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Here's Part 2 of my review of 'A Different Kind of Truth'
HONEYBABYSWEETIEDOLL
Sir, we’re receiving a signal…it’s faint…I can barely make it out…what’s that sound? Can you understand what it is? Yes, sir…that’s rock! Rock? I thought rock was dead? So strange. So weird. So right. Tune in, if you dare, to a down and dirty sucker punch known as ‘Honeybabysweetiedoll.’ Sounding like something left on the cutting room floor from their ‘Fair Warning’ days, this is a raunchy middle finger to all the doubters who wondered silently or out loud if Van Halen could still bring it. They can. Here it is. Tune in if you possess the metal meddle, but be prepared to have reconstructive facial surgery, because there hasn’t been a song this mean in ages. I dig every angle of this track. Dave casually riffing the sinister lyrics (and that scream – you’ll know it when you hear it!) The classic solo by Ed, the thundering drums that’ll make your fillings fall out, the bass holding it all together in a bad-ass way that is genetically unfair. Am I right or am I right? Russell? “Arf!”
THE TROUBLE WITH NEVER
Here’s the thing. A song as bad-ass ass as ‘The Trouble With Never’ should never be conveniently pigeon-holed as a Jimi Hendrix homage. It’s so much more, people. You know it and I know it. Sure, Ed uses a wah-wah like a spaced out ‘70’s guitar god, but Hendrix didn’t patent the wah and other people ARE actually allowed to use it, and boy does our man Ed ever use it. In fact, he does it with a resilient confidence hog-tied with a reckless abandon that makes this particular musical device all his own for this musically dumb-downed generation. Again, Dave scores a slam dunk with the lyrics (“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”) and the spoken interlude at the break is oozing attitude that should make every lady Van Halen fan woozy. Not to pick on ‘Tattoo’ or take anything from the positively stellar ‘You and Your Blues’ – which we’ve already agreed shall live on for infinity (right Scorsese?) – but why wasn’t this the first single off the album? Plain and simple, this track is the DNA of the mighty Van Halen purified and distilled down into 4 minutes even. BAM!
OUTTA SPACE
For Van Halen riffage, you simply cannot beat the testosterone, balls-to-the-wall approach of ‘Let’s Get Rockin’’ now known as ‘Outta Space.’ One of my all-time favorites from the demo days – I dreamed, hoped, wished, and prayed that this would make it to an official Van Halen release. My dreams were partially validated. The music is gnarly – how’s that for ‘80’s slang – as tight as Alex’s snare drum. The lyrics need time to age on me a bit. This could – and I want to emphasize COULD – be an instance where the original was better than the re-worked version. Don’t kill the messenger, folks – I’m just saying. This is also the track that usually gets the ‘DLR Band’ reference from die-hard fans. There are more than a few connections in the words, but here’s my take: Dave’s release of the ‘DLR Band’ disk was a direct response to another album that came out at that time. It was his best work up until that date that he was saving for this very moment. Back in 1998 it seriously looked like this moment was never going to happen – we can all agree on that, right? So it’s natural for him to want to cherry-pick a few treasures from that era and put them where they properly belong. Not exactly a weak track – the music holds its own – but one that I need to re-visit a few times and wait for the connection to take hold. I have no doubt it will…
STAY FROSTY
I love this song. Love it like my own two kids. Love it like a sunny day. Love it like a winning scratch-off ticket. Love it like the weekend, cold beer, and neckin’ with the missus. Love the twangy intro. Love that first power chord. Love the ‘Uh-uh-uh-uhs!’ Love the retro ‘Ice Cream Man’ vibe. Obviously there are any number of songs that would qualify as singles on this album, and here’s another one – and maybe my top candidate (what the hell – it’s my review, no?) This song is July. This song is beer in the cooler. This is your best buds cruising out to the lake in the overhauled Camaro. Dave challenges us with his lyrics (“Ya wanna be a monk, ya gotta cook a lot of rice!”) Ed scorches on the guitar like a man soaked in kerosene and lit aflame. I mean come on – how is this even fair to folks who have studied guitar all these years? Wolf and Al thunder in a way that gives you goosebumps on each listen – no matter how many times you’ve heard it. Think this is hyperbole? Think again. This is what rock is supposed to sound like, people. Remember rock? You remember, don’t ya? Remember the ‘70’s? ‘80’s? Remember when it was okay to pump your fist and just say: “Fuck it!” This is all that recorded for posterity. If I were NASA I would shoot this one out into space as a document for the human race. Did I mention I love this song? Consider my fist in the air. Fuck it!
BIG RIVER
You love ‘Big Trouble,’ I love ‘Big Trouble.’ It’s one of those songs that is a part of Van Halen just as much as anything on their first six albums. So it’s easy for me to grasp that some fans might have a problem with this song being tweaked. But here’s the rub. I think they nailed it. Like a perfect 10 – and here’s why: just like ‘Stay Frosty’ was the beer-in-the-cooler tune for heading out to the lake with your pals, well, ‘Big River’ is the rest of that bygone day in the glorious noon-day sun. You cut class for tracks like this. You ask out the girl of your dreams while ‘Big River’ is playing in your mom and dad’s station wagon stereo. I relate to this song because I remember the ‘70’s. I remember AM radio. I remember vinyl albums and 8-track tapes. You want a time-warp to another era – ‘Big River’ is your ticket there and back, courtesy of your friends from Van Halen. Never thought I would adjust to this song being changed – but it keeps jumping up from the back seat and covering my eyes as I’m driving out to that glistening lake, laughing and promising me a good time. Did I say ‘As Is’ was my favorite? Can you have two? You love all your kids, right?
BEATS WORKIN’
We round things out with the heavy ass power chords of ‘Beats Workin’’ You don’t know where this song is gonna go from the start – but you know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s gonna rock in a ‘Girl Gone Bad’ kind of way, right? Sure sounds that way… but wait! Yep – it’s ‘Put Out The Lights,’ but once again it’s updated in a way that works perfectly for me. I know, I know – we all loved the ‘fast Eddie’ bit, but this is the here and now, and we’ve got a catchy-ass hook we gotsta lay down, people. Just like I said in the beginning of this review, it’s almost like this album was done in a day (which is a credit to producer John Shanks), and this is the one-off, first take, rock and roll thunder the boys would lay down before walking out the studio door. A perfect end to a nearly perfect disk, I don’t miss the original lyrics at all – and honestly yearned for more than the thirteen tracks provided. A mega-huge compliment considering my long-standing gripe that any Van Halen album should be 10 songs or less. Catchy, fun, a blast to sing along to as you drive the kids to daycare, ‘Beats Workin’’ is like that calorie-filled dessert you inhale with zero regret after the end of a day barbecuing and drinking with your best friends and are ready to light one up.
Epilogue
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH (cont.)
Van Halen, as a band, had used up eight of their nine lives. This was it. Sure, Ed has the vault of music with ten albums worth (epically plundered now), but that music would never see the light of day without first giving the fans what they wanted. This has been a sticking point with the Van Halen brothers for nearly thirty years. As professional musicians, who can blame them? You want to live in the current, in the now – record and document what is relevant in your life today, not eons ago. But first things first. You need the fans before you can have the music. The fans wanted ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ and this band, our band, delivered. We can now have closure for the last 28 years of silence. We can properly appreciate and validate all those long-suffering years where we were convinced nothing – short of the two ’96 tracks – would ever happen again. We forgive you. We love you like we did all those years ago. I know it’s not manly to admit your love for something – but let’s be honest here. We’re family, right? We can say ‘I love you’ without blushing.
To Alex Van Halen: thank you for the thunder. You’ve never wavered, through good times and bad, and have proven that even rock stars, including drummers, can have class. To Eddie Van Halen: I’m proud of you for conquering your demons. You are an example to all, musically inclined or not, and your fret-work on ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ will be studied like Mozart. Sounds like schmaltz, right? It’s not. You raised the bar. Again. When we chant “Eddie! Eddie!” at your concerts, we mean it with all our collective hearts. To David Lee Roth: thank you for your undying devotion to this band. You never gave up, you never stopped believing, even when many of us did. Your lyrics are like poetry, and your lifestyle is worthy of an action hero. You’ll always be my hero – and some day my kid’s hero as well, and you can take that to the bank. And finally, to the most important member of this quartet: Wolfgang Van Halen. Thanks kid, for loving your dad. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that that is why we’re even having this conversation at all. You resurrected the greatest American rock and roll band of all time and saved a good soul worth saving. I know you will live in the shadow of a former member to some, but in my book your playing was epic, and your dedication to your father even more so. You have earned our respect. Take a bow, kid.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the mighty VAN HALEN!
HONEYBABYSWEETIEDOLL
Sir, we’re receiving a signal…it’s faint…I can barely make it out…what’s that sound? Can you understand what it is? Yes, sir…that’s rock! Rock? I thought rock was dead? So strange. So weird. So right. Tune in, if you dare, to a down and dirty sucker punch known as ‘Honeybabysweetiedoll.’ Sounding like something left on the cutting room floor from their ‘Fair Warning’ days, this is a raunchy middle finger to all the doubters who wondered silently or out loud if Van Halen could still bring it. They can. Here it is. Tune in if you possess the metal meddle, but be prepared to have reconstructive facial surgery, because there hasn’t been a song this mean in ages. I dig every angle of this track. Dave casually riffing the sinister lyrics (and that scream – you’ll know it when you hear it!) The classic solo by Ed, the thundering drums that’ll make your fillings fall out, the bass holding it all together in a bad-ass way that is genetically unfair. Am I right or am I right? Russell? “Arf!”
THE TROUBLE WITH NEVER
Here’s the thing. A song as bad-ass ass as ‘The Trouble With Never’ should never be conveniently pigeon-holed as a Jimi Hendrix homage. It’s so much more, people. You know it and I know it. Sure, Ed uses a wah-wah like a spaced out ‘70’s guitar god, but Hendrix didn’t patent the wah and other people ARE actually allowed to use it, and boy does our man Ed ever use it. In fact, he does it with a resilient confidence hog-tied with a reckless abandon that makes this particular musical device all his own for this musically dumb-downed generation. Again, Dave scores a slam dunk with the lyrics (“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”) and the spoken interlude at the break is oozing attitude that should make every lady Van Halen fan woozy. Not to pick on ‘Tattoo’ or take anything from the positively stellar ‘You and Your Blues’ – which we’ve already agreed shall live on for infinity (right Scorsese?) – but why wasn’t this the first single off the album? Plain and simple, this track is the DNA of the mighty Van Halen purified and distilled down into 4 minutes even. BAM!
OUTTA SPACE
For Van Halen riffage, you simply cannot beat the testosterone, balls-to-the-wall approach of ‘Let’s Get Rockin’’ now known as ‘Outta Space.’ One of my all-time favorites from the demo days – I dreamed, hoped, wished, and prayed that this would make it to an official Van Halen release. My dreams were partially validated. The music is gnarly – how’s that for ‘80’s slang – as tight as Alex’s snare drum. The lyrics need time to age on me a bit. This could – and I want to emphasize COULD – be an instance where the original was better than the re-worked version. Don’t kill the messenger, folks – I’m just saying. This is also the track that usually gets the ‘DLR Band’ reference from die-hard fans. There are more than a few connections in the words, but here’s my take: Dave’s release of the ‘DLR Band’ disk was a direct response to another album that came out at that time. It was his best work up until that date that he was saving for this very moment. Back in 1998 it seriously looked like this moment was never going to happen – we can all agree on that, right? So it’s natural for him to want to cherry-pick a few treasures from that era and put them where they properly belong. Not exactly a weak track – the music holds its own – but one that I need to re-visit a few times and wait for the connection to take hold. I have no doubt it will…
STAY FROSTY
I love this song. Love it like my own two kids. Love it like a sunny day. Love it like a winning scratch-off ticket. Love it like the weekend, cold beer, and neckin’ with the missus. Love the twangy intro. Love that first power chord. Love the ‘Uh-uh-uh-uhs!’ Love the retro ‘Ice Cream Man’ vibe. Obviously there are any number of songs that would qualify as singles on this album, and here’s another one – and maybe my top candidate (what the hell – it’s my review, no?) This song is July. This song is beer in the cooler. This is your best buds cruising out to the lake in the overhauled Camaro. Dave challenges us with his lyrics (“Ya wanna be a monk, ya gotta cook a lot of rice!”) Ed scorches on the guitar like a man soaked in kerosene and lit aflame. I mean come on – how is this even fair to folks who have studied guitar all these years? Wolf and Al thunder in a way that gives you goosebumps on each listen – no matter how many times you’ve heard it. Think this is hyperbole? Think again. This is what rock is supposed to sound like, people. Remember rock? You remember, don’t ya? Remember the ‘70’s? ‘80’s? Remember when it was okay to pump your fist and just say: “Fuck it!” This is all that recorded for posterity. If I were NASA I would shoot this one out into space as a document for the human race. Did I mention I love this song? Consider my fist in the air. Fuck it!
BIG RIVER
You love ‘Big Trouble,’ I love ‘Big Trouble.’ It’s one of those songs that is a part of Van Halen just as much as anything on their first six albums. So it’s easy for me to grasp that some fans might have a problem with this song being tweaked. But here’s the rub. I think they nailed it. Like a perfect 10 – and here’s why: just like ‘Stay Frosty’ was the beer-in-the-cooler tune for heading out to the lake with your pals, well, ‘Big River’ is the rest of that bygone day in the glorious noon-day sun. You cut class for tracks like this. You ask out the girl of your dreams while ‘Big River’ is playing in your mom and dad’s station wagon stereo. I relate to this song because I remember the ‘70’s. I remember AM radio. I remember vinyl albums and 8-track tapes. You want a time-warp to another era – ‘Big River’ is your ticket there and back, courtesy of your friends from Van Halen. Never thought I would adjust to this song being changed – but it keeps jumping up from the back seat and covering my eyes as I’m driving out to that glistening lake, laughing and promising me a good time. Did I say ‘As Is’ was my favorite? Can you have two? You love all your kids, right?
BEATS WORKIN’
We round things out with the heavy ass power chords of ‘Beats Workin’’ You don’t know where this song is gonna go from the start – but you know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s gonna rock in a ‘Girl Gone Bad’ kind of way, right? Sure sounds that way… but wait! Yep – it’s ‘Put Out The Lights,’ but once again it’s updated in a way that works perfectly for me. I know, I know – we all loved the ‘fast Eddie’ bit, but this is the here and now, and we’ve got a catchy-ass hook we gotsta lay down, people. Just like I said in the beginning of this review, it’s almost like this album was done in a day (which is a credit to producer John Shanks), and this is the one-off, first take, rock and roll thunder the boys would lay down before walking out the studio door. A perfect end to a nearly perfect disk, I don’t miss the original lyrics at all – and honestly yearned for more than the thirteen tracks provided. A mega-huge compliment considering my long-standing gripe that any Van Halen album should be 10 songs or less. Catchy, fun, a blast to sing along to as you drive the kids to daycare, ‘Beats Workin’’ is like that calorie-filled dessert you inhale with zero regret after the end of a day barbecuing and drinking with your best friends and are ready to light one up.
Epilogue
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH (cont.)
Van Halen, as a band, had used up eight of their nine lives. This was it. Sure, Ed has the vault of music with ten albums worth (epically plundered now), but that music would never see the light of day without first giving the fans what they wanted. This has been a sticking point with the Van Halen brothers for nearly thirty years. As professional musicians, who can blame them? You want to live in the current, in the now – record and document what is relevant in your life today, not eons ago. But first things first. You need the fans before you can have the music. The fans wanted ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ and this band, our band, delivered. We can now have closure for the last 28 years of silence. We can properly appreciate and validate all those long-suffering years where we were convinced nothing – short of the two ’96 tracks – would ever happen again. We forgive you. We love you like we did all those years ago. I know it’s not manly to admit your love for something – but let’s be honest here. We’re family, right? We can say ‘I love you’ without blushing.
To Alex Van Halen: thank you for the thunder. You’ve never wavered, through good times and bad, and have proven that even rock stars, including drummers, can have class. To Eddie Van Halen: I’m proud of you for conquering your demons. You are an example to all, musically inclined or not, and your fret-work on ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ will be studied like Mozart. Sounds like schmaltz, right? It’s not. You raised the bar. Again. When we chant “Eddie! Eddie!” at your concerts, we mean it with all our collective hearts. To David Lee Roth: thank you for your undying devotion to this band. You never gave up, you never stopped believing, even when many of us did. Your lyrics are like poetry, and your lifestyle is worthy of an action hero. You’ll always be my hero – and some day my kid’s hero as well, and you can take that to the bank. And finally, to the most important member of this quartet: Wolfgang Van Halen. Thanks kid, for loving your dad. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that that is why we’re even having this conversation at all. You resurrected the greatest American rock and roll band of all time and saved a good soul worth saving. I know you will live in the shadow of a former member to some, but in my book your playing was epic, and your dedication to your father even more so. You have earned our respect. Take a bow, kid.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the mighty VAN HALEN!
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