Reply To: DAVID LEE ROTH ROCKS VEGAS!

Ha. Since I broached the subject, I’ll comment on Ron’s videos.

Clearly, neither is a VH superfan, but asscheek comments aside, they both make good points. The problem is, the normal explanations that they tried to make, alcohol, monitors, etc., while very valid points, just don’t apply because he has been doing this for years – show after show.

Dave (to me) was always more of a talker/conversationalist with a boozy wheeze of a cool tone. He also had the ability to do some cool screams at times. In other words, he knew how to use his lower register to communicate and spiced it up at times with screams. Now, he seems intent on trying to hit higher notes a lot, and he just can’t do it. He does not have control. And continually trying to do it when it is clear that he can’t, makes him seem like he is clueless. Add in the hyper smiling and it’s creepy weird.

For me, as a super fan of CVH, it’s just sad. I miss the days when he kept it simple and cool. Was he always perfect? Hell no. But it was a hell of a lot better than he’s been the last 20+ years. The tragic thing is that he could approximate his earlier self by just sticking to the lower register and screaming his “haaa-yaaas” or whatever once in a while. It’s like when Ed started using the sustainer all the time. Everyone knew that it just didn’t sound good (especially in 2004). Thankfully he stopped doing that. Is EVH all that he was in the 80′s.? Absolutely not. But at least he tries to make it sound good. Would I prefer that he use Marshall amps and not the bloated cocked wha Peavey/EVH amps? Yes. But we obviously can’t have everything. It would just be nice if Dave would open his ears and spare us from the cringeworthy and unnecessary attempts to sing in a higher register than he should.

PS – I had to turn off the Jump video when that guy tried to explain what Dave was doing wrong, because he was no better. Painful…