Originally Posted by
Rikk
My two cents, for what it's worth...
Believe it or not, I didn't even listen to the fucking thing until this morning (teacher, off for Spring Break...at home, daughter in daycare, listening to a new VH album...nice).
It's fine. I'm glad it exists. I certainly enjoyed DVD bootlegs that did not have better sound than this. If you asked me ten years ago if we'd ever be sold a live album with HEAR ABOUT IT LATER on it, I'd have laughed it off.
I do appreciate that it seems to really be live. If it had Dave crooning through I'M THE ONE with vocal-booth reverb, I would have been annoyed by the falsity being presented. That said, as much as I enjoy the raw sound, and as much as I don't mind Dave bellowing without real musical quality in the odd track (which bothers me none...I've listened to VH bootlegs for years and he never presents a Sinatra in the arena, which one listen to US FESTIVAL will prove), I am annoyed as shit that they had to mix the crowd so loudly. The thing definitely sounds genuine, but I hate the sound of live albums where the crowd is almost drowning out the band. For Christ's sake, this isn't BEATLES AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL. It's a bunch of guys in their sixties, and the audience is not shrieking teenagers bleeding onto the tape.
This is Van Halen's first live album, it sounds raw enough, it has new songs (sorry, I loved ADKOT) and a good mix of old songs (again, see HEAR ABOUT IT LATER). Yes, a band called Van Halen released a monstrosity in 1993. Hell, even putting aside one's feelings for Sammy Hagar, even if one actually liked Sammy Hagar, that is a terrible album. Apparently almost completely re-recorded in the studio, crowd noise that sounds like it came off a sound-FX CD and absolutely no balls in the sound.
This is the real deal. It cost me $13 (because I feel no need to buy AGAIN the same albums I've bought three times already...and the 2000 remasters were perfect, as far as I'm concerned).
And I've got too much going on in my life and have dealt with too much these past two years to get real upset on whether or not Dave sounds that great. This is a nice thing to blare while we're making dinner.
But yes...the real classic live album would have been recorded on the FAIR WARNING tour. It would have been two vinyl records. It would have had a fold-out in the middle with an amazing shot of the FAIR WARNING stage. It would have been killer. But that band is long gone.