 ron | http://www.atlasjams.com/2012/01/me-alex-van-halen-the-new-album-the-dead-battery/9146/ January 29, 2012 On February 7th 2012 Van Halen will release it’s first album in a little over 28 years! Ya see I don’t count the one from 13 years ago…That was just a complete waste of time with Ex-Extremist Gary Cherone & I really can’t count “Van Hagar” (with Sammy Hagar) The mach II version which was great on it’s own merit, but not pure Van Halen…a David Lee Roth fronted Van Halen is “pure” Van Halen. The new album titled “A Different Kind Of Truth” has 13 new tunes (although “some” are previously unreleased official Van Halen gems that they have hoarded away, but “reworked” & “modernized” to keep the “original VH-sound”…I think it’s a great idea…but that’s yet to completely be seen…or heard I should say, as I’ll give you my official review after I receive the DELUXE-Edition…that’s right…there’s a “deluxe-edition” with a bonus DVD!!! Details later. “Tattoo” “As Is” Now mind you, in 1994 Dave did record 2 new tracks on a Sammy/Dave VH-hits comp…the song “Me, Wise, Magic” still remains one of my favorites…then a 2007 Reunion Arena Tour (without original Jack Daniels weilding bassist Michael Anthony, & in with Eddie & Valerie Bertinelli’s kid, Wolfgang…as it still remains on this new album…hmmmm, so maybe it’s not as “pure” Van Halen as I led you to believe, but it’s as close as you can get!…for now. One day Mikey will return, mark my words.)…And then on January 5th 2012, it’s Cafe Wha?…That’s right…the 250-seat Cafe Wha? (complete with question mark.) in New York City! The funny thing is, is that David Lee Roth helped lay down the marble flooring years before Van Halen. Ya see…his Uncle Manny used to run the joint…and at 92 years old, Manny Roth was there at Cafe Wha? to the rumbles of “Runnin With The Devil”. So, the intimate setting really was the perfect place to be re-born as it were & the mighty Van Halen will begin the “Arena” tour that they’ve been selling-out for decades on February 18th in Louisville, Kentucky. The first single & video released days ago! Begins with the great line, “I got Elvis, on my elbow…when I flex Elvis talks” check this “Tattoo” out!
Yeah they’re aging (except for Al) but ain’t we all? Yeah Dave ain’t getting’ the “banshee’s” quite the way he used to, but they still kick everybody else’s ass no matter what you think of the new song…I personally think it’s great stuff! Time ain’t slowin’ down for nobody so you better “Jump” back aboard the Van Halen train before its too late, ’cause like the sands through the hour glass…and so are the days of our lives… If I may reminesce into my bag of Van Halen stories & believe me, I have dozens! This one is about “Me, Alex Van Halen & The Dead Battery”…you remember my first car? The 1971 metallic-blue Chevelle Malibu 350? I brought it up a couple of times before in other “Diamond & Rust” columns…go on look…(oh no, not again!)…”I’ll Wait” It was 1982 and Van Halen was playing my hometown as they usually did, here in Nashville, Tennessee. Man what a great place this was to be back then ( place heavy sigh here.). Don’t ask me how it began, all I can do is begin where my head is & right now me & Al are driving in my car down I-24 from the Municipal Auditorium to Hickory Hollow Mall. Al needed chains for his drum set & where in God’s name are we gonna find that in a 1982-era mall?!…I don’t know?…But I remember them being in the back seat so somewhere along the lines we stole or found some chains…hilarious now that I think about it. We were cruisin’ the mall & I remember going into the record store there, I think it was called “The Record Bar” and they had a big Van Halen display & Al signed it. At first they thought I was “the big rock star” when we walked in, as Al really don’t have “the rock star look” right? And then they were like…”Well, I don’t know who he is but the guy with him is ALEX VAN HALEN!” They were really in shock…it was very unplanned. Al bought a few cassettes, signed some stuff & we thought we better head back to the Municipal as he had a photo session to do with the band & rock photog-great Neil Zlowzower. We got into the Malibu, turned the key &…nothin’…or should I say clickclickclickclickclickclick. No way…DEAD battery! What are we gonna do?…What am I gonna do?!! I mean any Fonzie-cool I had left just went out the door, ha-ha-ha. So, here’s me & Alex Van Halen stoppin’ people in the parking lot for jumper cables…”might as well Jump”-er cables! It was taken at Nashville Municipal Auditorium at about the same time Me & Al were tryin’ to revive my dead battery. Ya know, if you check out the photo session that day, 90% of all shots of the band are without Al, ha-ha-ha. I still laugh out loud to this day, when I see those pics. There a section in Zlowzower’s photo book you can see some of them. Here’s a scrapbook corner of what I’m talkin’ about & how I looked at the time as well! You know through the years, Al was always the coolest with me. This man sent me a Van Halen promo album with 5, that’s 5 $100-bills & wrote……Well, see for yourself… But I ended up paying more for our tardiness, as Dave grabbed my girlfriend Sue from the front row & planted one on her BIGTIME…she was never the same again & neither were we. (ha-ha.) I snapped this photo in sheer disbelief. |
 VAiN | |
 ks34vh |
The track listing for the new album is as follows:
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