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After a week of listening... I still think this is the best damn rock album released in the last quarter century.
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"If you want to be a monk... you gotta cook a lot of rice...” -
On the website contactmusic.com, another overwhelmingly good review.
LINK HEREVan Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth Album Review
When a band releases its 12th studio album after an absence of 14 years, it's only natural to view the record with an amount of suspicion. Add to that the seemingly fashionable move of keeping it in the family (Jason Bonham did fill his fathers shoes for Led Zep), and digging up abandoned ideas from your heyday (R.E.M. resurrecting songs like 'Bad Day'), you're left with a band satisfying the fans but not really looking to move past their autopilot setting. However, Van Halen has ticked those boxes while also defying the odds to create an album as good as any in their back catalogue.
In many ways, A Different Kind Of Truth feels like Eddie passing the torch to his son Wolfgang and not in an overly sentimental way. It sounds like it's been created in a garage by a bunch of 17 year olds with the optimism of youth, rather than by rock royalty. Lead single 'Tattoo' is the perfect example, with a sense of fun, loud solos and rebellion ("Uncle Danny had a gold tattoo, he fought for the unions, some of us still do."). It's by no means the strongest of the 13 songs here but it makes it clear that Van Halen haven't re-invented their sound, they've just re-invigorated it.
With 19-year-old Wolfgang tackling bass duties in his first studio recording with the band, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the charm of the material would actually lie more with the reconciled pairing of Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth. Actually, it's the solid rhythm section that drives much of the record; one example is 'Bullethead', which rattles along like a freight train. This reliance upon solid songwriting rather than just the window dressing of Eddie's mercurial solos (although they're also here to give the signature Van Halen sound) can be traced back to the origins of the material.
At least 5 of the songs date back to 1976 and although lyrics and arrangements have changed, they bear more than a passing resemblance to the original ideas that fuelled them. It's that link with the past that helps A Different Kind Of Truth to sound like a continuation rather than an afterthought. It's built from the same ideas and from the same perspective as their classic albums, it's not written by a celebrity struggling to deal with success, it's written in part by Eddie Van Halen when he was playing to audiences in their hundreds rather than thousands.
As the album thunders into its final minutes the highlight of the set 'Stay Frosty' reveals itself. Initially a blues jam that flourishes into a frenetic stadium sized rocker, Roth's weathered voice reminds you why Van Halen were so much fun in the first place. While A Different Kind Of Truth owes a debt to the past, it doesn't sound dated, as it chooses not to mimic the synthesisers that bogged the band down in the eighties. Rather than a comeback record, Van Halen have just picked up where they left off and carried on without a thought. It's admirable too that in doing so, they haven't tarnished the memories that their fans hold so dearly.
8/10
Jim PuseyTHINK LIKE THE WAVESComment
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Now as reviews go .. that guy gets it ...IMHOfuck your fucking framingComment
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I'm not as big a listener to rock music as I once was, and I listen to a lot of non-rock these days, but I have a brother - and he's not a VH fanatic, although has always known their stuff - and he still pays attention to what's going on out there in the rock scene, and he says the pretty much the same.
But also that no other band who have been around so long have been able to pull off an album that has this kind of energy, and sounds like it was made by guys 30 years younger.THINK LIKE THE WAVESComment
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I think this is the key observation in that review... "Actually, it's the solid rhythm section that drives much of the record.."
I totally agree. If you haven't, listen with headphones and pay attention to what's going on behind some of these solo's. Tight like a tiger... but groovin' and boomin'. Some really killer stuff. Cooking with grease. It's not a reunion... it's more of a coming out party for Wolfie.
Though... Dave's clever lyrics and attitude and Edward's resurgency balance out the back end to make what is indeed the greatest rock album since... since... "Eat 'em and Smile", from my perspective. You could go back as far as "Fair Warning".
I really do like all of the songs.Comment
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The bottom of the album has really grabbed the last few days. OUTTA SPACE, Will go down as one of the great VH riffs. I know Lets Get Rock'n. I like this better. If we look up rock n roll song, It should say, Listen to Outta Space. Loudly. My fav on the album, For now.Comment
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Funny how Outta Space was one of my least favorite songs initially
but it grew on my like a tumor, and in less than one week has become one of my favorites.Comment
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This is without a doubt, if you all agree with me... Van Halen's best album. I've thought that A diferent kind of truth is kinda stated circa 1986... I don't know it feels like Van Halen never actually broke up, you know? They just retook the project where it was left. True rock and roll triumphant return.I had some crazy vision, one I can't deny it
It said "Open your eyes. Leave it all behind."
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I don't agree at all with that, but of course you're entitled to your opinion....Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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Can you believe how tightly they packed that Tshirt? The wrinkles may never come out!
Oh dear.
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