Fair Warning Re-visited

[Matt White]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
This thread belongs in the main discussion forum.

It started in MAIN...and was moved to the PEN when it expanded....since RIKK had done the reviews of the 6-pack.....


You'd know that if you'd put down your Power Rangers for 2 minutes...:p

[Matt White]

In celebration of FAIR WARNING turning 25....ENJOY

[Matt White]

FAIR WARNING...25 years old


1981 was a STELLAR YEAR for ROCK

[Unchainme]

BUMP

[Unchainme]

UNCHAINED
Probably the best track the band ever recorded. From the amazing chorus to the once-in-a-lifetime riff, from the incredible flange to the wonderful lyrics...this song alone demonstrates why Sammy Hagar should have declined politely in 1985 when Ed asked him to join the band. How anyone could feel they could ever follow this song up with anything is beyond me. This is not only incredibly catchy (this should have been a #1 single) but is also a high-octane, concert-opening, barnstorming Van Halen rocker. It has the great Van Halen rhythm section (before they started going on autopilot a few years later) and some of Ed's best guitar work (including what he considers maybe his greatest solo). I could go on and on about the lyrics or Dave's legendary "one break comin' up" line (responding to Ted Templeman's "C'mon Dave, gimme a break question from the control room). But we're all read that before. BTW, have any of you ever heard the live versions that Sammy Hagar or Gary Cherone have performed? If so, have a few drinks, listen to this version again (or watch the Oakland video version) and all will be good on Earth again.

this needs to be necro-posted bad, after seeing what I just saw in House of Music.

[Unchainme]

To me, this album just represents everything that is Classic Van Halen..

Just certain elements just seem to mix in well musically. You can hear this quick-kick-assedness of Punk Rock, mixed in with some Metal sound, and this over-all pop "stuck in your head" sound, hell even toss in Dave playing the part of a lounge singer in a rock n' roll age..just amazing..

It's Van Halen at it's peak, give this album a listen, and then watch the three oakland videos and it just makes you scratch you head that three of these guys in this band would end up making 5150 and 0U812 within 10 years..

If you don't like this album, and claim to be a fan of rock n'roll or music in general you're either a sheep or just had your own head stuck up your ass.

[Kristy]

Not their best album although it should have been. To me, Fair Warning is where Eddie calmed the fuck down for a bit and actually spent time in the studio coming up with ideas with Templeton instead of banging out riffs in order to get through a song. Diver Down had it moments but that record was weak - maybe the tiredness of touring, who knows but Fair Warning was the most sculpted record in the CVH catalog and though not commercially successful as the others it seems to wear the test of time pretty well: Eddie's best playing, Roth's best singing, the band never played tighter and more focused.

[FORD]

Fair Warning was basically the first album Van HALEN had to write from scratch, with the exception of "Mean Street" (which was made from the remains of the two old songs "Voodoo Queen" and "She's The Woman) The first three albums were mostly constructed from the songs VH had been playing in the clubs for years. Ironically enough WACF actually had some of their oldest songs, with "Take Your Whiskey Home" and "In A Simple Rhyme" actually being leftovers from the days when Mark Stone was the bass player and they still called themselves "Mammoth".

So it took a bit longer in the studio to record Fair Warning, and it was literally a new direction for the band, because it really WAS Van Halen in 1981, as opposed to Van Halen 1974 or 76 merely being recorded in the present. And that new direction showed the maturity of the band as a unit, and especially of Dave & Eddie as songwriters.

And it was a perfect album, goddamn it. Sadly the last perfect album they would do, as Diver Down had too many covers, and 1984 had too many keyboards.

[indeedido]

Probably my favorite VH album. To me, by far the best mix of any of the CVH. You can actually hear the bass and bass drum.

[hambon4lif]

I'll go so far as to say Fair Warning was the last real Van Halen album!
When Diver Down came out with singles geared for radio, all of a sudden every dorky square suburban kid in the neighborhood wanted to get on the bandwagon, and we had to start sharing them with the rest of the world.
But before that, that was our band....they belonged to us! The cult audience who already knew they kicked ass, and knew who they were long before Ed even met Valerie.

Fair Warning was the view from the top and the last of the real.

"I've been tried and convicted, it's winner take all....I want a run for my money, that's all!"

"You can try me at home...if it feels alright..but I ain't home tonight".....TAKE THAT, BEEYOTCH!!

[CROWBAR]

but Fair Warning was the most sculpted record in the CVH catalog and though not commercially successful as the others it seems to wear the test of time pretty well: Eddie's best playing, Roth's best singing, the band never played tighter and more focused.

I'll disagree with ya about it being Eddie's best playing and Roth's best singing. Tighter? To a point yes. Not tighter than Woman And Children First imo. That album is where they all came together as one and gelled as a band. No one instrument overpowered another on any single song. They were firing on all eight cylinders for that one. Not one weak song in the bunch. However, on Fair Warning, you've got some so so songs in Push Comes To Shove, Sunday Afternoon In The Park, and some people might even throw So This Is Love in there too, although I happen to like that one myself. PCTS has a great guitar solo in it, but Roth's lyrics fail to grab me. SAITP doesn't either, and it's not until One Foot Out The Door starts that you wake up from your nap again and they close out the album righteously. FW was clearly Ed's album, and he deliberately snuck behind the others backs in order to get what he wanted on the album. This wasn't a "band effort" like WACF was.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not knocking Fair Warning, I just question it being called the "perfect" VH album. It's debatable.

[Etienne]

...And it was a perfect album, goddamn it. Sadly the last perfect album they would do, as Diver Down had too many covers, and 1984 had too many keyboards.

Well, the keyboards in 1984 Intro, Jump and I'll Wait doesn't bother me... but I get your point