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Eat Em and Smile was basically Roth hiring the fastest gun slingers he could find and being Diamond Dave of steroids in an attempt to outdo anything Van Halen was doing. It's quite funny. Dave is so over the top and the whole band is wanking hard. Eat Em and Smile is one big wank fest.
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No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar! -
Well what can you say. Sammy was all about reams, creams, dreams and screams.No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar!Comment
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IDK but it was said at the time that Ed and Al destroyed anything with Dave on it that was recorded for the early work on 5150 after he left. At the same time they say a lot of things but Ed was nothing if not a hoarder with "ten albums (of noodling) in the can" so I believe they still exist in some form, but would need to be engineered for any release. There was some dispute as to whether Eat Thy Neighbor became Summer Nights or if it a different unreleased song. But the consensus seems to be that it is pretty close to SN. I don't hate Summer Nights, the lyrics are a bit douchy (a 30-something Hagar seemingly writing about being a high schooler in the first person) but it is one of the prime examples of how great of a rhythm guitarist Ed was and his fluid transition between rhythm and lead parts. Of course this is prominent all through the sixpack and shows his influences from Pete Townsand and Hendrix. While not ground breaking in 1978, it was distinctive as the major rock acts of the day typically had a two guitar player set up i.e.: Judas Priest, Aerosmith, The Stones, and Def Leppard (a bit later). By the early 80's acts like Motley Crüe and Poison were featuring one guitar player...Comment
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I also love Diver Down, not because it's great but sheer nostalgia. It's a fun album to put on in late spring and early summer and just blast through your car speakers or while grilling. To be fair, this was not an album VH expected to make and they were supposed to be on a long hiatus but were pushed back into the studio by WB pricks after (oh) Pretty Woman charted in a shortsighted cash grab that might have more or less led to the 1985 debacle...Comment
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The Van Hagar albums would have been much different and much better with Dave singing the songs. Melody wise and otherwise. I think all of us can agree on that.
The EEAS stuff would have been much different and much better with Ed, Al and Mike playing the music. I'd think most of us agree with that.
EEAS was like the sports team filled with superstars. No cohesiveness. No chemistry. All about individuals, even though it's supposed to be a team. A team with chemistry, cohesiveness and competitive heart will beat a team of superstars nearly every time. Like someone else said, EEAS was a wankfest. There are some great moments, but not enough team play to not only make nearly everything great, but to sustain greatness. CVH proved this with their longevity and timelessness. They also proved it with many years passing, by reuniting and proving the magic was still there. Not only once, but twice. 1996 and 2012. I love ADKOT, but I have zero doubt in my mind, it would be better if Mike had participated. He was 1/4 of the magic.
I love Diver Down. I do hate Dancing In The Streets though. Every fucking version out there, not just VH's. But hey, I hate Jump too. Not just because it has been over played. I remember exactly where I was the first time I ever heard it played on the radio, and I was sorely disappointed. Everybody I knew busted my balls about that shit song. Fortunately they had nothing to say when the entire album came out, as it was killer. There simply aren't very many songs in the entire CVH catalogue that I skip over, but Dancing In The Streets and Jump are two that I absolutely cannot get to the skip button fast enough.Comment
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Little Texas, WaWaZat, Going Places, King of the Hill, Slam Dunk, Blacklight: all great songs in my book. There's a couple tracks on that one where Dave is too heavily leaning into the "classic VH" vibe that it comes off kinda hammy, but alas that's still a criminally underrated record. And blows anything Van Hagar did outta the water.Comment
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Dancing In The Streets may be the only Classic VH song I skip, and even then I enjoy it a lot in the summer. I still really like Jump and not ashamed to say so. It's their song that literally everybody knows-40 years from now that song will come on and everybody will know every syllable.
It's pretty incredible that among the original six pack, there's hardly a single song that you skip. That's extremely rare. Shows how untouchable the band was in those years.Comment
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If Dave and VH had pulled themselves together for one more album, I think that energy could have been channeled into one of their best records. Like the tension that exploded onto Fair Warning. EEAS has some of Dave's most inspired lyrical writing (Ladies Nite and Big Trouble) and his voice was top of his game.Comment
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I said it before in another thread.
The true follow up to 1984 with a rested, coming from a hiatus CVH, lets say by 1988 would've become the band's Led Zeppelin IV and would've transported them to the stratosphere.
I'm talking potential sales of 15 million at least.
Alas it was not to be.=V V=
ole No.1 The finest
EAT US AND SMILEComment
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