Official "A Different Kind of Truth" Album Review Thread

[Mr Walker]

JOHN5

"As it turns out, John 5 has ties to Van Halen - he wrote and recorded with David Lee Roth in the late '90s - and on the subject of the band's new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, he's quick to sing its praises. "It's amazing!" he enthuses.

"I love the new Van Halen record," the guitarist says. "Let me rephrase that: I love, love, love the new Van Halen record. It's heavy. If you really sit down and listen to it, it's totally heavy. The band isn't playing it safe at all, and that's what's so great about it."

When the album's first song, Tattoo, was released, many folks were less than impressed. John 5, however, quickly chalked it up as a winner. "It's a wonderful song," he chips. "I remember everybody going, 'Ahhh, I don't know about this Tattoo.' But I'll tell you, by the second or third time I heard it, it was in my head. And that's the mark of any great song - it stays with you."

JOHN5 ROCKS!!!

Seeing him with Rob Zombie in May!

[jhale667]

JOHN5

"As it turns out, John 5 has ties to Van Halen - he wrote and recorded with David Lee Roth in the late '90s - and on the subject of the band's new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, he's quick to sing its praises. "It's amazing!" he enthuses.

"I love the new Van Halen record," the guitarist says. "Let me rephrase that: I love, love, love the new Van Halen record. It's heavy. If you really sit down and listen to it, it's totally heavy. The band isn't playing it safe at all, and that's what's so great about it."

When the album's first song, Tattoo, was released, many folks were less than impressed. John 5, however, quickly chalked it up as a winner. "It's a wonderful song," he chips. "I remember everybody going, 'Ahhh, I don't know about this Tattoo.' But I'll tell you, by the second or third time I heard it, it was in my head. And that's the mark of any great song - it stays with you."

JOHN5 ROCKS!!!

John5 is cool as sh*t... met him in my music retail days... think I mentioned seeing him at the Henson studios show (and he ended up being in the pic of Ed's rig I shot)...passed him afterwards on the way out and after the "long time no see" I asked "Was that incredible, or what?" And he replied "UNREAL, dude!"

[Zing!]

Saw John5 with Rob Zombie a while back. The dude shreds - and had a guitar solo that was quite obviously a nod to Ed VH. Class act.

[Panamark]

I love Tattoo, I dont get the armchair experts who write it off, or feel they have
to coz some dipshit critic said so, or it was the "Yahoo" hot topic to hate it ?

I Fucking love it ! It gets an extra volume notch everytime it comes around.
The first real Van Halen song in a long time and it Kicks ass.

Theres not a bad track on this album, some are really deep and need more than
a few listens. But thats cool, been listening for over a month now and
theres still layers jumping out at me.. This is the 30 year old top shelf
whisky my friends !

[Halen High]

I love Tattoo, I dont get the armchair experts who write it off, or feel they have
to coz some dipshit critic said so, or it was the "Yahoo" hot topic to hate it ?

I Fucking love it ! It gets an extra volume notch everytime it comes around.
The first real Van Halen song in a long time and it Kicks ass.

Theres not a bad track on this album, some are really deep and need more than
a few listens. But thats cool, been listening for over a month now and
theres still layers jumping out at me.. This is the 30 year old top shelf
whisky my friends !

I loved Tattoo the first time I heard it and still do. The problem some people had with Tattoo were based on expectations, which for the first Van Halen album with Dave in 28 years were through the roof. Perhaps they should have gone with more of a rocker, which people really wanted, like You and Your Blues or Blood and Fire, to satisfy those expectations. If the more laid back Tattoo was not released as a single and simply placed on the album as track 6 or whatever, I bet most people would love it.

It's interesting that a lot of people are saying they now like Tattoo based on the heavier live version.

You're right about the album not having a weak track. There's not one song I want to skip over. It's right up there with their best work.

[Halen High]

I don't know what the sales are for ADKOT to date (about 300,000?), but some people are disappointed. No need to be. First, at a rough guess it seems that at least 95% of the fanbase across the various fansites think it's a classic and every artist other than the bitter and twisted former replacement member have said that they love it - and that is really all that matters. Second, illegal downloading continues to rise dramatically every year and Van Halen would be a major target for illegal downloading due to the high interest in the band with Dave. Third, I believe ADKOT will be a 'stayer'. Word-of-mouth, interviews with other artists talking about it, people stumbling across positive reviews while searching for VH stuff, and touring will see ADKOT continue to sell over the years. I think it will eventually reach 1 million, probably over 4-5 years.

[ashstralia]

well said, HH. i reckon you're on the money re 'stayer'.

with some time in the rearview mirror, adkot will be regarded as just what it is; a fucking great rock album by a fucking great heritage band. (+ kiddo)

[Halen High]

I think so Ash. We've already had interviews with Vinnie Paul and John 5 saying how much they love ADKOT and Slash tweeting about how much it rocks. Their fans will read that, some will take an interest and go out and buy it.

I just checked on Billboard and ADKOT is still number 1 on the hard rock album chart, and number 11 on the mainstream album chart after 3 weeks. Not bad at all. In Australia, ADKOT has fallen quickly to number 39 after 4 weeks - they REALLY need to tour here.

[Bob_R]

Unbelievable how good this album is. Maybe it's not fair to compare albums 30 years apart but I think ADKOT is better than Diver Down.

[SunisinuS]

I've hardly stopped listening to the new album....Apart from the track Tattoo it is excellent (Tattoo being OK too but more like a laterDLR track than a VH track - still not a bad thing)......anyway - it inspired me...I'm not in a band....help out in a mates band from time to time but not playing so much rock.... I recorded a cover of 'you and your blues' just for a bit of fun using drum loops and playing everything else - I'm not a good vocalist or guitarist but here goes:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyg1dejcFVE

Further inspired by the new album i had a go at putting together a track rougly in Van Halen style...made plenty of references to their early songs:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkmGUiuF4F4

Whether you like them or not i'd like to get some feedback on the tracks...

Cheers,

Mark
http://www.youtube.com/evansmusic2009

You might find more people that will give you feedback in "The Show Your Work" thread.

Cheers for the work done!

[vandeleur]

I love ADKOT and am very uncomfortable comparing it to the 6 pack due to the time difference ... Don't get me wrong it stands up to there no doubt about it but maybe I/we have put the 6 pack up on a pedestal and it's a bit weird to compare things against them... But for my two cents it's better than I hoped it would be and I hoped for a new VH album a lot ...

[Halen High]

Unbelievable how good this album is. Maybe it's not fair to compare albums 30 years apart but I think ADKOT is better than Diver Down.

A couple of weeks ago, there was no way I could admit to myself that ADKOT could be ranked higher than seven. Now, after a few weeks of cranking it daily, I have to place it sixth in the Van Halen catalogue - ahead of Diver Down. It's so good, I keep switching favourite tracks. Today it's Beats Workin' - had it on repeat for about an hour.

[ashstralia]

i've had a couple of 2+ hour drives in recent weeks... pumping it in the car (cheers barney!)

everytime blood and fire gets to 'told ya i was comin back' my eyes well up and i fist pump, other motorists must think i'm crazy.

and how fucking stellar is 'as is'? just phenomenal stuff.

[DLR'sCock]

FYI, word of mouth must be working out there with the tour, because the album held at number 11 from last week. Not that it matters if it sells huge or not, but it will do very well. Word of mouth matters.

[Yount]

Fist pumping in the car to Van Halen!!! Oh yeah!

What get's me burning is "heroes aren't born they're cornered, and this corner's where we write this story!!" Alex is really cooking!

(And I was looking for ADKOT's current position in the AUS charts but can't find it - maybe it'll rear it's head later if they tour.)