Can i Have a review of Skyscraper?

[VHII]

I have all the classic VH cds and eat em and smile. i was gonna buy skyscraper but someone told me it wasnt that good. Can i get a review for it?

[teamaa104]

boo, they lied

[Figs]

What do you think everyone is going to tell you on a site like this? They're going to tell you it's awesome. I like "Damn Good" but could take or leave the rest of the album.

[Mezro]

Great songs but the production kills it. If you like a glossy/layered sound then Skyscraper is for you.

Mezro...go buy ALAE instead...

[academic punk]

The worst mis-step of Dave's career. He clearly took note of Van Hagar's COMMERCIAL success with 5150 (an album that sucks ASS), and wanted to emulate that.

Instead of building from Eat 'Em and Smile (which I think is one of the top 3 albums of Dave's CAREER), he took a complete turn in the opposite direction. Songs like "Just Like Paradise" and "Stand Up" aren't that far removed from the pop of "Why Can't This Be Love?", and, come on, there is NO comparison between the opening moments of EEAS with Dave and Steve Vai's guitar having a conversation and then EXPLODING into Yankee Rose and that lame plink-plink-plink on Knucklebones. Talk about phoning it in! Same thing with Shyboy as opposed to The Bottom Line - MAJOR disappointment as far as what the guitar'n'bass duel offered on the follow-up.

Damn Good is worthwhile, as is Hina. I've always HATED Hot Dog and a Shake and Perfect Timing.

So there you have it - the bulk of the good stuff (and some of the crap) is on The Best, abut the two very best songs aren't.

[Bill Lumbergh]

Yeah, the production screams "80's hair band", but most of the songs are GREAT. Definitely worth buying........highlights for me: Damn Good, Knucklebones.........get it.

[VHII]

thanks everyone

[PHOENIX]

Sending this the DLR/VH forum.

[Vivian Campbell]

I’ll lend my thoughts in the context of EE&S V. Skyscraper. In the sum of its parts, Eat Em is by far superior. There is more energy and it sounds like a cross between Van Halen II and WACF. Skyscraper, on the other hand, is very uneven. “Stand Up” is full of cheesy and uninspired lyrics. I can’t believe Dave thought this song was video worthy. “Skyscraper” is a poor excuse for a title track. “Hina” boarders on lame. With that said, Skyscraper has more memorable songs than the more even handed EE&S. “Just Like Paradise,” “Bottom Line,” and “Hot Dog & Shake” are some of Dave’s most enjoyable songs of his solo career. The show stealer is without a doubt “Damn Good.” This song will bring a tear to your eye because the lyrics are heart felt and will instantly remind you of moments that you’ve spent with friends and family. This song, alone, is worth the ten bucks spent. Steve Vai’s guitar playing on Skyscraper is superior to his work on EE&S.

All in all, I would suggest that you buy the album. It isn’t Dave’s best, but you will enjoy a good portion of it - especially “Damn Good.”

[Seshmeister]

Originally posted by academic punk
He clearly took note of Van Hagar's COMMERCIAL success with 5150 (an album that sucks ASS), and wanted to emulate that.

Much of the rest of your post is valid but that sentence is complete fucking unadulterated shit.

Skyscraper is far too complex to be described as commercialism like 5150.

Even Just like Paradise is just a step too far for the 30 year old housewife in Tuna Fish Wyoming to get never mind the rest of the album. It's stupid to confuse the (over)use of keyboards with an attempt to join the genre of Journey/Loverboy/Insert name of US City.

Are you seriously saying Stand Up is in the same mould as Dreams or Damn Good is an attempt to sell singles to the same people that bought Love Walks In?

Toilet talk - how dare you.

It's weakness in many ways was it's lack of commercialism and how in places it went up it's own ass. At a different time in music history it would have been put down as an interesting experimental album but with hard rock coming to an end and grunge on the horizon it just died.

On EEAS Roth and Vai tried to create the ultimate Van Halen album.

On Skyscraper they tried to create the ultimate rock album drawing on all of their combined influences which ended up being too disparate and just a little too much.

On the whole I really like it with a couple of exceptions but the public at large was never going to. They needed a producer to tell them that.

Cheers!

[dave_is_vh]

Skyscraper is by far Dave's best CD. It is also better than any Van Halen CD, with the possible exception of 1984.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by dave_is_vh
Skyscraper is by far Dave's best CD. It is also better than any Van Halen CD, with the possible exception of 1984.

Let me guess....Culture Club is one of your favorite bands.

DLR7884
I hope your post was a joke.

[academic punk]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Seshmeister
[B] Much of the rest of your post is valid but that sentence is complete fucking unadulterated shit.

hey, we're all friends here, tell me how you really feel...

Skyscraper is far too complex to be described as commercialism like 5150.

really? I think there's a difference between "complex" and "disjointed". Like 5150, Skyscraper opens with a rocker, then the pop tune, then a fast rocker, etc etc. but a major difference is that 5150 was the first Van Hagar album, and from the minute I heard it, I knew it was over for me and that they now sucked ass. With Skyscraper, I realy wanted Dave and the Yankee Rose band to go deeper intro what they explored on EEAS - which if you think about it, also explored a lot of textures and genres: the difference is, it did it with a consistency of vision and GREAT songs.



Even Just like Paradise is just a step too far for the 30 year old housewife in Tuna Fish Wyoming to get never mind the rest of the album. It's stupid to confuse the (over)use of keyboards with an attempt to join the genre of Journey/Loverboy/Insert name of US City.

It's not just the keyboards, it's the chord sequences themselves, and the melodies and lyrics. Nice sentiment, but "Stand Up/Stand Up/Put your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground" doesn't hold a candle to "Pistons poppin'/Aw, ain't no stoppin' nowwwwwwww!"

Are you seriously saying Stand Up is in the same mould as Dreams or Damn Good is an attempt to sell singles to the same people that bought Love Walks In?

Yes to the former, uhm.....kinda to the latter.

Toilet talk - how dare you.

As Johnny Cash might say, In the toilet of your heart, I have been flushed.



No, but seriously, I'm happy that you like the album. It just served as a major disappointment to me, as it obviously did for the band, since the only one left by the end of the tour was Bissonette.

[TwoFoolsAMinute]

In the context of time, the album was great when it was release, but it is dated now. it has it's ups and downs. But, it still has Vai and Sheehan, so it has fantastic guitar and bass work. "Stand Up" kinda sucks, I will concede that, but I love every other track on that record. Put on your headphones, close your eyes and listen to it in the dark, by the end of the title track, you'll be glad you came.

[Tony whitfield]

ITS GOOD TRY IT

COOL SONGS

JUST DAVE BEING DAVE!!