Ed once asked "Jeff Berlin" to join Van Halen ?

[VHscraps]

Okay, so I messed it up - posted links instead of images. Let me try again:

Haven't had time to read it again - but the way I remember it was that the story was really on Steve Morse or Albert Lee (or both). Because they were appearing at a MusicMan Ernie Ball thing, Eddie happened to be there too, and he got up onstage. My impression was that it was not set up as a Musician interview with Van Halen, but because he was there and the guy was doing the story on those guitarists and promoting Music Man gear, he spoke to him. The journalist, Matt Resnicoff (I think Ed later called him Matt Fucknicoff) managed to interview Ed, and he suggested that his band wasn't good enough for him. That it didn't challenge him - like the widdly jazz rock fusion stuff he obviously thought was more worthy than VH (the journo goes on about Morse being so poor and VH being so rich, implying that it is unfair, etc) And, I think he also managed to get Ed to 'fess up to playing some bass on the F.U.C.K album, which he obviously didn't want to admit.

But, I think the whole thing was about the fact that he suggested Alex Van Halen, Anthony etc. weren't good enough, and then used Van Halen on the cover to sell a magazine based on a story that was really a story about Morse and Lee. AND - this must've really fucked off VH, the journo went to DLR for an assessment of Ed's limitations, or something like that, which appears towards the end of the story. Yeah, it's no wonder Leffler wanted to break his bones ...

In the aftermath, Ed Leffler wrote a fuck you letter to Musician magazine, which was published in their letters page. I think Musician magazine lost revenue 'cos ads were pulled, etc., and the journalist, Matt Resnicoff, quit the journalism business and said that Leffler threatened him with physical harm - not odd for a manager in rock'n'roll, if you've ever seen Zep's The Song Remains the Same and Peter Grant in action. Anyway, here's a link to an interview with Matt Resnicoff, where he mentions it briefly:

http://rockcriticsarchives.com/inter...resnicoff.html

and here are the scans:

[Nickdfresh]

As I said last time this thread came around if you want to hear how gimmicky and shit Van Halen music sounds with virtuoso bass playing get a hold of an EEAS live bootleg.

Yeah, I'll second that. Billy Sheehan is a great musician. But Ed obviously never heard many EUAS boots...

[GreenBayLA]

I would unplug him.

Seriously.

Why is that fucking noise acceptable just because it's him making it? It's the emperors new clothes. If anyone did that in any other circumstances you would switch off his amp and then shout at him saying stop making that hellish fucking noise or I'll kill you.

LOL I was just stirring the pot a bit SM. But Michael Anthony unplugged! You may be onto something, put him on an upright bass in a skiffle group.

[twonabomber]

In the aftermath, Ed Leffler wrote a fuck you letter to Musician magazine, which was published in their letters page. I think Musician magazine lost revenue 'cos ads were pulled, etc., and the journalist, Matt Resnicoff, quit the journalism business and said that Leffler threatened him with physical harm - not odd for a manager in rock'n'roll, if you've ever seen Zep's The Song Remains the Same and Peter Grant in action.

Leffler called Resnicoff a kike in that letter, didn't he?

[Terry]

But it does point to something interesting, even if the thoughts were drunken in nature: At that time, Ed Van Halen was feeling a need to be challenged, or at least to expand from the predictable nature of the "guitar/drums/w/bass following" axis he'd worked with until that point. To his credit, Berlin sensed the overwhelming writing on the wall with regard to rock bands, and opted out. Yet you still have to wonder what an instrumental break (read solo project) at this point, sans Roth, would have done for the guitarist. Imagine if it had sold well? This could have jibed with Roth's desire to step out as well, and as Roth predicted, the entire Van Halen enterprise could have reformed a few years down the line, refreshed and ready to take on all comers.

Sadly, it's yet another "what if" scenario. And we all know how things turned out.

Obviously we will never know what would have happened, but with a world-class technician like Berlin in the band...I dunno, but I have doubts as to how great that would have sounded, or if that would have suited the band well. See, the great thing about CVH is they had technical ability to spare, but were able to temper that tendency some groups have to overindulge in wanking displays of musicianship (The worst aspects of Rush, a band that I like, spring to mind) and always keep the groove and the song at the forefront. Mike Anthony certainly wouldn't be accused by any rational person of overplaying on any of the CVH recordingsn, he didn't have to with Roth and Ed fronting the group.

[VHscraps]

Leffler called Resnicoff a kike in that letter, didn't he?

I think you are right - I had forgotten about that. There was originally an image of Leffler's letter on the Matt Resnicoff article I linked to in my first post, but it wasn't there yesterday when I went to find the above link to add the Resnicoff interview where he mentions the EVH incident. I just went back to check it that page at www.rockcritics.com to see if I could find the source in the HTML, and see if I could find some source file info on the image of Leffler's letter -- and the whole page has vanished?! That's a fuckin odd coincidence, I'd say.

[Terry]

Funny in that I thought I'd read virtually every major music mag interview on Ed from back in the day (although the early 1990s was a little bit past 'back in the day' far as VH were concerned, but whatever).

By that point, Ed was just too used to various guitar-oriented magazines treating him like he was god, whereas Musician magazine was never quite as idolatory about him or Van Halen (I remember a cover story in that mag in the early 1980s about Van Halen, with a shot of Roth and Ed on the front under the storyline Rock's Odd Couple: How Long Can It Last?). Although the 1991 article above never came right out and said so, it alluded toward the fact that Ed's style had basically gone on autopilot and Ed certainly looked like a one-trick pony when stacked up against players like Morse (I enjoyed the subtle jibes at Ed's repetitive use of 'elephant squeals').

"What's the point of being pushed?" Indeed, that's the mindset that crept in after Roth left. Ed was in charge. Anthony wasn't going to push him musically. Hagar, master of the mundane, didn't have the ability to. Al is family. The records for the most part were recorded in Ed's home studio / home-court advantage. It was all up to Ed to push himself. Several instances of it would appear on each Van Hagar record, but they were like teasers, always leaving me wondering what they could have evolved into with perhaps a different producer NOT working in Ed's home studio, or his brother on drums...or a bassplayer who could actually write and not just follow...or a singer who could write decent lyrics...

[VHscraps]

Funny in that I thought I'd read virtually every major music mag interview on Ed from back in the day (although the early 1990s was a little bit past 'back in the day' far as VH were concerned, but whatever).

By that point, Ed was just too used to various guitar-oriented magazines treating him like he was god, whereas Musician magazine was never quite as idolatory about him or Van Halen (I remember a cover story in that mag in the early 1980s about Van Halen, with a shot of Roth and Ed on the front under the storyline Rock's Odd Couple: How Long Can It Last?). Although the 1991 article above never came right out and said so, it alluded toward the fact that Ed's style had basically gone on autopilot and Ed certainly looked like a one-trick pony when stacked up against players like Morse (I enjoyed the subtle jibes at Ed's repetitive use of 'elephant squeals').

"What's the point of being pushed?" Indeed, that's the mindset that crept in after Roth left. Ed was in charge. Anthony wasn't going to push him musically. Hagar, master of the mundane, didn't have the ability to. Al is family. The records for the most part were recorded in Ed's home studio / home-court advantage. It was all up to Ed to push himself. Several instances of it would appear on each Van Hagar record, but they were like teasers, always leaving me wondering what they could have evolved into with perhaps a different producer NOT working in Ed's home studio, or his brother on drums...or a bassplayer who could actually write and not just follow...or a singer who could write decent lyrics...

I think the thrust of that article is basically right, although a fair bit of meanness in it, too. Yeah - you're right, the other guitar mags kissed Eddie's ass for too long. But - and it is a big BUT - he changed the way a lot of people (for good and bad) thought about guitar playing, like no-one since Hendrix, so he will always be a big deal. How many people copy Steve Morse - no disrespect to the guy, as I know he is a fine player? But that's also Eddie's curse in a way - as the article says, people expect him to be superhuman.

But the main thing is Ed being on autopilot - I agree. Building 5150 was the crucial change in that direction, dumping Templeman, etc. I read an online interview with Andy Johns a few years ago - long after he worked with VH - and he was even kinda scared to be critical, but he did say something like, 'no one knows what's goin' on with Eddie - he sacked the whole band, including Alex.' I think this was the early 2000s

I think DLR has always been right on this - Eddie's got a problem being in charge and having to make the decisions.

If they ever make another record, let's hope he is not 'producing' it. He needs someone to tell him what to do - because as he keeps saying in the article, he really doesn't know how to make sense of his talent. I reckon that's what paralyzes him creatively.

[Diamondjimi]

I would unplug him.

Seriously.

Why is that fucking noise acceptable just because it's him making it? It's the emperors new clothes. If anyone did that in any other circumstances you would switch off his amp and then shout at him saying stop making that hellish fucking noise or I'll kill you.

[Terry]

I think the thrust of that article is basically right, although a fair bit of meanness in it, too. Yeah - you're right, the other guitar mags kissed Eddie's ass for too long. But - and it is a big BUT - he changed the way a lot of people (for good and bad) thought about guitar playing, like no-one since Hendrix, so he will always be a big deal. How many people copy Steve Morse - no disrespect to the guy, as I know he is a fine player? But that's also Eddie's curse in a way - as the article says, people expect him to be superhuman.

But the main thing is Ed being on autopilot - I agree. Building 5150 was the crucial change in that direction, dumping Templeman, etc. I read an online interview with Andy Johns a few years ago - long after he worked with VH - and he was even kinda scared to be critical, but he did say something like, 'no one knows what's goin' on with Eddie - he sacked the whole band, including Alex.' I think this was the early 2000s

I think DLR has always been right on this - Eddie's got a problem being in charge and having to make the decisions.

If they ever make another record, let's hope he is not 'producing' it. He needs someone to tell him what to do - because as he keeps saying in the article, he really doesn't know how to make sense of his talent. I reckon that's what paralyzes him creatively.

Undoubtedly Ed made a huge impact on rock guitar. If nothing else, he brought it out of the pentatonic blues scale doldrums it had been stuck in for much of the 1970s.

By the end of the 1980s, though, his influence tended to be along the lines of other (too many, IMO) guitarists copying the superficialities of his style, and putting both hands on the fretboard or jacking off a locking tremolo system came across to me like just a tedious bag-of-tricks display that was widespread to the point of annoyance. Granted, Eddie had no control over the fact that this was how his influence would be felt. Precious few guitarists actually took what Eddie did and built a style of their own out of it beyond mere flash, at least not to these ears.

He really was a one-of-a-kind player. A guy who took what he had been hearing from Page, Beck, Blackmore, Hendrix and countless others and really came up with something all his own. Unlike a lot of other guitarists Eddie inspired where Ed is the start and end of their inspiration (Warren DeMartini springs to mind).

I'd agree it is probably not a coincidence that Van Halen's finest work was done prior to the construction of 5150 studios and the gradual assumption of production duties by Ed.