is him) does a very good job with the bass duties and the whole rhythm section thunders along superbly. Lee Roth is his usual self, not the best ever vocalist by far of course, but that was never the case with him, it's the whole package or nothing. He didn't become one of Hard Rock's best frontmen/ showmen for nothing. Some of the soloing on here is phenomenal aswell, showing EVH hasn't lost a trick over the years. If you weren't a VH fan before (some sort of non rocking, weirdo type freak I suppose you could say), this won't change your mind, but in the end who cares, leave this one to all the rest of the VH fans, (of which there are many) to rock out to - one of the heaviest VH albums avaliable. A sterling 86% from me.

[JamesEagle]

If my friend who is a VH fanboy thinks this album is poor, that's enough to keep me away.

[Jez]

If my friend who is a VH fanboy thinks this album is poor, that's enough to keep me away.

 

 

Your mate ain't a VH fanboy then, otherwise he'd be all over this like a frickin' rash. Make your own mind up I say

[All Nights Reserved]

It's a great Van Halen album and much better than I expected it to be by a mile. One or two tracks that don't quite hit the mark as of yet, but it definitely gets better and better with subsequent spins. Some of this is prime time VH at their(heavy) best. The groove, the playing and the whole general sound and feel of the record is classic VH down to a tee. Michael Anthony is missed a little, especially his brilliant backing vox and to a certain degree his bass playing groove, but Wolfie (if it is him) does a very good job with the bass duties and the whole rhythm section thunders along superbly. Lee Roth is his usual self, not the best ever vocalist by far of course, but that was never the case with him, it's the whole package or nothing. He didn't become one of Hard Rock's best frontmen/ showmen for nothing. Some of the soloing on here is phenomenal aswell, showing EVH hasn't lost a trick over the years. If you weren't a VH fan before (some sort of non rocking, weirdo type freak I suppose you could say), this won't change your mind, but in the end who cares, leave this one to all the rest of the VH fans, (of which there are many) to rock out to - one of the heaviest VH albums avaliable. A sterling 86% from me.

 

Nicely put.

[zacharyamelie]

I love it. 98% might be a bit much. But 8 to 10 really strong classic sounding tracks and a few weaker ones. 85% easy. The best VH release since F.U.C.K. and this one has fewer fillers for sure. Either you love 'em or hate 'em. I LOVE them always have....minus the one they released with Gary Cherone.

 

I know it's early but this one will surely be in my top ten come years end.

[Nightrain]

I think to fairly judge this record, you need to compare to DLR era and not Hagar because they're very different, and beside, half of this record are from the late 70s, so if you also don't like classic rock in the first place, then chance you won't dig this at all. I think most DLR-era fans find this album very entertaining, I'm not DLR fan at all but I still think it's a good album and I rated their debut very high, especially Eddie's sensational riffs and solos in here, but I kinda hate the spoken part of Roth, i always do

[Kim_Hp]

Only two spins into this, but I enjoy it so far. For granted, not all the songs are great, but overall I would say it's a good album... that might even grow with further spins. Thumbs up from me

[RichieZ]

It's a great Van Halen album and much better than I expected it to be by a mile. One or two tracks that don't quite hit the mark as of yet, but it definitely gets better and better with subsequent spins. Some of this is prime time VH at their(heavy) best. The groove, the playing and the whole general sound and feel of the record is classic VH down to a tee. Michael Anthony is missed a little, especially his brilliant backing vox and to a certain degree his bass playing groove, but Wolfie (if it is him) does a very good job with the bass duties and the whole rhythm section thunders along superbly. Lee Roth is his usual self, not the best ever vocalist by far of course, but that was never the case with him, it's the whole package or nothing. He didn't become one of Hard Rock's best frontmen/ showmen for nothing. Some of the soloing on here is phenomenal aswell, showing EVH hasn't lost a trick over the years. If you weren't a VH fan before (some sort of non rocking, weirdo type freak I suppose you could say), this won't change your mind, but in the end who cares, leave this one to all the rest of the VH fans, (of which there are many) to rock out to - one of the heaviest VH albums avaliable. A sterling 86% from me.

 

Totally agree, Jez

[Gibbo]

If my friend who is a VH fanboy thinks this album is poor, that's enough to keep me away.

 

 

Your mate ain't a VH fanboy then, otherwise he'd be all over this like a frickin' rash. Make your own mind up I say

 

 

Hm ... not sure I'd go with the 'fanboy' tag (thanks, James!) but, yeah, I'm a fan ... and this just sounds tired to me ... what I've heard just doesn't get me excited (and, believe me, when I heard they were recording with Roth I was as happy as a five year-old on Christmas morning ... after all, hadn't we all been wanting this to happen since they recorded those bonus tracks for the first 'Best Of' compilation?) The words 'flogging' and 'dead horse' spring to mind ... but, hey, at least we'll get to hear them doing some of the old classics when they tour ... assuming, of course, that they make it to the UK ...

[TIM (2)]

It's a great Van Halen album and much better than I expected it to be by a mile. One or two tracks that don't quite hit the mark as of yet, but it definitely gets better and better with subsequent spins. Some of this is prime time VH at their(heavy) best. The groove, the playing and the whole general sound and feel of the record is classic VH down to a tee. Michael Anthony is missed a little, especially his brilliant backing vox and to a certain degree his bass playing groove, but Wolfie (if it is him) does a very good job with the bass duties and the whole rhythm section thunders along superbly. Lee Roth is his usual self, not the best ever vocalist by far of course, but that was never the case with him, it's the whole package or nothing. He didn't become one of Hard Rock's best frontmen/ showmen for nothing. Some of the soloing on here is phenomenal aswell, showing EVH hasn't lost a trick over the years. If you weren't a VH fan before (some sort of non rocking, weirdo type freak I suppose you could say), this won't change your mind, but in the end who cares, leave this one to all the rest of the VH fans, (of which there are many) to rock out to - one of the heaviest VH albums avaliable. A sterling 86% from me.

 

Presumably they lose the 14% because of "Tattoo"? Still remains the oddest choice of single...

[Jez]

It's a great Van Halen album and much better than I expected it to be by a mile. One or two tracks that don't quite hit the mark as of yet, but it definitely gets better and better with subsequent spins. Some of this is prime time VH at their(heavy) best. The groove, the playing and the whole general sound and feel of the record is classic VH down to a tee. Michael Anthony is missed a little, especially his brilliant backing vox and to a certain degree his bass playing groove, but Wolfie (if it is him) does a very good job with the bass duties and the whole rhythm section thunders along superbly. Lee Roth is his usual self, not the best ever vocalist by far of course, but that was never the case with him, it's the whole package or nothing. He didn't become one of Hard Rock's best frontmen/ showmen for nothing. Some of the soloing on here is phenomenal aswell, showing EVH hasn't lost a trick over the years. If you weren't a VH fan before (some sort of non rocking, weirdo type freak I suppose you could say), this won't change your mind, but in the end who cares, leave this one to all the rest of the VH fans, (of which there are many) to rock out to - one of the heaviest VH albums avaliable. A sterling 86% from me.

 

Presumably they lose the 14% because of "Tattoo"? Still remains the oddest choice of single...

Actually I pretty much like 'Tattoo'. It wasn't a good choice as a lead off track, but as a more commersial album cut it works just fine for me.

[Faron]

Really enjoying this, for me it`s like going back in time and listening to prime time VH, worth enjoying without over analysing, a great return IMO.

[heaven&hell]

I'll pick this one up next time I hit Walmart and I expect I like it but I'm not in a big hurry to grab it.

[Studboy]

Van Halen has gone back to a sound similar to the Women and Children era and I love it. No more polished AOR rock like with Sammy (which I didn't care for as much as the vintage stuff). To me it sounds like they have gone back to their roots (if it ain't broke, don't fix it.). I for one love the new CD. Best track is Outta Space, one of their heaviest tunes ever.

[melodicrock]

Always love to get shit for loving an album. Never gets old

 

I am a SAMMY fan through and through, but still, I love this CD and just got thru playing it again. Some great energy.

 

2011 had Journey's Eclipse. 2012 is Van Halen's turn. Controversy abound!!!

[TIM (2)]

Always love to get shit for loving an album. Never gets old

 

I am a SAMMY fan through and through, but still, I love this CD and just got thru playing it again. Some great energy.

 

2011 had Journey's Eclipse. 2012 is Van Halen's turn. Controversy abound!!!

 

Well as long as the reviews keep giving enough insight to help people choose what they buy, then who cares about the idiots who disagree about the scoring? Everyone will have a different score for everything, the important thing is to still be objective. The review of Journey told me enough to know I wouldn't like it, and I didn't! I disagreed with the score but at least the review was insightful and detailed enough to stop me buying something I wouldn't have liked. Keep it up!

[melodicrock]

Always love to get shit for loving an album. Never gets old

 

I am a SAMMY fan through and through, but still, I love this CD and just got thru playing it again. Some great energy.

 

2011 had Journey's Eclipse. 2012 is Van Halen's turn. Controversy abound!!!

 

Well as long as the reviews keep giving enough insight to help people choose what they buy, then who cares about the idiots who disagree about the scoring? Everyone will have a different score for everything, the important thing is to still be objective. The review of Journey told me enough to know I wouldn't like it, and I didn't! I disagreed with the score but at least the review was insightful and detailed enough to stop me buying something I wouldn't have liked. Keep it up!

 

Thanks Tim, that's all that counts for me! Appreciate the feedback.