'The Warner Recordings 1985-1994' Box Set Due In February

Does anyone do it quite like Diamond Dave? We don’t think so! THE WARNER RECORDINGS 1985-1994 features the first five solo releases recorded by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® Inductee and original Van Halen lead vocalist in one comprehensive collection for the very first time. Spanning one of the greatest runs in rock ‘n’ roll history, the set offers lifelong fans and newcomers alike the chance to experience CRAZY FROM THE HEAT [1985], EAT ‘EM AND SMILE [1986], SKYSCRAPER [1988], A LITTLE AIN’T ENOUGH [1991], and YOUR FILTHY LITTLE MOUTH [1994] in succession. Due February 21st, there’s a Rhino.com exclusive 5LP set limited to 2,000 and a 5CD. Hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla bop!

^ Yes it is

I hope the remastering will be tastefully done. Remastering doesn’t necessarily mean better than the originals. I plan to download the hi-rez version of the DLR box and compare it to the original masters.

A couple of reviews seem on Amazon:

I don’t think these are remasters. In fact, there’s no mention of these being remasters apart from on this Amazon listing. Eat ‘Em and Smile still as sounds murky and low volume as it always has.

A nice package if you’ve not got DLR’s work already, but otherwise nothing new here.

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This is not remastered was very excited especially the first album still sounds low in volume David Lee Roth it’s a cheapskate for not doing this right

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NOT REMASTERED!!!
Save your money

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While David Lee Roth’s solo career never quite rose to the level of his first band (Van Halen, of course), there’s still some really good stuff worth owning and this package gets you nearly all of it, although not at a cheap price.

Included are Dave’s first 5 solo releases for $50 (as of this writing).

“Crazy From The Heat” (1985 EP)
“Eat ‘Em and Smile” (1986)
“Skyscraper” (1988)
“A Little Ain’t Enough (1991)
“Your Filthy Little Mouth” (1994)

$10 per disc is not terrible, but one disc is a 4-song EP and not a full album (“Crazy From The Heat”) and another is a pretty sub-par release imo (“Your Filthy Little Mouth”), especially if you’re looking for the VH style of flair that Dave effortlessly brought to his full-length solo debut “Eat ‘Em and Smile”.

They are advertised as newly remastered but I can’t distinguish the sound on these discs from my original copies of “Eat ‘Em and Smile” and “A Little Ain’t Enough”. The packaging is slim/effective but nothing special: 5 discs in individual sleeves that sit in a small box that holds all 5 disc sleeves. Each disc also includes a glossy color sheet replica of the album’s inner art work.

Roth of course first hit solo success while still a member of Van Halen with his solo debut EP that spawned the hit cover songs “California Girls” and “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody”. Those are fun tunes and nice to have but honestly, they should have put this 4-song EP as bonus tracks on “Eat ‘Em and Smile” and given us a 4-disc set at a better price.

My personal favorite is “Eat ‘Em and Smile” as there’s not a bad cut on that album. Did Dave out-VH the “real” VH on this one? I think so! (I prefer it to VH’s “5150″ released the same year, but your mileage may vary).

“Skyscraper” is still in that VH style, but something of a watered down version of “Eat ‘Em and Smile” to me. A few good songs, but mostly not his best songwriting and overall just lacking the punch that his previous release delivered. “Knucklebones” is a great deep cut and the hits “Just Like Paradise” and “Damn Good” are great too. “Stand Up” is another standout track but overall it’s a full step down from his debut in my opinion and it would mark the end of the original lineup of Dave’s stellar solo band with Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan moving on (only drummer Gregg Bissonnette would contribute to Roth’s 3rd album).

“A Little Ain’t Enough” is also less consistent than “Eat ‘Em and Smile” but also has some of my very favorite DLR songs: “Sensible Shoes” and “Tell The Truth” are just great bluesy rock and songs like “It’s Showtime!” and “Baby’s On Fire” would have fit nicely on a Van Halen album had he still been in that band. Overall, a 3 or 4-star album but there are some 5-star songs…

The plot is kinda lost with “Your Filthy Little Mouth” imo as not much from that one ever grew on me, but if you like that album more than me and want the best possible sound quality for your DLR collection, then it makes sense to get this set.

BUT… if you’re not a completist and aren’t super picky about having the absolute best sound quality possible, I would think it makes more sense just to buy the individual albums you want as I would think they’d be available for a pretty low price. The two truly essential releases for me would be “Eat ‘Em and Smile” and “A Little Ain’t Enough”. Adding his best-of collection called “The Best” gets you 3 of the 4 songs on “Crazy From The Heat” and a few cuts from “Skyscraper” and “Your Filthy Little Mouth” too and that would probably be considerably cheaper and serve the casual fan better than this set.

NOTE: Roth has two solo albums done after the 5 albums featured in this set: “DLR Band” (1998) which was recorded in 10 days and mostly sounds like it, although there are a few worthwhile tracks; his last album from 2003 (“Diamond Dave”) is an entertaining listen if you don’t mind Roth in bluesy and more ‘laid back’ mode. It has four songs written by Savoy Brown’s Chris Youlden and a slew of covers, not all of which quite work, but his update of “Ice Cream Man” and cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic “If 6 Was 9″ show Dave’s knack for interpreting (or RE-interpreting) songs written by others into a style all his own.

Thanks for the info Jason. I “found” the DLR Collection in 24-192 FLAC format online.
I will likely stick with the FLAC sets created from the decades old DLR CDs in my collection.
To me, most modern “remasters” sound worse than the original issues.

Doctor Rhino Unboxes David Lee Roth – The Warner Recordings 1985-1994