I don't place EEAS as high as DIVER DOWN...but that's because I positively love DIVER DOWN. I guess I would just have to justify my opinion by stating that there is nothing off EEAS (except maybe SHYBOY) that I love as much as LITTLE GUITARS, THE FULL BUG, HANG 'EM HIGH or SECRETS...Originally Posted by Seshmeister
But I love both albums.
Roth Army Militia
Originally posted by WARF
Rikk - The new school of the Roth Army... this dude leads the pack... three words... The Sheep Pen... this dude opened alot of doors for people during this new era... he's the best of the new school.
The Fuck Van Halen setlist. Jesus Christ no wonder I ignored that band shortly after the release of 5150... "The Dream Is Over"? yeah you got that right...
"Poundcake"
"Judgement Day"
"Runaround"
"When It's Love"
"There's Only One Way To Rock"
Bass Solo
"Pleasure Dome"
Drum Solo
"Panama"
"Right Now"
"Why Can't This Be Love"
"Finish What Ya Started"
"Give To Live"
Guitar Solo
"You Really Got Me"
"I Can't Drive 55"
"Best Of Both Worlds"
"Top Of The World"
"Jump"
"The Dream Is Over"
I get it but Diver Down is just a great EP not an album - 4 songs 14 minutes of music. A couple of the covers are good but a couple of them basically aren't.
I agree it's got too many covers...but I love WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE? and I've always had a soft spot for BIG BAD BILL (my wife loves that one too).
That said, DIVER DOWN has the only classic Van Halen song I truly dislike: I hate DANCIN' IN THE STREET. I've always hated that song. I hate every fucking version of that song. I hate Mick Jagger & David Bowie's version. I like the Dead and I hate their version.
Don't get me wrong: EEAS is great. But I will say, I don't think it's quite as strong as DLR BAND. That was the lost VH album, to me. Check out LITTLE TEXAS...just a stunning song.
Seriously, that setlist is an insult. It's just trash. It's like a big fuck you to fans.
I agree with all of that and funnily enough BBB was the end titles to our wedding video.
Dancing in the Street may be the worst song on first 6 albums if not it's Pretty Woman or Intruder.
Nowadays you would and it's easy to just ignore all the crap listening on Spotify or whatever but back in the days of vinyl it was a pain in the ass especially given the super short length,
The best songs on DD are better than the best on EEAS but EEAS is better overall as a complete piece I would argue.
It's actually kind of surprising the gaps in my Van Hagar knowledge. I thought this was maybe a cover.
Just listened to it - it's shit songwriting from Hagar with a decent guitar solo.
Also pretty fucking weird for an arena act 14 years into their recording career to finish their set with a new single - the 5th from the album? Shows they had completely lost the plot by that point.
That set list could cause erectile dysfunction.
No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar!
Keep dreaming. Hagar and truth go together as well as onions and ice cream.
How would Sammy know anything if the Van Halens don't talk to him? Wolfgang is busy being on the road and making a new album. He said going through the vaults would be a huge job. He currently doesn't have time nor the desire. Alex might be going through that stuff but how would Sammy know?
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.
Well what can you say. Sammy was all about reams, creams, dreams and screams.
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...
The elite Special Education Forces landing their paradouchbag commando. He forgot to wear his hockey helmet though...
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...
That set list is so shitty. Clearly the Van Halens at this point were just going through the motions with Hag.
Leffler made them money so they kept going until they had enough of Hag.
=V V=
ole No.1 The finest
EAT US AND SMILE
True but damn Dave was really singing his heart out on that tour. One of the best shows ever.
He was truly making a statement during that era. Not just on the record but the show itself.
Interesting point.
Its quite possible if VH did end up taking the hiatus in '82 perhaps they don't breakup in '85.
They desperately needed a break.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Only 15 million? I say 6 bajillion…..occupying every spot in the top 10 at the same time. I mean, look what they did when they finally reunited,ADKOT…..dwarfed Rumours, annihilated Thriller, buried The Eagles Greatest Hits……..
Well I was trying to be conservative with the number. Lol
15M + no doubt
Dave was balls to the wall sending a big FU message to VH.
Ed and Al hated Dancing in the Streets. If I ever have to run a float in a Pride parade that’s the song that will be playing from it. That and Sammy songs.
Albums weren't selling in 2012, like they were when all those were released. Nice apples to apples comparison.
Some of those late 70s "Disco Dead" albums were borderline cringe worthy. Glad they reversed that direction and came back strong in the 80s.
Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992
I'd say I like EEAS and DD about the same, perhaps DD a little more...
The best stuff on DD tends to resonate with me more as time goes by, and for as maligned as that album has been by some there's quite a bit of good stuff on DD.
Hang 'Em High
Cathedral
Secrets
(Oh) Pretty Woman: yeah, it is a cover, but it is a Van Halenized one and if I want to listen to the tune I'm always going for VH's version and not the Orbison original
Little Guitars intro/Little Guitars
The Full Bug
While I don't dislike EEAS, I find I'm listening to it less and less as time goes by. I still dig the attitude Roth brought and the performances, but some of the songs seem little more than excuses for Vai to lay down yet another blazing, lightning-fingered solo: too much icing and too little cake.
Scramby eggs and bacon.
Yep.
Yeah it gets old hearing Vai and Sheehan going Dee Didly Dee Dee Wee Wee
You knobs! I like Dancing in the Street and if that's the worst CVH I'll take it any day over When it's Love...
I don’t think I’ve listened to Diver Down in the past 30 years.
This youtube channel has a lot of Van Hagar era songs without Hag. Somebody removed the vocals using some software. Maybe WB should just re-release those albums instrumental.
I cunt imagine not throwing it on around Memorial Day...
Of course you do.
You know if you listen to this it's actually a bit of a defence for Hagar because by Ed standards it's clearly mediocre. Maybe it's booze, maybe it's out of ideas or maybe Roth did make him raise his standard but compare that music to Top Jimmy, Girl Gone Bad or anything on 1984!
"After so many years of fumbling dysfunction that reduced the once-proud Van Halen name to a laughing stock, A Different Kind Of Truth matters because it's a reminder of why this band mattered, Roth deserves some of the credit for that. For whatever reason, when Roth is in the band, Eddie Van Halen plays guitar like the world wants him to play guitar." - Steven Hyden The AV Club
I agree.
I said it earlier in this thread. For whatever reason, Ed got very lazy post-1984.
5150 the song is probably the only standout riff from that album. Otherwise its just wankery and not up the same standard Ed had delivered on the six pack.
It’s a lack of inspiration. How inspired are you going to be hanging around Sammy Hagar all the time? Hang around Sam too much and you start eating too many cheese sandwiches, you gain some weight and start picking your ass.
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