TheStairwayRemainsTheSame Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I always ranked the first 6 albums as The first 4 being about as close as you can get, fantastic albums, one and all. Women and Children First VH I Fair Warning VH II Not as good as the first 4, but still incredibly good albums. Most bands would give their left nut to out out albums as good as these, yet I think most people put them at the bottom of the original lineup list. 1984 Diver Down I can see a Different Kind of Truth getting up there with 1984 and Diver Down, not sure it can every crack the top 4. But still, the new album is just fantastic, it exceeded all my expectations by a mile. My only complaint is I wish it came out in May, VH is really a summer band and this has that summer album feel to it. It would be a good crank up by the pool while having some drinks kind of record Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfman Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 On first listen, it all kinda sounds the same to me. It's like one long Hot For Teacher for 13 songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janvier Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Incredible album, best tracks are: Chinatown, As-Is, She's the Woman, Trouble with Never, Stay Frosty, Outta Space and Big River. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazedcat Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I have to give it more time but to be honest I'm not very impressed. It sounds like they're going by formula. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I have to give it more time but to be honest I'm not very impressed. It sounds like they're going by formula. While I don't fault them for using old tapes as source material for the basis of the bulk of the album, I wonder what they could have come up with on their own from scratch? I don't rule out buying the album somewhere down the road but for now, I'm giving it a pass. Plus, I'm much more interested in a couple of other albums that were released this week, specifically Sharon Van Etten's Tramp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I picked up the disc over the weekend with a very skeptical ear...listened to it straight while at work and buzzed at home over drinks and I LOVE IT!! I think it shows signs of a natural progression of post Van Hagar along with the grittiness of classic VH! I obviously know they used some demos from back in the early days, but as the disc goes on it gets stronger and stronger. Sounds like the perfect post-1984 disc with a much harder edge!!!! Looking forward to seeing them - again - in April! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 While I don't fault them for using old tapes as source material for the basis of the bulk of the album, I wonder what they could have come up with on their own from scratch? I don't rule out buying the album somewhere down the road but for now, I'm giving it a pass. Plus, I'm much more interested in a couple of other albums that were released this week, specifically Sharon Van Etten's Tramp. Well, you're in luck, Jahfin...not only did the L.A. Times review the new Van Halen, but they also reviewed Sharon Van Etten's album. First up, the Van Halen review: Van Halen "A Different Kind of Truth" (Interscope Records) Two-and-a-half stars (out of four) By Randall Roberts On “A Different Kind of Truth,” the first studio album from Van Halen to feature original lead singer David Lee Roth since “1984,” the charismatic front man sings about trying to land that “stone cold sister soccer mom” he’s chasing in “Honeybabysweetiedoll.” But hooking up is the least of the challenges facing Diamond Dave and his bandmates in this year of their comeback. Some of the higher hurdles: Can they pull off this reunion moment without killing each other? Can they convince their fans that bassist/son-of-the-guitarist Wolfgang Van Halen really has earned his place in the band and can lock in with drummer/uncle Alex Van Halen? And, most important to the band’s success, is guitar maestro/dad Eddie Van Halen still able to effortlessly dance his fingers up and down the neck of his instrument in ways that not only support his claim as one of the great rock guitarists but advances his craft in a meaningful way. And then there’s the challenge of the marketplace: In the 28 years since Roth recorded a full album with Van Halen, the landscape has completely changed. When the band’s original lineup last released a record, home taping was “killing” music and the question was whether to buy “1984” on LP or cassette, or borrow a friend’s copy and tape over Foreigner “4.” Now the dilemma isn’t just, should you spend money on the CD ($14.99 list price) or a digital copy (also — frustratingly — $14.99). It’s also, how much are you willing to commit to buying in? Will a few dropped bucks on a handful of the best individual tracks suffice? Or will “A Different Kind of Truth” be the perfect Spotify streaming album, not good enough to pay hard money for but worth a mouse-click when you’ve got a spare few minutes? Or should you just ask your computery friend to Sendspace you a pirated copy? Looking at this record in purely financial terms: It’s got three works, “As Is,” “Outta Space” and “Big River” that would warrant spending real money on. These could have been hits in the alternate universe in which Van Halen followed up “1984,” not with the Sammy Hagar-helmed “5150” but with the original lineup intact. Three others are halfway decent songs that might click at some point (“You and Your Blues,” “Bullethead,” “Blood and Fire”), that you’d be advised to put in your queue for further reflection; a few harmless filler tracks; and three clunkers that the band should be reimbursing us for (“Tattoo,” “Beats Workin’,” “Stay Frosty”). It’s actually a perfect rock record for the pick-and-choose era: a handful of good songs that you can buy without having to deal with the fat. “A Different Kind of Truth” is actually not bad; in fact, it’s pretty good, all things considered. Faint praise, sure, but given the quality of the band’s first single from it, “Tattoo,” and the history of aging bands reuniting for another stab at the charts and a cash-in on former glory, one can be forgiven for being skeptical. A pop metal song that bangs around in the head clumsily, “Tattoo” certainly wasn’t a positive portent, but that half of the record rises to the level of the band’s glory days is a testament to the ingredients that made up Van Halen circa ’84, and “Truth” is a confirmation that this band wasn’t a fluke. Thirteen high-volume songs created after successful negotiations between the Three Twins LLC (a.k.a. Alex, Eddie and Wolfgang), and you-know-who’s Diamond Dave Enterprises Inc., “A Different Kind of Truth” lives up to its name: This is alternate-reality rock in which a band attempts to time travel into 2012 from 1984, rehearse for a few months and complete enough decent songs to convince fans that a tour ticket will be worth it and that Van Halen is a real deal band making a real deal record despite the inter-band machinations and tour revenue prognostications. Killer riffs abound. Were Eddie Van Halen stripped of his legend and offered to the masses as a hot new find, he’d still be received as one of the meanest, most thrilling metal guitarists in the genre’s history. Throughout “A Different Kind of Truth,” Eddie maneuvers between massive speed metal sprints and his trademark wailing solo style; the latter flashy guitar runs tend to sound samey over the course of the album, but taken individually, Eddie has seldom sounded better. One listen to his contributions to “Big River” should shut up any doubters. The other way to look at it is that despite the bangers that successfully revive the Van Halen brand, half of this record features songs that will seldom if ever make it onto a concert set list. It’s these songs that drag the whole thing down and make “A Different Kind of Truth” feel tired, like an awesome old-school Trans Am that can do a wicked burnout from time to time but stalls from misuse. Copyright 2012 Los Angeles Times ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now, the Sharon Van Etten review: Sharon Van Etten "Tramp" (Jagjaguwar) Three stars (out of four) By Mikael Wood The title of Sharon Van Etten’s new album refers to the transient existence she led during its creation: touring; sleeping on friends’ couches; showing up for recording sessions at the Brooklyn home of the National’s Aaron Dessner, who served as her producer. But if “Tramp” follows an unstable period in this New Jersey native’s life, the record hardly exudes the jitters you’d expect; it sounds like the work of someone rooted solidly to the ground. Much of that quiet sturdiness derives from Van Etten’s singing, which anchors the music even as Dessner fills out his gloomy arrangements with dense indie-noir details. Members of Wye Oak and the Walkmen appear on Tramp, as does Zach Condon of Beirut in a stately duet, “We Are Fine.” But it’s also the result of Van Etten’s devotion to her subject matter, a commitment to self-examination she crystallizes in “Leonard” with nearly comic precision, admitting, “I am bad at loving you,” over a luscious waltz-time groove. (You know the lyric isn’t actually comic because, as she tells us later in “Ask,” “It hurts too much to laugh about it.”) Van Etten never strays from that emotional terra firma, and though its handsome desolation can threaten to become dreary, she makes her own psychological space feel as fact-like as any permanent address. Copyright 2012 Los Angeles Times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Thanks, I picked up both of these yesterday as well as Nada Surf's new one. I like all of them but my favorite straight out of the gate is Sharon Van Etten's Tramp. I'm sure it wouldn't be to everyone's taste around here but I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Mixed very well but it's formula rock we've heard from them before. For example, Stay Frosty seems to be son of Ice Cream Man. A good album with a horrible title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Mixed very well but it's formula rock we've heard from them before. For example, Stay Frosty seems to be son of Ice Cream Man. A good album with a horrible title. I completely agree with you SAJ. But, I love their formula! This disc, title aside, fits in very well with the rest of the Diamond Dave version of the band. Get Frosty and Tattoo are the weakest, IMO, but they're not bad either... I hope they play a good amount of the disc in concert, seeing them in April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfman Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I have been listening to it more and I must say I really like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattmc1973 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I'm surprised to say I really like it. I was always more of a Roth-era fan, though I liked the Hagar albums too. When I heard they were coming out with a new Roth album, I cringed since he's such a cornball now and thought it would suck. But I'll say that it sounds like vintage VH, which is the best one could hope for. Kinda sounds like the Women & Children First/Diver Down era VH, which I dig. It straight up rocks, and there are a lot of good songs. Eddie shreds like he hasn't since the early 80's, and Roth sounds pretty good. Overall I'd give it a 7.5 or 8 out of 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanelectroGod Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 How is the new Nada Surf disc Jahfin? We did a few of their songs back when I was in a cover band...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 How is the new Nada Surf disc Jahfin? We did a few of their songs back when I was in a cover band...... I've only listened to it a couple of times but so far I'm really liking it. I've heard some say they like it better than The Weight Is A Gift (my favorite). I'm not sure if I'd go that far but I do like it better than their last one, the all covers record If I Had A Hi-Fi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanelectroGod Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Cool. btw, one of my co-workers went to the Van Halen show last night in Louisville, opening night. Said it was great. He is a VH diehard, seen them numbers of times over the years. Eddie seems to be in better shape now. I might try to catch them on this tour... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Cool. btw, one of my co-workers went to the Van Halen show last night in Louisville, opening night. Said it was great. He is a VH diehard, seen them numbers of times over the years. Eddie seems to be in better shape now. I might try to catch them on this tour... I saw them on the last one in 2008 so I'm going to pass this time. If it's anything like that previous tour, I think it would be worth it to see them now. I mean that from a historic viewpoint, not a monetary one. A friend gave me a ticket to that 2008 concert, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gone. You can probably find some tickets at a reasonable price but most likely it'll be in the nosebleed section. I love me some Dave-era Van Halen but not enough to pay $100 or more to see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I picked up a couple of seats for $45 each, 2nd row - center stage - upper bowl in our new arena. I don't need to see them that close at this point, but these should be great seats for the stage show and sound!!! Danelectro, did your friend recall how many new songs were played? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanelectroGod Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 They did four new ones according to the online review. She's the woman, tattoo, China town, and The Trouble With Never.....All reviews I've seen say Eddie was in fine form. I'm a mailman, so we're off work today, I won't see my coworker until tomorrow........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rover Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 As a longtime Dallas Cowboys Fan, I really dig this jersey: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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