Official "A Different Kind of Truth" Album Review Thread

[DavidLeeNatra]

Great to see ya Natra!

great days to be alive...isn't it?

[dazzlindino]

critics.....yep when van halen 1 came out they called it dinosaur rock......and 30 years later they call it a musical game changer...
they dont get it and they never will.....suely thats why we like VH so much....

[rustoffa]

great days to be alive...isn't it?

Yes sir. I've been to hell and back.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Yes sir. I've been to hell and back.

I like the "back"-part!

[ashstralia]

The lead singer sounds familiar.

ran out of thanks; here is a classic example of the laconic aussie sense of humour.



and yeah! great to see you rusty.

[rustoffa]

I like the "back"-part!

Just walking up and down stairs makes the "back" pain seem negligible!

[sambo]

Four hundred and twenty billion (a made up number) listens for the Army in total ( in the house, car, CD, mp3, laptops combined), I really don't have a favourite song yet... (as Big River kicks in late in the evening). This album is guaranteed to put a smile on everyone's fckn face; and holy fck.. it's THAT good. We all know it... and we're all sharing it...and I dare anyone to challenge it..

Happy days everyone...

[hain23x]

If you are Van Halen fan of any kind you have to be beyond thrilled about this record. They met and exceeded all of our expectations. Even most of the Van Hagar ballad lovers are conceeding it's a great record.

Any "journalist" that slams this record has to be either an idiot, dork, or some kind of adult alternative snob.

Anyone who loves hard rock music has to like this music.

It has everything a Van Halen fan would want. It has the real heavy stuff(and even more than I expected) and it has a few singalong Van Halen pop/rock songs too. Lots of good humor on it.

Dave brings something to Van Halen music that Sammy or the Sammy fans just never understood.
And I think Eddie played with a lot of fire on this thing.

I'm never going to try to put this in the same category as the 6pack. This thing for me will just be off on it's own for awhile. It might take a few years for it to finally move over into that category or it might not. I'm not worried about it. I'm just enjoying the return of my favorite band.

[chi-town324]

the record kicks ass...no other way to put it

[SilvioDante]

If you are Van Halen fan of any kind you have to be beyond thrilled about this record. They met and exceeded all of our expectations. Even most of the Van Hagar ballad lovers are conceeding it's a great record.

Any "journalist" that slams this record has to be either an idiot, dork, or some kind of adult alternative snob.

Van Halen is the Peoples Band! "Critics" are never gonna get it. This guy from the LA Times and the guy from the Toronto Sun spend their days listening to Coldplay and keeping KISS and Cheap Trick out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while voting in Madonna and Grandmaster Flash.

At the end of the day, in the words of Maximus Decimus Meridius, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?" I for one am, and then some.

[neuralfraud]

Guys and Gals,

I'm not sure any of us really care enough to mention it, but honestly I'm surprised none of the reviews have touched on the subject of the infamous sampled screams... They are quite obvious.

So there's a scream from sinners swing in china town
There's another "Whooo" either from sinners swing agian, or from RWTD in As-Is
There's the "Auuggghhhhhh!!" from the intro of JUMP in the middle of As-Is
(those are all that come to mind right now as being obvious)

And then there's seemingly random yelps and screeches that have been stuffed so far in the background they're barely audible.. so I'm beginning to wonder if this Ross Hogarth isn't the fuckin' George Lucas of music? (Adds unnecessary bloat just for the sake of adding unnecessary bloat; see any Star Wars review by http://redlettermedia.com)

Here's what baffles me..There are times when roth screams "for real" and I think that they sound killer and BELONG there! The sound of his aged scream fits much better with the rest of the vocals than those gratuitous samples... What were they thinking?

I know people here will state "DLR can still Whoo and Aughh" but the fact is, not like the old days. It's not possible to sound 29 when you're 56 and I'm perfectly fine with that. The vocal evolution of Roth's voice shows that he adapted to a new style of singing once his voice had changed significantly. This new adaptation may be referred to by some as "the 94-pitch roth" but it's still Roth and still kicks ass.

So I guess that all I'm really saying is "They could have left those out of the mix, and should have".

And since after about a dozen listens that is my only complaint, I'd say this earns a 9/10

[DavidLeeNatra]

time for Calderone to join the party...

[hain23x]

Guys and Gals,

I'm not sure any of us really care enough to mention it, but honestly I'm surprised none of the reviews have touched on the subject of the infamous sampled screams... They are quite obvious.

We live in a music world where everything has little sample bits thrown in and around. One of the reason I like "Honeybabysweetiedoll" is because of all the crazy stuff floating around in the headphones.

Having old Dave screams, or his dog barking just falls in with the rest of modern music and sampling IMO.

[bru87tr]

Roth does 2 screams/wails in Stay Frosty ?

And a great one in As Is.

You are right, they are buried and should be up front.

Guys and Gals,

I'm not sure any of us really care enough to mention it, but honestly I'm surprised none of the reviews have touched on the subject of the infamous sampled screams... They are quite obvious.

So there's a scream from sinners swing in china town
There's another "Whooo" either from sinners swing agian, or from RWTD in As-Is
There's the "Auuggghhhhhh!!" from the intro of JUMP in the middle of As-Is
(those are all that come to mind right now as being obvious)

And then there's seemingly random yelps and screeches that have been stuffed so far in the background they're barely audible.. so I'm beginning to wonder if this Ross Hogarth isn't the fuckin' George Lucas of music? (Adds unnecessary bloat just for the sake of adding unnecessary bloat; see any Star Wars review by http://redlettermedia.com)

Here's what baffles me..There are times when roth screams "for real" and I think that they sound killer and BELONG there! The sound of his aged scream fits much better with the rest of the vocals than those gratuitous samples... What were they thinking?

I know people here will state "DLR can still Whoo and Aughh" but the fact is, not like the old days. It's not possible to sound 29 when you're 56 and I'm perfectly fine with that. The vocal evolution of Roth's voice shows that he adapted to a new style of singing once his voice had changed significantly. This new adaptation may be referred to by some as "the 94-pitch roth" but it's still Roth and still kicks ass.

So I guess that all I'm really saying is "They could have left those out of the mix, and should have".

And since after about a dozen listens that is my only complaint, I'd say this earns a 9/10

[SNIPER]

Here is a review from Idaho Statesman in Boise.... I know this dude.

DEEDS: If Van Halen actually rocks, there is hope for us all
- Idaho Statesman
Copyright: © 2012 Idaho Statesman
Published: 02/03/12

It’s been tough to rally up much enthusiasm for the new Van Halen album, “A Different Kind of Truth,” which arrives Feb. 7.

We’ve been burned too many times before by “comeback” records.

Does Guns ’N Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” ring a bell? Or The Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden”?

Kiss’ “Sonic Boom”? The Stooges’ “The Weirdness”? The Who’s “Endless Wire”?

As Roger Daltrey once sang, we don’t get fooled again.

Oh, wait. Yes, I do.

This is Van Halen’s first album with original frontman David Lee Roth in almost three decades. The baby-boomer band provided a taste of the new album about a month ago online: a song called “Tattoo.” Ugh. Mediocre at best.

But in the last week or so, tons more song samples have trickled onto the Internet. (Check my blog for half a dozen.)

Several sounded shockingly good. Huh? They’re hard-charging. Full of Eddie Van Halen’s unmistakable guitar pyrotechnics. And although he can’t do the splits with his vocal cords anymore, Roth sounds like Roth — and not too intolerably full of himself.

So was “Tattoo” a bizarre bait-and-switch tactic designed to lower expectations? (It’s also the album’s first song, which makes everything else sound that much better.) Or is the band’s management just totally clueless?

Don’t know. Don’t care. This still could be the best Van Halen record since “1984.” These tracks will make fans of the group’s David Lee Roth era jump.

Trash-talking Roth replacement Sammy Hagar still can’t drive 55. But the original members of Van Halen apparently still can rock after 55.

Could this album set a new geezer-rock precedent?

Fans will find out Tuesday.

If that’s the general consensus, it will be like Eddie Van Halen snatching away Hagar’s tequila, slamming it, then squirting the lime in Sammy’s eye.

And if Van Halen somehow recaptures the magic after all the fighting and booze and egos and divorce and cancer, anything becomes possible.

Let’s beat IdahoStatesman.com commenters to the punch and twist this article into a ridiculous, far-fetched political debate: President Obama may not convince me that there is hope for our economy, but if this Van Halen comeback miraculously does rock the planet?

Then Obama is right: There is hope for our nation.

If Dave and Eddie kick butt under Obama’s presidency, that might be enough for a second term.

Now pass me the rest of Sammy’s tequila, so I can mix it with Kool-Aid.

ENTERTAINMENT NOTES


Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/0...#storylink=cpy