WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST Re-visited

[Panamark]

Fookin Excellent Rikk !
I saw it was another huge post, but knew it would be worth the time
reading it. Great job. I love this album too !!

Oh another WACF tidbit (apart from the real rain which has been mentioned)

Also,

Its the only album cover where Ed has a destroyer!

[Andertime]

Another stellar review Rikk! I love WACF. I like to keep it tucked away on my cd shelf and only pull it out on special occasions. Like if I have a long drive ahead of me. It keeps it fresh and exciting, whereas I've listened to FW and 1984 a million times and know every little nuance.

[SoCalChelle]

WACF has been my favorite of the 6 for quite a while

[rob100]

Great review, again. I have to say I always loved ...And the cradle will rock. The first few bars set the mood: "ah yeah...get up...". I love the not too subtle phase effects, the solo, the cool beat, etc. And listen to the way Alex' playing interacts with the words "rock on"... Just love the song, it sounds BIG if you know what I mean.

Great album, it always competes with VH1 as my favorite.

[HELLVIS]

My fave. It's in my cd player right now. Until I heard Romeo Delight, I thought On Fire was as good as it gets.

[DLRdelight!]

Great post man, hilarious what you said about a 12 year old kid you get my vote

[Rikk]

Originally posted by Mr. G
Rikk you are the ablosute king of critics. By the way the rain you hear on "could this be magic" is real. I heard Dave say once durring an interview that when they were recording it it was raining outside and he decided to open the doors and get some of it in the mix. Pretty cool.

Thanks man.

I never realized the rain is real. Man, that makes the song even more special to me!

[Bob_R]

Great post Rikk! IMO Romeo Delight is by far and away their most underrated song.

[Rikk]

Originally posted by EVH FANATIC
Great post Rikk! IMO Romeo Delight is by far and away their most underrated song.

Agreed. It's incredible that Sammy Hagar is the singer of Van Halen now (sort of) and he has probably never even heard this song and wouldn't like it if he did.

ROMEO DELIGHT should have had a long live history. It's a classic.

[ALinChainz]

Excellent Rikk.

Couple quick things about this album.

Dave, as always, sounds like he is having one damn good time in the studio. Laughs, etc. Killer.

And the lyric in "In a Simple Rhyme" ...

"Ain't life grand when you finally hit it ..."

Fucking awesome.

Can't wait for the "Fair Warning" review you guys.

[Rikk]

Thank you! I'll get to FAIR WARNING next week. And it'll be a grand one!!

[Andertime]

Fair Warning, sweeeeeet! Can't wait to read it Rikk.

[Terry]

Originally posted by Bill Lumbergh
Great comment here, I totally agree. And by the way (amazingly)this album has never really been at the top of Classic VH fans list of six pack albums. That's unbelievable to me.........FW,WACF, and I are untouchable IMO.

The one item that gets the most play is the double-album cassette I have with Women and Children First on side one and Fair Warning on side two. The fucker is approaching 25 years old, but still plays great. Sure, I got all the stuff on CD, but still dig listening to tapes (I dig the sound all jumbled up/not crystal clear).

Van Halen's first two albums are exceptional as well, but the one-two punch of WACF and FW was Van Halen at it's peak. No skipworthy tracks on either, nor any tracks that have lost their zeal despite either radio overkill or just plain not aging well. Can't quite say the same for Diver Down or 1984.....but it's true there's no such thing as a bad classic album. Not by default of Dave being there, just the way it is.

WACF and FW sold around 4 million each. In fact, those two may have sold the least out of the 6-pack, but they're still the best, even if only by a matter of degrees.

Can't wait for Rikk's Fair Warning review.

[Rikk]

Thanks guys. When I do get to it, it'll be detailed! And that CD will then by in my player (and yours, hopefully) for days!

[Casper]

Yeah I would say that WACF is pretty loose and likeable. Take your whiskey home is truly great. Maybe not as great as For those about to rock we Salute You by AC?DC but definately a nice but nasty brand of heavy metal.


I have a few reservations about this album though: "everybody want's some" seems to be a little light on actual content. Like two chords and four lines of lyric or something?

I wish I had it on Vinyl as the cassette and CD versions steal some of the essential grime.