Topics › All Forums › Van Halen › A Different Kind Of Truth › Reviews: Tattoo
| January 10, 2012 at 9:11 am Quote #1018 | |
 ron (11807) | Van Halen’s new “Tattoo” keeps hope alive — hear it here Ben Rayner stayed up into the wee hours (as usual, really) to catch the new Van Halen single the second it dropped. His views on “Tattoo,” the band’s first new song with David Lee Roth after 28 years: Yes, yes, we can all come up with a personal exception or two, but the general rule for rock ‘n’ roll reunions — especially the ones that were never supposed to happen — still stands: if you’ve pulled it off once and everyone agrees that it didn’t suck, simply walk away with your wallets freshly lined, your entwined dignities intact and your spirits rejuvenated by the knowledge that, yes, you all did indeed have another tour in you, but for the love of all that’s holy don’t piss it all away by making another album. Where Van Halen is concerned, however, we’re prepared to make an exception. Why not give it another go in the studio with David Lee Roth at the fore after 28 long years of on-again/off-again estrangement, as Eddie and Alex Van Halen have done — albeit with Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, subbing in for original bassist Michael Anthony — on the forthcoming album A Different Kind of Truth? It already once seemed inconceivable that Van Halen could do any worse than every single thing committed to tape during the lucrative-but-ghastly Sammy Hagar years until that ugly Van Halen III business with Gary Cherone in 1998 proved us wrong. After that misfire, we might have even welcomed J.D. Fortune his shot at the mike between INXS gigs. So, in the grand scheme of things, the fact that Van Halen’s 2008 reconciliation with Diamond Dave has wobbled on long enough to yield an entire record’s worth of new material by a vague approximation of the “classic” VH lineup responsible for 1984 can’t be viewed as anything but a slight uptick in the band’s fortunes. As Entertainment Weekly just put it: “The last time Van Halen recorded songs worth hearing, one if its members — 20-year-old Wolfgang — hadn’t been born yet.” Which brings us to the new Van Halen single, “Tattoo,” which premiered online early this morning after a hype-stoking club gig at Greenwich Village’s Café Wha? officially launched the Different Kind of Truth campaign last week. Does it sound like Van Halen? Yes, it does, because, let’s face it, Diamond Dave was and is the One True Voice and Face of Van Halen — his solo album Eat ‘Em and Smile buries 5150, too, if you wanna get into it — so hearing Roth’s high-camp caterwauls (“Sexy dragon magic! / So very autobiographic!”) splayed over some downtuned, chunk-a-chunk blues riffs that reliably give way to a squalling Eddie Van solo after a couple of nonsense verses automatically flashes you back to Van Halen’s golden years. Is it the Second Coming of Van Halen we never dared dream possible? No, it isn’t. Back in the day, “Tattoo” would probably have been one of those sluggish metallo-fillers paving over the gaps in the second side of your otherwise awesome VH LP. There’s not much of a hook to hang your hat on — a half-heartedly growled “Tattoo, tattoo” suffices as a chorus — and the song doesn’t so much progress to a climax as it does lumber back and forth within a disappointingly confined space. Roth’s vocal leads sound suspiciously like they were pasted together from dozens of takes, too. Maybe the guys are simply holding back on the lead single so as not to raise expectations impossibly high for the album, leading with an “I’ll Wait” instead of a “Jump,” as it were. “Tattoo” keeps your hopes for the return of Roth at an optimistic simmer, at least. Nice not to have them crushed entirely. It’s been awhile. ronQuote |
| January 10, 2012 at 9:20 am Quote #1019 | |
 kite (2009) | |
| January 10, 2012 at 10:28 am Quote #1030 | |
 evhua (1610) | to be honest, really honest, I like it . . . it’s commercial, and I think it will be on radios for a while … …and I’m sure the new record will contain some other good songs ! The review is not that bad evhuaQuote |
| January 10, 2012 at 11:42 am Quote #1045 | |
| ron (11807) | Van Halen And David Lee Roth Single ‘Tattoo’ Off ‘A Different Kind Of Truth’ Is The First In 27 Years The David Lee Roth/Van Halen reunion is officially on, with a new single off their upcoming album A Different Kind Of Truth, complete with a black and white music video of the band performing it at the Roxy in L.A. last week. The contested metal band (hair, or not hair, that is the question) hasn’t made new material with original frontman Roth since 1984, when their album 1984 marked their bitter parting-of-ways. After watching the video for “Tattoo” it must be said, DLR is no Sammy Hagar or Gary Cherone. He’s better. Way better, obviously. Like some beautiful lovechild of Sting’s and Mick Jagger’s, who everyone in the land welcomed by knocking their knees together and spinning. That’s a lot of what DLR does in the video, plus vocals, with Alex and Eddie Van Halen back on drum and guitar respectively, and Eddie’s son Wolfgang taking Michael Anthony’s place on bass. They’re all great with the possible exception of Wolfgang, who everyone just sort of hates in general, but who in fairness, does have big shoes to fill. As for the song itself, the astute critics at Stereogum are calling it “bathroom-break material” for the foursome’s North American tour (launching this Feb), but Stereogum: we respectfully disagree. “I got Elvis/on my elbow/and when I flex/Elvis talks”? “Sexy dragon magic”? “So very autobiographic”? That is some quality tattoo commentary! Maybe the definitive song on tattoos? A Different Kind Of Truth drops Feb. 7. ronQuote |
| January 11, 2012 at 2:05 pm Quote #1242 | |
| ron (11807) | Now if that doesn’t make you want to log on to Ticketmaster and buy a ticket you probably don’t have a tattoo and never contemplated getting one, you probably graduated from college and are a winner, you never drove a mini-truck, drank a case of beer and wished you were something more but decided that for now, who you are is enough. Now this is not the unexpected sonic explosion of “Why Can’t This Be Love”, when Van Halen truly had something to prove with Dave off on a solo career and new singer Sammy Hager in place. Still, if you were ever a fan it satisfies. Top Forty radio ain’t gonna play it, doesn’t matter what the reviewers say, they hated the band until everyone suddenly agreed Eddie was one of the greats, this is just for you. Who’ve waited, who’ve still believed, that despite your pot belly and thinning hair, despite the sand running through the hourglass, your prayers could still be answered, that deep inside you’re still eighteen and it’s so fucking great to be alive. You’re sitting there hoping it doesn’t suck. And the repetition of the lyric in the chorus is a bit disappointing, Dave never took the easy way out, but then suddenly your butt is squirming in your seat, your arms are in the air, you’re dancing, you’ve wearing a shiteating grin and you’re saying to yourself THIS IS FUCKING GREAT! Now you’ve got to start with the video, on the band’s homepage: Van Halen home page http://www.van-halen.com/ Sure, you miss Michael Anthony, but you get over that pretty quick since Wolfie’s aged, but what gets you is the swagger, the essence of what the band always was is still there. Dave knows we’re watching and he’s doing his best to be the coolest dude on the planet. Still, as always, it’s about Eddie. This is what made us all want to pick up the guitar and play. He just looks so fucking COOL! His axe is part of him, the way he bends his knee, how the fuck does he do this? Meanwhile, they appear to be having fun. You remember fun, right? Sure, the money and the chicks were good, but it meant nothing if that amplified sound didn’t make you feel like the most powerful person on earth! And just when you think it’s Dave’s monopolizing the track, two and a half minutes into it, Eddie starts to WAIL! His guitar is firing bullets and you’re writhing in ecstasy with the pain of being shot. And it’s all so fucking EFFORTLESS! But it gets better, hang on until the end, just when you think the song is over…. At 4:20, when the track quiets down and Eddie wrings this writhing sound from his guitar, like in “Finish What Ya Started”, but this is mellower and so simple yet so utterly perfect. And the second time through you notice a bit more texture under the track, Eddie was always a keyboard wizard too, never forget “Jump”, and you’re contemplating whether the track is really that great and then you say, FUCK IT, I LOVE THIS! I almost bought it, I couldn’t take the time to steal it. Then I wondered, how hip was this band, how of the moment. The Vimeo clip on the homepage stuttered a ton the first time through, could “Tattoo” be on Spotify? OF COURSE! And I played “5150″ until the grooves were gray. Even though I believe the Dave era was better. When they remastered the greatest hits the first time through, back in ’96, I couldn’t stop playing “And The Cradle Will Rock…” And it positively will. Any young ‘un who sees this video is gonna have to go to the show. This ain’t nostalgia, this is as new as an iPhone, but it’s positively ALIVE! Nerds have inherited the world, with their software and gadgets. But in one fell swoop Van Halen has taken it back. THAT’S THE POWER OF ROCK AND ROLL! Spotify link http://open.spotify.com/track/0ewrmw1irthnPNZN4pSJ7N ronQuote |
| January 11, 2012 at 2:45 pm Quote #1246 | |
 animal (788) | |
| January 11, 2012 at 4:59 pm Quote #1270 | |
 BIGTOMIE (588) | I really like the Tune . THANK YOU (guitard) !!!! BIGTOMIEQuote |
| January 12, 2012 at 3:40 pm Quote #1369 | |
| ron (11807) | Van Halen ‘Tattoo’ the Sunset Strip in First New Video With David Lee Roth Video Trent Reznor isn’t the only rocker with his mind on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Van Halen has posted a video unveiling their first new song with original frontman David Lee Roth in more than 27 years, and it’s polished, bluesy rocker “Tattoo,” in which Diamond Dave asks to see a new tattoo and its “sexy dragon magic.” While Rooney Mara might want to cross the street when she passes this man on the sidewalk — Diamond Dave is old enough to be her grandpa! — the Van Halen faithful have plenty here to enjoy. Roth revives some of those wonderfully over-the-top vocal tics, including a priceless “ohhhh yeaah” yowl, and when he goes into one of those classic spoken-word interludes over the band’s heavy riffage, it doesn’t even sound too much like Lou Reed’s collaboration with Metallica. Eddie Van Halen, meanwhile, rattles off one of those finger-scorching guitar solos we’re just not likely to hear on pop radio anymore unless it’s by a guy named Eddie Van Halen. As for the song’s “tattoo”-chanting sexual entreaties, they’re silly and ridiculous — exactly as you’d expect from Roth’s Van Halen reunion. Shot at Los Angeles club the Roxy, the video piles on the OTT-ness without making the unforgivable mistake of looking like it’s trying too hard. It’s basically a straight black-and-white performance clip with some flashy strobe effects, except it starts with a checkered flag being waved and ends in a hail of balloons. Roth, with boyishly short-cropped hair and bell bottoms, struts around the stage like a modern-day Liberace, here in an overlong scarf and there in a sparkly jacket, never failing to play his rock’n'roll role to the bleeding hilt. “Show me you, I’ll show you me,” he gruffly intones, in case the song’s entendres left anything to double. It’s all enough to make us wish we had been at Van Halen’s intimate Greenwich Village show last week. Oh, what’s that? Some people were. The rest of us can catch “Tattoo” on the reunited Van Halen’s forthcoming A Different Kind of Truth, due out on February 7. Roth, Eddie, and the rest of the band are set to kick off their North American tour on February 18 in Louisville, Kentucky. ronQuote |
| January 14, 2012 at 4:35 am Quote #1554 | |
 gatomike26 (458) | I like it hard to compared to “new stuff” to classics we have been hearig for 15 and 25 years.So far the stuff is better then I hoped for and I like the idea of raiding the vaults. gatomike26Quote |
| January 14, 2012 at 1:08 pm Quote #1584 | |
 mrmojohalen (6479) | I’ve been listening to this everyday since it came out & it puts a smile on my face every time. When you turn on your stereo, does it return the favor? mrmojohalenQuote |
| January 14, 2012 at 1:15 pm Quote #1587 | |
 steecoe (1986) |
I heard that!! I have listened to it at least 200 times prolly…The more I listen, the more I think that this song will really smoke when they play it live. I am just itching like a crackhead waiting for the album steecoeQuote |
| February 2, 2012 at 11:03 pm Quote #3472 | |
| ron (11807) | Polydor Associated Labels | “It is a delight to hear new music from such an iconic group” The king of guitar licks, the reign of runs, Van Halen have reunited with David Lee Roth to release their new album A Different Kind of Truth. The talented foursome featuring Eddie on guitar, his usual stalwart of a brother, Alex on drums and his son, Wolfgang on bass, have also released the single ‘Tattoo’. The single sees the rockers of yore tear out a tune that is reminiscent of the same era. Van Halen were known for their chugging guitar rhythms, intelligent drumming, dramatic frontmen and of course those guitar solos. ‘Tattoo’ features every one of these telling signs in abundance. The lyrics are not Shakespeare, far from it, but they never were. There is still nonsense to the song’s narrative that the band made famous before their current bassist was a sparkle in his father’s eye. While it is a pleasure to hear Roth’s vocals back on a Van Halen track, his heart doesn’t seem to be in the recorded performance and lack’s the same excitable nuances that made him a favourite to the group’s fans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WfQ-hV3WtA His excitement is clear in the video but fails to extend beyond the larking around. The video itself is also a trip down memory lane being hugely similar to the uncomplicated direction of their famous release ‘Jump’. Had the band not harboured back to such old practices for ‘Tattoo’, it may have been a great song, it certainly has the bones of being one, or at least what one used to sound like, but music has come a long way since 1972. Since Van Halen first exploded onto the scene, spearheading a new generation of musicians with awesome guitarists and big hair, the chasm between old and new is vast. It is a delight to hear new music from such an iconic group, however it is not really all that new. Reviewer Rating: 60% Overall Rating: 57% ronQuote |
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.