Did anyone put a bass in the hands of the stay puft marshmellow man yet?
The marshmellow man has no bass because Wayne Charvel hasn't finished the paint job on it. It's an Irv's Quadburger bass with "Everyone Loves My Meat" on it.
No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar!
Well I guess I would have bought this no matter what the reviews were one way or another what with doing the site here but this post made me do it right away since I almost always agree with you on music.
My other 5 cents on all of this is that Mike Antony is not coming back in the foreseeable future so given that and the fact that we only have Roth in the band due to him, I'm not sure why there is all this anti Wolfgang stuff to this degree. Middle aged straight men complaining bitterly about a bass player not being buff enough is just kind of odd. Jokes yes but anger?
A lot if not all of the negativity about this album seems to be from people that haven't heard it yet and don't like it because they wanted something entirely different. I don't think that is a particularly great argument. If something isn't amazing it doesn't stop it from being good.
I expect it's going to be a bit patchy and not life changing but some people here are talking like they are being forced at gunpoint to pay hundreds of dollars when in actuality they'll probably just steal it on a torrent anyway.
My pet theory is that there are two big problems outwith the MA thing.
1) We have a bunch of people that are angry that Van Halen are old and not as good because it reminds them again that they are getting older.
2) People have forgotten what live music sounds like now. I see lots of comments on YouTube saying stuff like 'They sound like a bar band'.
That's because a bar band is the only place that most people hear live music now. Almost every show from the TV talent shows to arena acts like Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, every pop act and so on are all miming to varying degrees.
Van Halen should be saluted for going warts and all and some of you should try and remember this is rock n roll not American Idol...
Ok now I'm away to do what 98% of the posters in this thread haven't and actually listen to the whole thing.
Last edited by Seshmeister; 03-31-2015 at 09:32 PM.
That song is far and away, the highlight of the album.
Ok, based on Va's stellar review from his earbud listening experience in an under pressurized cabin of an airplane at 30,000 feet, and truthfully because I'm probably a bigger VH suck dick than even Flamma, I downloaded the album on itunes. Va owes me $12.99, or whatever it was.
The mix sucks. I agree with Elvis, it was much better on Kimmel last night. Al's drums are fucking buried. I really don't care much for Ed's rhythm tone, but his lead tone is okay, in my opinion. I actually think the harmonies are very strong, 90% of the album. I do love and prefer live music. It was a ballsy move to leave it live and raw. If they ever do release old shows, I hope they do the same thing.
I listened to it all the way through two times, on the 10 speaker sound system in my Ram. There are spots where Dave is really good, but there are spots where he is really bad. Unfortunately, he's bad much more than he's good. The thing that really bothers me about this is, it seems when he wants to, he can really nail the songs. But for some reason, he goes off in weird directions, that just suck. I really hope he listens to this, and corrects himself. I know he can, because he does on some songs. The one song besides "Women In Love" where he really seems to concentrate on nailing it, is "Pretty Woman". He is just about fucking flawless on that song. It pisses me off, because he totally butchers songs like "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" and "Hear About It Later". "Romeo Delight" is pretty good.
Was it me, or does Ed do a little "Smoke On The Water" riff towards the end of Cradle? Speaking of Cradle, I think Ed took major liberties with the intro leads on Cradle. I'm not sure if I'm just not used to hearing it that way, or if I really don't like it.
I probably won't listen to much of this album, after a few more listens. I'll probably do like others have suggested, and take the few I like, and separate them so I can listen to them without having to bother with the garbage. It's a bummer some of my all time favorite VH songs aren't going to make the cut. I'm sorry, Dave just takes too many liberties with a lot of these songs. He proves in portions of this show, that he doesn't have to do that! Fucking frustrating!
It's not any easier to sing the verses the way he does and it's not out of tune it's just a different melody.
Maybe he's decided to shake it up or he prefers the new way.
It doesn't work because we have heard it one way for 30 years and it's just too jarring to take a change. I think Prince sometimes has tried the same thing but it doesn't work for the audience because we aren't that sophisticated. How many interviews did he do the Beethoven line about are you still doing Duh Duh Duh Dah?
I don't think he butchers Hear About it Later, I think it's just not the same as Oakland or the album. He's in tune for the most part it's not an Ozzy thing.
Pretty Woman as you say is as good as it's ever been but unfortunately for me that's a toilet break song for me and always has been.
I don't get the mix.
I'm starting to think it's a generation and device thing to degree. To my ear the drums are way too low and the guitar needs more bottom end but that's just listening on headphones on my phone.
Beautiful Girls is a keeper...
Throw it on a proper system...
Why???
ATBL is another good one.
To semi quote Mark Twain I think reports that this album is dead have been greatly exaggerated.
Also it's funny how quickly it became such a given that it's now not even worth mentioning how great Ed's playing is.
He wasn't playing like this in 2008 at all.
Yeah, maybe never.
Last night Ed was loose and playing the songs with, as I can best describe, a freedom from the script. He was playing intros, solos and main parts a bit differently, like he's finally comfortable with the material that he can now explore and improvise where ever the muse takes him!
Al is just so solid you forget how good he's playing, too!
Wolfie plays the bass perfectly against Ed and Al! They're a really solid band now!
Dave is singing better, not a 100% but better than 2012, IMO!
I think you need to now take a step back and listen to it as a new recording.
Ignore what would have been perfect and listen to it as it is.
No overdubs and no tapes is amazing in this day in age.
Apart from not having MA singing the backing vocals are very good - every one else uses tapes.
Dave sings in tune throughout. This is not an Ozzy thing where he can't sing the songs - he's decided to do it differently on a few songs and it didn't always work.
This is a 4* album with lots of people wailing because it isn't 5* when that was impossible.
I don't mean to pull rank on the Ultimate Bedroom Guitarist Warrior but you said this week you haven't been in a recording studio as yet and you are a middle aged man. I'm no expert and my first week in one was when I was 17. You have to know a bit to know how much you don't know and that's your problem.
The fact is that this album is 19 years late. This and ADKOT should have been done back in 1996 when it would have had the most impact
Yeah and I wish I had bought Apple shares back then like Kirsty.
This is a really good album and we have 500 posts of people annoyed because it isn't the best album ever recorded that they had imagined in their mind.
I obviously haven't found the silver lining in this cloud yet
I'm surprised that you as a musician can't find anything in this to appreciate.
I'm also puzzled by what you expected to be there that wasn't?
I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but so far the sound seems terribly small. I think it's the drums. They seem flat and boxy. The kick drum is small and shallow sounding.
It sounds better with headphones I'm noticing.
Last edited by lesfunk; 04-01-2015 at 12:56 AM.
Probably heard it about 4 times in its entirety and as mentioned, it is actually pretty good when heard as a complete offering. It is a live LP, and a live show has its ebb and flow and dissecting it a song alone makes for an inaccurate opinion. Dave really shines from And The Cradle Will Rock ( his add lib "his parents are pissed off" is classic Dave and said with a swagger), Hot For Teacher, Women in Love and Romeo Delight and starts to tapper off a tad when he goes into Mean Street but when you listen to it as a whole, the places he is off balances itself out with some real nice areas. His singing on Pretty Woman is great as noted. I give it a seven on a ten scale which is not bad for a live album when you are listening to it with no real studio alterations and not being at the actual show... I can even forgive Dave for his improvisational approach to the breathless pace of China Town but my only complaint is this, how can you forget the verses to I'll Wait even when the song might bore you lol
I got lost in the...
Back when it was looking like ya had to re-re-buy VH I & 1984 with this, I figured screw that. I'm not paying more than $15 for this. Well, this is well worth $12.99. I'm in.
I agree with Von on it being difficult listening to the chances Dave took that didn't work out so well for our ears, but as a whole, this is a fun listen.
I also agree with Les in that this would have melted all of our ears and brains if it were done 19 years ago. But it wasn't to be. In a world of take it or leave it, I'm taking this one.
A final note on the big W. Let me put it this way. If Mike truly said "fuck this and fuck you Ed & Al" we'd all be praising what he has done. I can't find a single thing to complain about regarding his bass playing and backing vocals. The kid is good. It's the manner in which he got where he is that will forever overshadow his abilities.
Quick edit after the fact: What Wolf has done on this CD. Wasn't rating his cuntribution from '07 in this particular thought.
"If you want to be a monk... you gotta cook a lot of rice...”
It wasn't you, he does it.
As for the "liberties" Ed may take on the leads, it seems he may take them... Damn, if HE can't get his own kicks on his own songs (which Dave does a lot, BTW), what's the use, then? The man can riff, riff and play lead combined, play hair-raising solos... What's wrong with him taking any lliberties, really??
Okay, I'l gonna say it right now. This live album is really good and I think that the DLR haters really exacerbated this thing to be worse than it really is. They prepared me to be dissapointed, but in the end, I found it to be decent. Dave sounded good on some songs, and really rough on other songs, but musically I mean....It sounds like Van Halen live.
I only wish that Van Halen would have released a live DVD of this show.
Last edited by fraroc; 04-01-2015 at 10:05 AM.
How do you spell pretentious? S-A-M-M-Y H-A-G-A-R
So it's not as bad as the definitive version of Panama made it out to be?. Eh, I might pirate it when I'm drunk and check it out.
I really love you baby, I love what you've got
Let's get together we can, Get hot
I believe this is why they placed the one second breaks in between each trac on the live CD.
The this I am talking about is grabbing a full show video compilation off YouTube and just edit it yourself to overlay the live CD.
Probably why they didn't issue a DVD of the show too easy at this point to just do it at home on your PC.
If the video is at the same speed as the CD and a simple video editing program...people have already done it with individual tracs.
Someone will doit and have it for download somewhere
2015 once smoke 2 smoke ...poke
clara the tiny giraffe make fur curve
Ok, I listened to the entire album last night and came up with some basic observations. The drums are a little low in the mix for my taste, mostly the kick. Daves vocal performance ranges from adequate to unforgivable.
Eddies performance on guitar is actually amazing and makes the album worthwhile. His reemergence as a 20th century master of the electric guitar is complete.
My problem with the vocal performance isn't that Dave doesn't stick to the script. He never has. My issue is that at times he takes such bizarre liberties with the rhythm and melodies that it becomes unmusical and an unnecessary distraction from the music.
Alex's performance is rock solid. I wish his drums were more present in the mix. Wolfgang is a great player and brings interesting take on the bass. I find his sound a little fuzzy and saturated but he's playing some cool shit.
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