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I love the DLR-era VH albums passionately...and most of Dave's solo albums are equally great...in fact, i reckon they surpass anything Eddie ever cut with Sammy since 1985 after Dave quit VH.....i was only a year old when the debut VH album was released, and not surprisingly i grew up first hearing the so-called 'Van Hagar' albums.....But when i went back and dug into the first 6 Roth-era VH records, i was awed at the raucous, almost incendiary, verve of the music and vocals, and i instantly realized how astoundingly disparate the two eras were...i am convinced it's pointless to compare Van Hagar era to DLR-era... post-Roth VH morphed into a band that i could never recognize anymore or ever begin to love or admire ...Dave and Sammy have nothing in common, at least musically, and the two VH eras undoubtedly mirror that truth...So great for everybody that VH 'stretched out' and found numerous new admirers with their new musical direction with Sammy....but they sure lost legions of fans like me too...i'll grant them this much though, that settling on a new muscial formula with a new frontman (however much i may despise them both, not so much Sammy as the music they produced), is a lot more brave and honest than turning out to be a ridiculous, trashy clone of the DLR-era VH without Dave.. I have lots of strong, deeply-felt emotions and opinions on the whole VH/DLR/Hagar debates raging on for the last 2 decades...Let me comment on just one that springs to mind..
i don't know whether to be simply irritated, outraged or just laugh and tune out when i hear or read trash-talk that endlessly disparage DLR for being just a "mere showman", 'Vegas clown', or various risible barbs like he can't sing, juvenile lyrics, technically inferior to Sammy and loads of such claptrap....since when has stellar "showmanship" (that DLR had shiploads of) been a handicap or a quality to scoff at??...I can bet my bottom dollar that if Sammy was marooned in the desert outbacks anywhere in the world with only rattlesnakes, lizards and scorpions for competition, he wouldn't be able to muster a tenth of the showmanship or charisma that DLR always had)......
i've always believed Dave is a supremely gifted vocalist with a distinctive, peerless voice and style; he can be variously so amazingly wicked, mean, upfront, tender, soulful, and his wit, humour, joyous vibes and swagger are unrivalled to this day in the world of heavy rock....Dave himself dubbed it "belligerent enthusiasm" AND/OR "enthusiastic belligerence"....I am convinced that there's an undeniable and endless envy among critics and SH fans of Dave's personality, accomplishments and the adulation he so deservedly earned over the years....i won't dignify those that say Dave can't sing and hurl other similar slurs at him except to say that if someone can still say that with a straight face after hearing Sammy's sickening rants(AND lyrics) on F.U.C.K for instance, or Gary's "vaginal monologues" on VHIII, obviously hates DLR for reasons that have nothing to do with his music or singing...Enuf said for today....I sure got lots more to say and share with VH fans, & DLR fans and haters e'where....I'll be back with more....
i don't know whether to be simply irritated, outraged or just laugh and tune out when i hear or read trash-talk that endlessly disparage DLR for being just a "mere showman", 'Vegas clown', or various risible barbs like he can't sing, juvenile lyrics, technically inferior to Sammy and loads of such claptrap....since when has stellar "showmanship" (that DLR had shiploads of) been a handicap or a quality to scoff at??...I can bet my bottom dollar that if Sammy was marooned in the desert outbacks anywhere in the world with only rattlesnakes, lizards and scorpions for competition, he wouldn't be able to muster a tenth of the showmanship or charisma that DLR always had)......
i've always believed Dave is a supremely gifted vocalist with a distinctive, peerless voice and style; he can be variously so amazingly wicked, mean, upfront, tender, soulful, and his wit, humour, joyous vibes and swagger are unrivalled to this day in the world of heavy rock....Dave himself dubbed it "belligerent enthusiasm" AND/OR "enthusiastic belligerence"....I am convinced that there's an undeniable and endless envy among critics and SH fans of Dave's personality, accomplishments and the adulation he so deservedly earned over the years....i won't dignify those that say Dave can't sing and hurl other similar slurs at him except to say that if someone can still say that with a straight face after hearing Sammy's sickening rants(AND lyrics) on F.U.C.K for instance, or Gary's "vaginal monologues" on VHIII, obviously hates DLR for reasons that have nothing to do with his music or singing...Enuf said for today....I sure got lots more to say and share with VH fans, & DLR fans and haters e'where....I'll be back with more....
:P
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