Reviews

mrmojohalen: Listen to HONEYBABYSWEETIEDOLL, at 3:18 you can hear a dog bark.

Russell’s in da house!

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RUSSEL AND SHERMAN CAN HAVE A BARK OFF ON THE NEXT VH ALBUM.

“….the slightly middle-eastern flavored bit on “Honeybabysweetiedoll,….” That was the exact description I thought of!!
I had a religious experience to this song friday night @ 10:08 pm. I had ADKOT playing on the ipod dock clock radio thingy in the bathroom, I knew that if there was anything that could motivate me to clean the nastiest room in the house it was going to be brand spanking new VAN HALEN 4.0
So while scrubbing the toilet you kind of put your mind in outta space anyway as a distraction from the nasty, well, I totally got lost in honeybabysweetiedoll & had a “HOLY FUCK” moment more than once, so intense it brought tears to my eyes! When was the last time I did something for the first time? 10:08 pm Friday February 3rd 2012

I love this VH album so much I wanna have sex with it. If ADKOT was a woman, her pussy would taste like a warm sweet buttered honey roll & her ass would taste like minty bubble gum & you could bet your assless chaps I’d be going to town baby
Van Halen 4.0 is like Viagra on crack & I am addicted to the hard on it’s giving me. Just enough of the old & familiar well balanced with the new & amazing!

Damn it’s a good time to be a Van Halen fan. 2 weeks to Louisville!

Wes:
There is a nice mix on this album of heavy, blues, pop, old rock, new rock, big cock….oh wait, not the last thing. I was thinking of Randy again.

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Whoa motherfucker – don’t even try that! Guy is the one who posted the pic of the big cock.

The Fred Phillips “Second Thought” is EXACTLY what I have thought of this record. They never release the good clips of the songs, people have got to listen to this CD it fuckin rocks. And who cares if it was written it 1976 or last year, its still VAN HALEN blastin down the doors.

MikeyV

guitard: Whoa motherfucker – don’t even try that! Guy is the one who posted the pic of the big cock.

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“What you talking about ..Willis?” I just posted a rock I dont know where you guys are heading with that cock thing? That is where Sammy got his inspiration for Top of The world and right now he is actually sitting on top of that rock listening to ADKOT and loving it !!!!

Van Halen – A Different Kind Of Truth full album review track-by-track
Eddie blazes, Dave bellows in smashing comeback
Joe Bosso, Sun 5 Feb 2012, 5:54 pm UTC

MusicRadar rates rock’s most-anticipated comeback CD

It’s been nearly three decades since the Van Halen brothers and David Lee Roth made an actual album together. During that time, they’ve split up, played with other partners, traded barbs, come together and broke up again, traded more barbs, and what have you.

In 2007, however, the VH landscape changed dramatically: Roth rejoined – for a real tour, not just a quickie track for a “best-of” collection – and founding member Michael Anthony was jettisoned in favor of Eddie’s son, Wolfgang. All looked set for what might be some new music…and then it didn’t. After a successful (and trouble-free) run of arena dates, the Van Halen camp went silent.

Early last year, though, word came out that Van Halen were recording an album, which sent naysayers and even an ex-band member (Sammy Hagar) into brickbat-mode. They’ll never finish it. They’re just recording old songs, they can’t write new stuff…and on and on.

Well, that sound you hear, the one rising up to meet Eddie’s chainsaw guitar, is of Van Halen – three guys in their late 50s (Ed, David and Alex) and a 21-year-old upstart (Wolf) – having the last laugh. A big reason for their glee might steam from the fact that what they’ve done here is unprecedented, actually, using demos of old, unused songs for the basis of a good portion of the new material, re-inventing and re-imaging themselves in the process.

It’s a genius move, of course (“Hey, we can’t write young, so let’s take songs from when were young!”), and it makes you wonder why other acts haven’t done it before. What’s remarkable, though, is that rather than sounding like three AARP subscribers strolling down memory lane with “the kid,” the Van Halen of 2012 comes off as age-proof, confident monsters, chewing up the scenery with the top down and flipping the bird to anyone who’s got a problem with that.

Oh, and get this: there’s not one wimpy “power ballad” to be found. You can place this album right alongside Women And Children First and not feel as though you’ve just committed audio sacrilege. A Different Kind Of Truth will be released on 7 February. On the following pages, we deliver the track-by-track verdict.

1 /13
Tattoo

You’ve got to hand it to Van Halen: Most bands sneak their wobbly (or just plain lame) tracks towards the end of a record, hoping somehow that no one will notice, but Eddie and co. front-load A Different Kind Of Truth with Tattoo, the weakest four minutes and 43 seconds on the disc, one which many fans will skip right over or edit from playlists altogether.

Interesting, and somewhat shockingly, the tune sticks in your head, especially Eddie’s sassy, greasy guitar hook line which rides atop a mid-tempo, chugging rhythm, a recognizable VH strut.

Roth hams it up in a variety of voices, groaning like a Don Cornelius impersonator one second and bellowing like his hand is caught in a car door the next. Eddie rips a spirited, “best-of-me”-type solo, one which would ordinarily qualify for greatness were it not for the fact that true awesomeness is just around the corner.

2 /13
She’s The Woman

The doozy that is this album officially starts here. Smartass guitar squeals, hyperactive bass, walloping drums and Dave chortling lines like “I wanna be your knight in a shining pickup truck” – it’s classic attitude that burns a hole in everything the band has done since 1984.

Revisiting one’s youth is easy when you have crib sheets, and in the case of She’s The Woman, the track began as a demo in 1976 – a section was lifted and used for Mean Street from Fair Warning, and what’s left shares that song’s vicious thump. But what some have attacked as lazy songwriting is a canny stroke, once which allows the band to reference their past, do a fresh update, without the embarrassment of Old Timers day at the stadium.

The pre-solo breakdown sees the players volleyballing parts impressively, but when it’s Eddie’s turn to spike he devastates, sparking up the fretboard with genuine A-game gusto. It isn’t hard to imagine him smirking with this massive win.

3 /13
You And Your Blues

Eddie’s tone is strident, and he’s chopping down trees with a staccato riff that delivers real kicks to the chest. Dave matches him move for move, tossing out pissed-off parting shots to a once-cool woman whose 19th nervous breakdowns (yes, he throws in that title) have become a major drag.

Halfway in, the feverish musical groove changes up and Ed, Al and Wolfgang lock horns, wrestling a snakey pre-chorus run to the ground right as it bursts open, revealing the guitar god in full flourish. YouTube teachers: you’ve got some work to do with this baby.

4 /13
China Town

Thirty-two years ago, Eddie Van Halen had guitarists scratching their heads with his nutso tapping that introduced Mean Streets, and he beguiles again here in a video game-like opener that bears repeated listens.

China Town is fast-paced stuff; indeed, the galloping bass-and-drum pattern is more classic Iron Maiden than VH, but it’s one that Eddie lays bold claim to, accentuating Roth’s shouts and wails with tantilizing wah treatments.

Alex keeps the breakneck pace cooking (this guy is 58? Unbelievable!), right on through a wiseacre chordal workout that brings the tune to a sudden, definitive end.

5 /13
Blood And Fire

Here’s the real single for you, a rousing, hey-let’s-pat-ourselves-on-the-backs-for-getting-here victory lap that shucks corn and schmaltz and hits all the right marks.

After a Little Guitar-ish, clean-toned plucked start, Blood And Fire does a Back To The Future jaunt, rocketing us to Diver Down-era VH, with cymbals splashing, dirty chords popping and gang-sung backgrounds rising from the mix. It’s all a bit wistful, and for a moment one imagines what Michael Anthony could have brought to the proceedings, especially when Roth drops the deadpan lines, “Told ya I was comin’ back. Say you missed me.”

For guitarists, the highlight of most Van Halen songs – their raison d’être, in point of fact – is the solo, and here Eddie stops the clocks, dispatching an age-defying star-turn that crackles with exuberance and purpose.

6 /13
Bullethead

Bullethead is another look at Van Halen’s back pages (1977, to be exact), and fittingly, it feels a bit like the band is providing a West Coast metal-funk answer to Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack. Check out Dave doing the rock-stutter: “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bullethead!” Great stuff.

The whole thing sprints past in two and a half minutes – Eddie uncorks a liquidy, phaser-enhanced solo, while uncle and nephew keep all hands on the throttle – and during that time, reflection feels like reinvention. A ripper.

7 /13
As Is

At first, As Is might just be the guys applying fresh paint to Everybody Wants Some – the reverberating, tribal drums summon up a wall of sludgy, ornery guitar squalls – but at the snap of a finger, they attack a Byzantine progression that hits peaks and valleys at vicious speeds.

It’s striking to note how uptempo everything is. Throughout the whole of the album, Van Halen sprint out of the blocks and keep right on going. The only change-up here is at the three-quarter mark, when Eddie throws in a rough and ragged, drop-dead blues riff. But it’s a momentary water gulp that dashes off madly, culminating in a demented E-Bow exploration into the outer limits.

8 /13
Honeybabysweetiedoll

No, it’s not an homage to Band Of Skulls, but it’s just as au courant, smacking you upside the head with radio waves battling Eddie’s pick scrapes and various and sundry scarifying sounds.

The album’s a keeper – this is what you’re saying to yourself right now as the guitarist plays off a massive, red-hot rhythm with stomping, grinding chords that epoxy their way into your senses.

Structurally, the song is free-form – Roth dives, dodges and claws his way through it all with hysterical, light-on-his-feet agility – but that hardly matters when the band works up such a lather, playing their own game and thumbing their noses at convention.

9 /13
The Trouble With Never

Roth-era Van Halen always brought a little bit of funk – the singer’s get-down-and-par-tay! sensibilities were neatly tucked inside Eddie’s flanged, pelvis-aimed chords – and the band gets into a proper groove with this modern-day, wah-riff knockout.

Loose, spiraling guitar lines fly out like sparks, but Wolfie and Alex catch them all, rising and falling with each hairy twist in the narrative. Eddie’s moment at the podium is another wood-burner, a goosebump-inducing, Red Bull-soaked thriller that works as a song-within-a-song but doesn’t overwhelm Roth’s hip trip.

10 /13
Outta Space

Beginning as the song Let’s Get Rockin’ from 1977, Outta Space has been fattened up and hydrated. What’s interesting, however, is that, fter all these years, it’s something of a vocal vs guitar battle between Roth and Eddie – where the two butting heads even way back when?

There’s a bit of On Fire flavor, but now it’s made amorphous. Despite recognizable flashes, one can’t easily detect standard songcraft – and that’s not a knock, either; it’s thrilling to revel in the ways Van Halen burn up the road behind them.

And hey, is that a Hot For Teacher nod? Absolutely. It’s there in the ascending pattern Alex and Wolf dig into that underpins Ed’s solo.

11 /13
Stay Frosty

Can referencing one’s own work get a little too close to the bone? That’s the question when it comes to Stay Frosty, an off-kilter, bleary-eyed reboot of Ice Cream Man, but one with some baroque touches to match its barroom blues.

And like its predecessor, Stay Frosty spins around from acoustic swagger and bolts into a souped-up electric boogie, one that easily could have come from ZZ Top. No, the wheel hasn’t been re-imagined, but the gettin’ there’s still fun. When Alex rat-a-tat-tats rim clicks, even the most cynical of listeners has to tap his toes.

12 /13
Big River

By now, most bands would be lobbing softballs, but Van Halen still pack a punch and deliver reasons to keep listening with a riveting curiosity piece that begins gently enough and turns something vaguely demonic.

Rig River just might be the most original piece of music on A Different Kind Of Truth, and although there’s a dash of Runnin’ With The Devil here and there, and at times it sounds as though the group is tipping their hats to early Fogerty, it’s a hard nut to crack. But the frenetic pace at which the gang paddles down this “River” wild is what makes it a journey worth taking.

13 /13
Beats Workin’

The embers are still red-hot on this coulda-been-a-first-track album closer. Eddie’s amp emits Eruption-ish gales to accompany a smoking wah riff, one which puts most guitarists to shame.

While taking in all that’s special about Beats Workin’ – and despite its cavalier title, it’s pretty clear that these dudes put in the hours – one has to give a shout-out to background vocals, always a hallmark of VH recordings, and the tradition is upheld here. Like flipping through pages in a yearbook, there’s a glimpse of Beautiful Girls one second, and then we’re onto Feel Your Love Tonight, but as much as this is deja vu comfort food, it’s being served up fresh…disarmingly so.

In the end, Eddie stretches out for a luxurious guitar solo, and it’s a pisser, too – the guy’s earned his moment in the sun, and he’s going to reach down between his legs, ease the seat back…you know how the rest of it goes.

The extended feedback wail at the end recalls several seminal Van Halen moments, but hopefully it’s one we’ll be revising soon. Twenty-eight years might work for Classmates.com, but as for the rest of us… C’mon, guys, give us a break!

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-beat-goes-on/posts/album-review-van-halens-a-different-kind-of-truth
Album Review: Van Halen’s ‘A Different Kind of Truth’

Do Eddie Van Halen and Diamond Dave still have it?

By Melinda Newman

Van Halen’s first new studio album with David Lee Roth in 28 years is named “A Different Kind of Truth,” but the Feb. 7 release could have just as easily been called “I Will Not Go Quietly” “Truth” is a heavy slab of rock delivered on a concrete pillow.

As fans already know, most of the riffs/ideas for the new tunes are from never-finished songs of yore: “She’s The Woman” is from a tune originally demoed in the ‘70s, while obsessive fans instantly noted the similarity between first single “Tattoo” and “Down To Flames,” a 1977 song played live, but never released on an album. Roth told the Los Angeles Times that the band sought to link its past with its present by taking the most promising chunks of coal from four decades ago and polishing them into diamonds.

That sets up the challenge inherent in the John Shanks-produced “Truth”: how to create an album that doesn’t sound like retreads. And to Van Halen’s credit, the band largely succeeds, but there are some serious gaps.

The good new (actually the great news) first: Eddie Van Halen lets loose on some riffs on “Truth” that will make longtime fans cry with joy. If he’s no longer in tip-top form, he’s still close enough that there are many moments throughout the album to dazzle Eddie wanna-bes. Plus, there seems to be no style that he doesn’t pull off here. If you’re an Eddie acolyte, you will not be disappointed. Alex Van Halen thumps the drums a plenty: just check out the crunchy opening of “As Is” to hear the brothers VH spreading some of that genetic magic that siblings seem to mysteriously share (and check out Eddie’s solo around 2:20). Roth’s voice is not the soaring, singular rock wonder that it used to be, but he’s still got plenty of horsepower under the hood and he’s not afraid to unleash it.

The bad news is the songs are largely hookless. There are great hints and ideas that trail off into nothingness or into guitar solos to distract from the fact that the song is on a bullet train to nowhere. For example, “Blood And Fire” opens to exciting promise with light, very catchy playing by Eddie and a strong verse filled with harmonies, but there’s never a sturdy enough chorus to hang any of it on, so instead, Eddie shifts into a ripping solo. It’s exhilarating, but can’t they do both any more?

Too often, in what perhaps is emblematic of their relationship, Eddie and Roth seems to be working on different songs and competing with each other instead of complementing. For example, Roth’s first words on “China Town” are a take-off on the most famous New York Post headline of all time: “Headless body found in topless bar,” but the rest of the song is all Eddie’s, from his mad-scientist opening to breathtaking solos. Roth’s words never fit in with the song. They don’t need to be a lockstep on each song—for example, on “Outta Space,” Roth is going on about this Facebook page (yeah, that’s not going to sound dated), but whatever Eddie and Alex are doing around that works just fine, instead of fighting against it.

Many of the songs, including “Tattoo,” “The Trouble with Never,” “As Is,” “Frosty,” and “honeybabysweetiedoll,” feature spoken interludes by Roth. It reaches the level of parody on “The Trouble With Never,” an otherwise fine song (one of the album’s best), when Roth drops his voice down an octave to talk about his “wicked, wicked ways.” Sure, his talking break worked to iconic effect in “Panama,” but that’s not a device that wears well generally.

“Big River,” the album’s penultimate tune, sounds like everyone’s finally rowing the same way, plus it has a “Flirtin’ With the Devil” opening vibe. Great vocals by Roth, inspired playing by Alex, and guitar wizardry by Eddie all meld into something strong.

The Van Halens and Roth throw every guitar lick and vocal yelp that made someone love the band 30 years ago in here, but they’re competing with a mighty, mighty past. As I wrote earlier this week when reviewing Van Halen’s show in Los Angeles, the three new songs played that night fit in perfectly in concert as glue between the past hits and I don’t mean that as a diss. In some ways, that’s the very best they could have hoped for. Given all band’s past dramatics, “Truth” could have been a train wreck of epic proportion and it’s far from it, but it just has enough flashes of past brilliance to wish that the same care that seemed to go into the performances had gone into the songs.

animal:
I simply love the new album. After listening it over and over and over again, it gets better every time.

Same here.