Some Thoughts On The New Van Halen
I’ve been listening to the new Van Halen and here are a few thoughts on it.
1) A lot of it is old material that has been available in some form as demos and live bootlegs from the band’s pre-record deal days. It’s been reworked, but like the first six albums, a lot of it is mining material written back when these guys were teenagers. It’s sort of like George Lucas and how he just keeps tinkering with STAR WARS instead of coming up with something new. Then again, I know a lot of bands that do this. Another band that I like has put out four albums worth of materials in the last decade that consists of songs they demoed back in 1994 for their fifth record.
2) The lead singer factor: David Lee Roth was never a good singer, so Hagar always had the edge in that department. Plus Hagar has aged better. However, Dave was always a far better lyricist and this album has some pretty good stuff on it. Hagar’s lyrics were always really generic, and Dave put it best a few years back when the two of them were doing their little tour together to give the Van Halen brothers the finger. At the time he said that Hagar writes “Valentines”, and that really nails it. Dave was also always a far better frontman/entertainer, but that’s not as relevant to the album.
3) Eddie’s guitar is about as good as it’s been since 5150*. It lacks the fire of those first six albums, but he’s still great at what he does.
4) The background vocals are lacking Michael Anthony. Irreplaceable.
5) The album works best if you picture this guy singing it…
not this fellow…
The music just works better in my mind with the crazed surfer who said, “Gimmie a bottle of anything and a glazed donut… to go,” then some guy who looks like he’s here to entertain at a children’s party.
6) It’s better than I expected. But then, my expectations were extremely low.
* 5150 is also coincidentally the only Van Hagar-era album I particularly care for. I guess they wanted to come out swinging with something strong. Everything they did after that left me cold overall with the occasional good song here and there.
