Midnight Phil ADKOT review

VAiN: I really think the dunzo/funzo line is a Daveism… things like that show up in his solo work and interviews.. he’s good with that shit. I agree it has a lot of youthful energy, but I attribute that to Dave being a grown-up teenager. I honestly don’t believe Wolf had any input what-so-ever on vocal melodies/lyrics.

Frankly, I’m a bit taken aback by the Dave hate here by some of you. Dave sounds great on ADKOT. I’m not a big fan of the high register either, but I can definitely dig on what’s happening on this album, and the lyrical content is great. The balls in the vice description is the ultimate in irony™ technology – what do you think hagis does?

I don’t doubt that Dave came up with the words. That does sound like him. I was pointing to the shouting echo behind him. Either way, I don’t really care where it came from. The song just kicks ass and sounds very much like a CVH tune for the modern age.

As far as the Dave hate goes, I certainly don’t hate Dave. I think the whole band is better when he is in the band. I like the songs better. I like the playing better. I like the lyrics better. I don’t want to speak for Matt or anyone else, b/c everyone has their preferences, but I think we’d be lying to ourselves to say that Dave hasn’t lost something, even from the 2007-8 tour to the album, and then now.

Obviously, his voice started going in the late 80′s early 90′s and he could no longer do many of the things he did effortlessly before that. I’ll grant you that his solo albums etc. are filled with examples of how his voice changed. I think I (and Matt) can accept that. I think what we find painful is the fact that he has chosen to compensate for the changes by trying to sing higher than he ever did from 1978-1984. On the record, there are times (for me) where it’s tough to listen to, but at least the screeching is mostly in key. On the last tour, he was downright awful on many tunes, pretty much every night. Listen to any Dance the Night Away from the last tour to see what I’m talking about. This was a choice on his part. He didn’t have to sing higher and stray into atonality.

For the record, I am a musician. I play guitar and piano as well as sing. I’m not making this up, nor do I have some anti-Dave agenda. I don’t ever want to see Sammy fronting VH again, b/c the one thing you can’t replace is Dave’s attitude, which is much more rock-n-roll. I just think we have to face some facts here. The guy is choosing to attempt to sing in a register that is not natural or comfortable for for him. Consequently, on a good day, it sounds tolerable, on a bad day it’s painful.

VAiN:
Bullethead –I don’t get the lagging tempo comment – are you serious? Just curious – how many of you are musicians on here? I play guitar, bass & drums – this song does not lag. I promise.

Overall, what makes this album great to me is not only the playing, because you expect greatness from EVH, it’s the combo of Ed + Dave. Dave’s lyrics are intelligent, funny, deep and make you think… that’s exactly the opposite of the pure shit we got from 86-95. On that alone this album is fantastic.

Since I made the Bullethead lagging comment, I’ll respond. If you listen to the 12/31/77 version from the Whisky and then put on the ADKOT version you’ll see what I’m talking about. The new one is a hair slower and sounds like it’s lagging (to me) a little because of it. I don’t hate the new version. I like the lyrics better on the new one, and I think Dave sounds great on it. If anything, Ed is the one who sounds like he’s dragging the entire tune down. I also agree with Midnight Phil that the solo on the new one sounds shitty because of the flanger/roto vibe/chorus/whatever he used. The solo he played back in the day was smokin’, albeit with many of his stock licks. Maybe we’ll have to agree to disagree, but to me, it was a bit of a letdown because I was expecting more (like Midnight Phil).

Finally, I basically agree with your last comment about the Dave/Ed chemistry. Lyrically, I think there’s absolutely no question about which version of the band that I like better, but I don’t think the mere fact that Dave’s in the band makes everything great today. It makes me sad, but I think I’m just facing the facts about the ravages of time.

I have no problem with Dave’s vocals on the album.

It’s when he tried to perform some of those vocals live & couldn’t duplicate them.

There was definitely something wrong with Dave and the band for the first few weeks of the tour. They were blowing their noses in between songs.. Almost like they kept passing the same bug around.

You’ve been cranking your flanger around here for quite some time!

My technique is flawless.