DLR Band - a relisten

[Starwood]

And You Are At The Roth Army For What Reason?

To check in on some old friends, flame some rookies, and enjoy the view. Starwood usually checks in about 4x per year to be amused by the weekly Halen rumors and the desperate wheezing of the uninformed. Let not Starwood be your troubles, Little Man. Carry on.

[Dan]

Good For You.Next Time You Post Here,Stop By The Bath-House For Your Yearly Wash.

[Bad Muthafucker]

Sometimes pushing the vocal chords boundaries yields impressive results. Not so on the chorus to Relentless.

Agreed. I dug it, but definitely effects, effects, and more effects. I remember thinking to myself when I first listened to it, "Gee, I wonder if Dave is actually going to try this one live!"

[Combat Ready]

I dig this tune as well. Just cranked it up LOUD this morning.

Lyrics are classic Dave.


Too close to mommy
He grew up square
All the spine of a chocolate eclair
I can see clearly now
The rain has disappeared

Blind man follows
Blind man goes
Pencil weenie in elephant clothes
Got a steel toe
Says place butt here

I got no taste
For second place
And i lead with my face, well
I been places with my face
You wouldn't go
Without a pistol

Relentless
Look into my eyes
Relentless
I will not be denied

Change fumblin'
Heel rocker
El presidente
De chimichanga
Click my heels
And make a wish.

Stop stop
They gonna ask ya
You in the future
They're in the pasture
What the Asian call
All soup and no fish


I got no taste
For second place
And i lead with my face, well
I been places with my face
You wouldn't go
Without a pistol

Relentless

[BumBahDeeDah]

Black Sands

[DLR'sCock]

I cranked up the whole album on the CD player today. Black Sand is a very cool song.

[Terry]

Agreed. I dug it, but definitely effects, effects, and more effects. I remember thinking to myself when I first listened to it, "Gee, I wonder if Dave is actually going to try this one live!"

Christ, I can't imagine him trying to play that one live...it sounded like he blew an o-ring in the studio just recording the thing...

[Jetstream]

I absolutely love the DLR Band lp, own two copies and tracks like Relentless, Wat Waz Dat, Little Texas, Evening With the Babysitter are what really one came to expect from a Classic Van Halen frame of mine. The lyrics are Dave at his best, cool and cryptic and hit you as Dave says years down the line still with meaning that resonate. And Blacksand, adore that tune

[SunisinuS]

Didn't know where else to put this but...some press brand new:

http://www.spin.com/articles/viva-van-halen-second-second-analysis-david-lee-roths-vocal-genius

Viva Van Halen! A Second-by-Second Analysis of David Lee Roth's Vocal Genius

After some false starts and misleading tweets, the Van Halen reunion becomes a reality on January 5, when the hard-rocking and legendarily harder-partying legends take the stage at Manhattan's Café Wha. (Check back on January 6 for a report from the show!)

Presumably, the intimate set will be accompanied by a specific announcement about the band's 2012 tour and studio album. I can't wait! Eddie Van Halen's fingertapping guitar genius! Alex Van Halen's larger-than-average drum-set! Wolfgang Van Halen's last name! And, of course, my favorite part of the band's sound: Diamond David Lee Roth's gloriously hammy vocals.

Hammy's the wrong word. DLR's not a ham. He's pork shoulder, belly, ribs, and loins topped with a heaping hunk of smoked guanciale. And Van Halen is where Roth's unctuous genius shines most brightly.

And below you can hear it in its most unadorned state. This clip of Roth's naked vocal track for 1978's "Runnin' With the Devil" has been kicking around (and brightening my days) for a while now, but it's a perfect pre-VH reunion primer. Below is my second-by-second analysis. Listen. Read. Learn.


00:00 to 0:19: No one sings "yeah" with more brio. Roth kicks things off with a guttural Satchmo-styled "aw, yes," follows that with an "aw yais" (switching from "yeah" to "yes" mid-syllable), rolls into a spiky "yeah yeah" and then ratchets up into a falsetto "Ha, yeah!" Theme-and-variation, folks. That's what Mozart did.

00:20 to 00:39>: The verse. Roth uses a guitar player's trick here, punctuating the end of each line with some raspy, sassy vibrato, saving the widest vocal wobble for the final, "I'm living at a pace that KILLLLLS." He's easing into the song, building his performance line-by-line.

00:40 to 00:57: A series of exclamations that my description will fail to capture: he sounds like he's just discovered the gift of his own voice. Or perhaps like he put his finger in an electrical socket while getting a beej. I don't know. How do you describe the color blue? This is David Lee Roth at his David Lee Rothiest.

00:58 to 1:00: He drawls, "I'll tell you all about it."

1:01 to 1:20: He tells us all about it in the second verse.

1:21 to 1:33: Seemingly in a contest with himself to see how much swagger he can emit with one breath, Roth sings, "GoddamitbabyyouknowIain'tlyingtoyouI'monlygonnatel lyouonetimeaaaaaaaahyeah!" It's a lot of swagger.

1:34 to 1:58: This is an instrumental part of the song. So except for a couple tossed-off "yeahs," Diamond Dave lays back. He's got something up his sleeve, though.

1:59 to 2:02: David Lee Roth blows a penny whistle.

2:03 to 2:04: "Wooooo!" The pennywhistle is very charming.

2:05 to 2:37: Third verse. This Roth quote, I think, generally captures the vibe here: "I always wanted to be an outrage to public decency and a threat to women. And this is one of the few occupations where you're not only allowed that, but you're encouraged."

2:38 to 3:00: Some subtle exhortatory grunts. He is just feeling the music now.

3:01 to 3:28: The Spanish call it duende. For the Irish, it's yarragh. It means a particular quality of passion. Think of a basketball player screaming after throwing down a vicious dunk or a Muezzin's call to prayer. Those sounds come from a special place deep inside one's soul. David Lee Roth gets there in this passage. May he do so again on the road in 2012.

[Jetstream]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v94rUT8vh8

[RUDE SADDLE]

Why has my local record store not heard of this CD.?

Same here try Ebay.

[Bad Muthafucker]

Same here try Ebay.

Cuz they stupid! Amazon.com has it on CD, mp3 download, and yes, even cassette.

[Seshmeister]

I didn't know they still made cassettes.

I was wanting to let a pal hear an old demo cassette recently and had to go out and sit in the car...

[1971Quarter]

This album is awesome. I was just telling some CVH fans at a party 2 weeks ago that they need to listen to it. I don't see how any VH fan or Roth fan can't find at LEAST 8 or 9 songs to enjoy on this album. Bravo.

[Bad Muthafucker]

I didn't know they still made cassettes.

I don't think they do. The ones on Amazon.com are used.