The Van Halen David Lee Roth years: Their best albums

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June 12, 2012 at 9:19 am Quote #15331

ron
(11464)

The Van Halen David Lee Roth years: Their best albums
by Ed Masley – Jun. 11, 2012 04:07 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com

David Lee Roth was the court jester hard rock so desperately needed when the first Van Halen album hit the streets in the winter of ’78, the quintessential onstage foil to Eddie Van Halen’s awe-inspiring finger-tapping pyrotechnics.

There are those — we’ll call them enemies of rock — who favor Roth’s replacement, Sammy Hagar, citing qualities as seemingly superfluous as “vocal range.” But Roth in his prime was the life of the party-rock party, an entertaining force of nature whose clearly cartoonish charisma did as much to make Van Halen stand out on the hard-rock landscape as Eddie’s revolutionary playing ever did.

It was a match made in headbanging heaven.

With Diamond Dave back on the tour bus and Van Halen headed to Phoenix for a US Airways Center date on Saturday, June 16, it seems as good a time as any to size up the Van Halen Roth-era legacy, ranking the albums in order of greatness. But here’s the thing: They’re all great albums. Some are just greater than others, with that first one kind of towering above it all.

1. “Van Halen” (1978)

They dive right in with a four-song winning streak of songs that still loom large in the Van Halen legacy. After setting the tone with the pulsating, bass-driven swagger of “Runnin’ With the Devil,” they turn around and hit you with a finger-tapping neo-classical excursion called “Eruption,” have their way with a rock and roll classic by the Kinks (“You Really Got Me”) and arrive at their first-album peak with “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.”

Roth really hits his stride on that one — right around the time he delivers the line, “Yeah, you may have all you want, baby. But I got somethin’ you need.” Other obvious highlights range from “Jamie’s Cryin’” to Roth’s playful rendition of Chicago bluesman John Brim’s “Ice Cream Man.”

But even the songs that don’t immediately spring to mind can sound pretty amazing after all these years, from “I’m the One,” a scorching blues explosion with an unexpected doo-wop breakdown, to “Atomic Punk,” a song so good it inspired the naming of a popular Van Halen tribute band.

Here’s how Rolling Stone began a review of the album at the time: “Mark my words: in three years, Van Halen is going to be fat and self-indulgent and disgusting, and they’ll follow Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin right into the toilet.”

Or … this album would go on to sell more than 10 million copies in the States alone while the next five albums took them to the Top 10 on the Billboard album charts.

2. “Diver Down” (1982)

A person could point to the fact that no fewer than five of the songs on “Diver Down,” including both Top 40 hits, are covers as a sign that they’d arrived at something of a dry spell, creatively speaking. That three of the remaining seven tracks are instrumental fragments also speaks to that conclusion. But what does it matter when the end result feels like the soundtrack to the greatest hard-rock party of the early ’80s?

Like the first Van Halen album, “Diver Down” includes a classic Kinks song, “Where Have All the Good Times Gone,” which features crunchier guitar and a far less wistful vocal than the Kinks original. Roy Orbison’s “(Oh) Pretty Woman” and the Motown classic “Dancing in the Streets” were the album’s big hits for a reason, while the record-closing, a cappella “Happy Trails” is the sort of silliness the world had rarely seen from an arena-rock attraction since Pete Townshend got all serious post-”Tommy.”

And there’s no shame in the songs they did write, either, with the raucous yet melodic “Hang ‘Em High” and “Secrets,” a mid-tempo ode to a restless girl with the rhythm of the road, emerging as obvious standouts.

3. “Women and Children First” (1980)

Their third album kicks off with two of the best Van Halen singles ever. “And the Cradle Will Rock” is a slow-burning rocker with Diamond Dave throwing his weight behind the youth vote in the battle of the generation gap. His delivery is brilliant, starting with the way he phrases, “Well, they say it’s kinda frightenin’ how this younger generation swings” and peaking on his deadpan imitation of a nagging dad (“Have you seen Junior’s grades??”), which sets the stage for one of Eddie’s most straightforward gems of a guitar lead.

And that still leaves room, amazingly enough, for Roth to kick it up a notch on “Everybody Wants Some!!,” which leaves no question as to what that “some” would be on its way to one of Diamond Dave’s most memorable monologues (in which the best line is either “I like the way the line runs up the back of the stockings” or “No, no, no, no; don’t take ‘em off”). No one does lecherous better than that.

Other standouts include the breakneck-paced “Loss of Control,” with its appropriately unhinged chorus hook racing the runaway drums to a reckless conclusion, and “Take Your Whiskey Home,” which starts off as a slinky, unplugged country-blues but shifts gears into something more appropriate for rocking the arenas of the day, complete with finger-tapping flash from Eddie.

4. “1984″ (1984)

This is where Van Halen hit the mainstream hard, embracing a more synthesizer-driven sound on “Jump,” their first and only hit that ever topped the Hot 100. Roth’s delivery is great as he handles the shift into poppier waters while bringing his own eccentric charm and personality to the proceedings. And despite the heavy synthesizer presence, Eddie squeezes out some killer licks before passing the spotlight to the synths mid-solo.

“I’ll Wait,” the album’s second single, also favors synthesizers over the crunchy, distorted guitar sound of their reckless youth. But the other hits put those guitars front and center. “Hot for Teacher” is a playful ode to, well, exactly what the title would suggest, giving Alex Van Halen a turn in the spotlight on the opening drum solo before his brother fires off another classic finger-tapping lead. But “Hot for Teacher” works best as a showcase for Roth and his cartoon libido. You can almost hear him smiling when he hits the line “I think of all the education that I’ve missed/But then my homework was never quite like this.”

Roth’s shining moment here, though, is unquestionably “Panama,” the album’s most exhilarating rock track, featuring what may be Diamond Dave’s most smile-inducing monologue, delivered from the front seat of his car. “I reach down between my legs and…” Dramatic pause. “ease the seat back.” Classic comic timing.

5. “Van Halen II” (1979)

The album-launching take on “You’re No Good” is not among their finest hours as a cover band, but the originals make up for it, beginning with the second track. Hitting the streets at the height of the disco revolution, “Dance the Night Away” made the light-up dance floor safe for rock and roll, complete with cowbell. It may be their poppiest moment, with apologies to “Jump,” which could be why it charted so much higher than the other singles on their first four albums.

“Beautiful Girls” is an equally danceable funk-rock track with an equally memorable melody and some key personality-driven asides from Roth (who says, “Sit down right here” then follows with a high-pitched squeal of “Ooh la la” before ending the song with the sound of a kiss).

Other highlights include the grittier-than-usual “D.O.A.” and “Somebody Get Me A Doctor,” which features Roth yelping his way through “You better call up the ambulance/I’m deep in shock” with an obvious grin over Eddie’s metallic guitar riff.

6. “Fair Warning” (1981)

Perhaps their hardest-rocking album, “Fair Warning” gets off to a brilliant start with “Mean Streets,” where Eddie’s harmonic indulgence gives way to a tough-talking vocal from Roth (“At night I walk this stinkin’ street past the crazies on my block/And I see the same old faces and I hear that same old talk”).

And the material is uniformly strong throughout, especially “So This is Love?,” “Push Come to Shove” and “Sinner’s Swing.” “Unchained” features Roth at his goofiest (“Hey man, that suit is you”). And Michael Anthony helps them venture into post-Chic funk with impressive results on “Push Comes to Shove,” which also makes the most of Roth’s falsetto.

Here’s the thing, though. Once you know they’re capable of “Dance the Night Away” or “Everybody Wants Some!!,” it’s hard not to wish they’d invited their poppier side to the table (although “So This is Love?” is not without its pop appeal). That could be why “Fair Warning” was their slowest-selling album of the Roth years.

Still, a classic hard-rock album.

7. “A Different Kind of Truth” (2012)

Their first album together in 28 years? That can’t be good. Or so you’d think until you heard it. This is so much better than it had a right to be. The first single, “Tattoo,” barely hints at how close they would come to returning to form here, even without Michael Anthony’s bass and harmonies.

Any argument against Eddie inviting his kid into the wolf pack is immediately undermined by Wolfgang’s bass work on the second single “She’s the Woman.” “You and Your Blues” has the pop sensibilities that made them such a hit machine. I’ll go out on a limb here and say the guitar work is up to their usual standards, from the solos to the riffs. And Roth may not possess the vocal chops he did on “Dance the Night Away” or “Diver Down,” but he still has personality to burn. “How many roads must a man walk down,” he asks in “Bullethead,” “before he admits he’s lost.”

I only put this album last because of what it’s up against. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t recommend it.


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June 12, 2012 at 10:44 am Quote #15334

src
(1646)

I dig VH-1 it started it all for me,but i love “Women and Children First” i think it is underratedand i wish they would play it front to back.


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June 12, 2012 at 11:21 am Quote #15337

Revo11
(985)

Wow, couldn’t disagree more with this guys ratings. I’d have it as FW, VH1, WACF, 1984, DD, VHII, and then ADKOT. All great albums, but something has to be last.

Criticizing Fair Warning because it wasn’t poppy enough is a perfect example of why I’d have it at #1.


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June 12, 2012 at 12:40 pm Quote #15342

jroundy
(1418)

Revo11:
Wow, couldn’t disagree more with this guys ratings.I’d have it as FW, VH1, WACF, 1984, DD, VHII, and then ADKOT.All great albums, but something has to be last.

Criticizing Fair Warning because it wasn’t poppy enough is a perfect example of why I’d have it at #1.

I can agree with that….but my list would be FW, VH1, VHII, 1984, WACF, DD, and ADKOT. It’s hard to rate, because I love’em all. I might even rate ADKOT higher as time goes by, I certainly would have preferred a more live sounding ADKOT. Would have been awesome, if they could have produced it like the Ted Templeman albums. Loved that live, raw feeling.


The poor folks play for keeps down here…They’re the living dead. Nobody rules these streets at night like Van Halen!!


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June 12, 2012 at 1:13 pm Quote #15345

frankm
(4888)

For me it would be …

1. Fair Warning
2. Women And Children First
3. Diver Down
4. Van Halen
5. Van Halen II
6. 1984
7. A Different Kind Of Truth

but that is subject to change at any time. Ask me in five minutes and I’ll give you a different answer. I love Fair Warning so that will always be at the top. Diver Down is definitely underrated (it is a great, great album).


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June 12, 2012 at 1:24 pm Quote #15350

mcs5150
(1096)

I could not rate them. I love all of them equally.


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June 12, 2012 at 1:29 pm Quote #15354

sickman
(2380)

I don’t really agree with Diver Down being number 2 but I do agree with this statement,
“A person could point to the fact that no fewer than five of the songs on “Diver Down,” including both Top 40 hits, are covers as a sign that they’d arrived at something of a dry spell, creatively speaking. That three of the remaining seven tracks are instrumental fragments also speaks to that conclusion. But what does it matter when the end result feels like the soundtrack to the greatest hard-rock party of the early ’80s?”


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June 12, 2012 at 3:17 pm Quote #15360

bytor
(115)

for me its got to be 1 fair warning
2 1984
3 van halen 1


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June 12, 2012 at 10:26 pm Quote #15385

Mac22
(3216)

For me it goes like this

VH
Fair Warning
VH II
Women And Children
DD /1984
Diff Truth 1984 took me a long time to get to like about 5 years or so before it really sunk in. To me some of the rankings has to do with what was going on in life for me at the time of their release if that makes sense. Could put those 4 albums in a hat shake em all about and any order they came out would suit me.


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June 13, 2012 at 10:55 am Quote #15415

eruption1962
(1366)

My favorite, without a doubt, is FAIR WARNING! Technically, their best effort! But, without the first album…we never would have heard the subsequent albums…how’s that for logic! So, when push comes to shove…pun intended (after the fact)…I have to call it a virtual tie between VAN HALEN and FAIR WARNING…with FW getting the edge! After that, II is a GREAT second offering. I think of the two best debut albums…IMHO…VAN HALEN and APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION…another virtual tie! But WTF did GNR release after AFD…Lies? Illusion? Doesn’t matter! VH II was a strong follow up to VH…and what?!?!? Six months later…WOW! Then I make the jump (more pun) to ADKOT. Notwithstanding two less-than-average numbers recorded for the first BEST OF… album, these guys haven’t recorded together in more than 25 years! This album is like a hybrid of FW and WACF. I consider it an instant classic…and should be better represented live. WACF to me was comparable to II…but without the heart! Still…better than anything the competition released that year…until BACK IN BLACK hit the streets! DIVER DOWN was a fun album…but showed the least amount of effort. However, Hang ‘em High, The Full Bug and Little Guitars saved this one… although I must admit…I’m a huge fan of Big Bad Bill…
1984 was the biggest dick suck of their career…with Dave! When I first heard JUMP…I though…FUCK ME! that’s fuckin’ Journey or something! If it wasn’t for Panama and Hot For Teacher…I probably NEVER woulda bought it! Yes I would…because again…it was released when Duran Duran, Culture Club and Cyndi Lauper were whoring the scene…what else could I do? I would be another four years until APPETITE…and hair bands didn’t do it for me!

FAIR WARNING
VAN HALEN
VAN HALEN II
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
DIVER DOWN
1984


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June 13, 2012 at 11:57 am Quote #15423

guitard
(7354)

For me . . . there is VH1 . . . and then everything else.


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June 13, 2012 at 1:56 pm Quote #15429

Chris UK
(2998)

I love em all for different reasons but if I had to rank them…

1. VH1
2. Fair Warning
3. WACF
4. VH 2
5. 1984
6. Diver Down
7. ADKOT

Like Randy says, VH1 is so far ahead of the pack…. it changed rock music and guitar playing forever and there’s no weak tracks on it. Side 1 of FW is amazing but after So This is Love the intensity drops until One Foot Out The Door kicks in.


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June 13, 2012 at 3:04 pm Quote #15431

videoman320
(308)

Chris UK:
I love em all for different reasons but if I had to rank them…

1. VH1
2. Fair Warning
3. WACF
4. VH 2
5. 1984
6. Diver Down
7. ADKOT

Like Randy says, VH1 is so far ahead of the pack…. it changed rock music and guitar playing forever and there’s no weak tracks on it. Side 1 of FW is amazing but after So This is Love the intensity drops until One Foot Out The Door kicks in.

You’re right on the money with the influence Van Halen 1 had on guitar players. A lot of younger guys ask this old man what it was like to grow up during Beatlemania. Did the Beatles make all you guys want to play guitar? I say yes and no. They made us want to be in a band so a lot of guys bought guitars. When a lot of those guys found out they couldn’t sing worth a crap, they started to put the guitar down. Then along came Dave Davies and The Kinks, with the first monster solos we ever heard on You Really Got Me and All Day and All Of The Night. Then the guitar business exploded around here. There was a basement or garage band on every block. VH 1 had a similar impact with Eruption, You Really Got Me and Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love. And in between there was Hendrix,The Yardbirds,Cream,Zeppelin, Ritchie Blackmore with Deep Purple and many more. It amazes me how many young guitarists around here still idolize these guys. It doesn’t say much for the bands of today, but speaks volumes on how great these bands and musicians actually were, and in Eddie’s case, still are.


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June 13, 2012 at 10:43 pm Quote #15478

mrmojohalen
(6378)

1) VH1
2) VH2
3) Fair Warning
4) Women & Children First
5) 1984
6) Diver Down
7) ADKOT


When you turn on your stereo, does it return the favor?


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