As fall is approaching it’s crazy to think that we are already into August. That being said here are some recent new tracks that various bands have dropped onto my iPod via Apple Music!
Let’s do this……!
It’s wild that Samual Hagar is now 74 years young, yet he along with his sidekick’s Michael Anthony, Vic Johnson and Jason Bonham keep putting out some decent music known as The Circle. ‘Crazy Times’ is the new single off the new soon to be released album and is quite good. A different vibe here with an upbeat tempo and some cool time changes. I look forward to hearing the rest of this album.
We all know Adrian Smiths day job is slinging some serious axe work in Iron Maiden yet when he got some downtime he hooked up with Richie Kotzen and together last year they put out an album together. Now comes a soon to be released EP that has some live tracks. ‘Hate and Love’ is a great track with some real snazzy guitar interplay between Richie and Adrian as well as some lead vocal swapping. I’m pretty impressed at how good they sound live so I may score this one vinyl…
Remember last month when I wrote about Alter Bridge dropping the track ‘Pawn & Kings’ which was the last track on there soon to be released record this upcoming October? I also mentioned that I looked forward to hearing the other tracks on this record. Well AB just dropped Track 3 which is titled ‘Silver Tongue’ which is another great one. Big opening riffs, double bass drumming and Myles and Mark doing their thing. A must listen.
Collective Soul get in on the action with not one but two tracks that they dropped from an upcoming album that Ed Roland and the boys are calling ‘Vibrating’. Opening track ‘Cut The Cord’ is what you expect from C.S. Upbeat with a catchy chorus and some good guitar work. ‘All Our Pieces’ which is another song from ‘Vibrating’ is a little slower but still has a decent pace as Ed Roland is one those under the radar guys that is a hidden talent, no one ever says that except for John T. Snow!
I get a little tired when I see bands using the title of ROCK in their songs as how many times have we been down this road? Tesla is the latest band to take the word ROCK and run with it. At first I was skeptical but then I recall earlier this year Tesla put out a track called ‘Cold Steel’ which was very good. So now here comes the new tune ‘Time To Rock’ and it’s a killer track. Frank Hannon has dusted off his talk box and Jeff Keith still sings like Jeff Keith and they play to their strengths on this track which is what we love about this band as they stick to their formula of writing great jamming like tracks. Some great guitar interplay between Frank, his talk box and Dave Rude also helps the cause. Great stuff Tesla…
Haven’t smashed out a Van Halen album review in a bit so let’s jump into the Van Hagar fire with there 1991 release For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album or as every one call’s it F.U.C.K.
Who knew back in June of 1991 when this record hit the streets that there was internal strife in the band. You had Sammy Hagar/Michael Anthony/Eddie and Alex Van Halen still looking like and functioning like a band to me anyway’s but if you read Sam’s Book Red you knew that was further from the truth as the Halen Bros made Anthony who is everyones favourite guy yet to the Halen Bros he was the kicking bag of the band take a percentage cut in songwriting and such which kudos to Mikey who sucked it up and just kept going about his business…
So with that said ….
I was stoked and why wouldn’t I be. New Halen/New Halen so this was easily a first day purchase as since I was working I sent my younger brother Todd who was 14 at the time(with cash on hand) to pick the CD up for me and as per protocol since he was on a Rock Mission a cassette tape of the same album for him. Paying for my brothers music as well was the least I could do as he would always deliver as when I would get home my new release would be ready to unwrap! Bam!
So with this album Halen hire Andy Johns(RIP). Johns had quite the resume in rock as he engineered a bunch of Led Zeppelin/Rolling Stones records as well as produced stuff by Free/Cinderella and wait for it….two albums by HMO Can Con’s Killer Dwarfs!
So I knew the production end of things would be taken care of or would they? Hmmmm ….Well the drums sound huge and they should right as Alex Van Halen was a massive player and Johns worked with Bonzo from Zep and we all know how those drums sound on the Zeppelin albums right!?
Andy though I dunno too much partying at the 5150 studios or maybe you had the Halen Bros breathing down your neck constantly about how they want to hear things. The production sounds muddy at times as it’s hard to decipher the Bass it sounds like one big wall of thud. Not clear either kinda trembly weird..dunno what it was but the sound sounded bizarro. Than again this was nothing new as 1988’s O.U.8.1.2 production sounded all over the map at times.
Anyways my personal bitchin aside F.U.C.K is still a good album and shall we take a gander at the tracks….
1. “Poundcake” 5:21
2. “Judgement Day” 4:38
3. “Spanked” 4:53
4. “Runaround” 4:20
5. “Pleasure Dome” 6:58
6. “In ‘n’ Out” 6:04
7. “Man on a Mission” 5:03
8. “The Dream Is Over” 3:59
9. “Right Now” 5:21
10. “316” (instrumental) 1:29
11. “Top of the World” 3:54
Poundcake,HA! That ol Horn Dawg Sam starts off with some punchy lyrics about getting some Poundcake and not the kind Granny would cook in the oven if ya catch my drift. The big news was that Eddie was dabbling with a Power Drill with an pic attached to the drill and this begins the album with Al charging forward with the drums. (Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Paul Gilbert did the pick drill bit a year before on the Mr Big “Lean Into It” album but Paul never got his due or maybe I got this all wrong) Pretty cool opening song which also served as the tour opener as well. Gotta love Big Rock Dumbo lyrics and Poundcake serves the purpose but when you have EVH on guitar you know the music chops are gonna be up to snuff and by golly they are. Below I posted a rippin great version of Poundcake when Halen played on the 1991 MTV Awards and man they rock the shit outta those yuppies in the front row! This is soooooooooooo Gooooooood! Kinda funny watching this as they all seem happy but AL and Ed you know are thinking what can we do to the Bass Player after the show…
On Judgement Day Ed flexes his guitar muscle and we all scream in excitement as he still shows us all who the Boss is! Sam ditches the Dumbo lyrics and steps up on this track and sings it real swell as well! The solo is fantastic and Ed does all that crazy tapping that well no one can do and better yet how the hell does Ed think of this stuff?
Spanked reminds me of 2 things! First of all in the credits of the album Ed was credited as playing some 6 string Bass on this song. (Oh oh..watch yer back Mikey)This song musically is creepy Halen kinda sauntering around in your backyard at 2 am looking for dope n booze. Lyrically well…read this for yourself…
“Three dollars, first minute, gosh, man
After that, cost ya four
And she be up for negotiations, mmm hmm
If you call back for more, oh oh oh ah
Now who ya gonna call
When you need that special (special)
Little somethin’, mmm
You can say what you like
It’s all confidential, whoa
All you bad, bad boys
Call her up on the spank line, huh
All you bad, bad boys
Call her up on the spank line, whoa
Hey, all you bad, bad boys
Make a mind blow
All you bad, bad boys (dial 1-900-spanked)”
So what we got here is Creepy Music Halen with Big Dumbo Rock lyrics but Sam is a clever chap as well the song is catchy in a different kind of way. The second thing is that when I caught this show in Winnipeg(Nov 1991) the reviewer said that Halen played Spanked. Ummm no they did not as I’m a Diehard and that track was not played which proved to me that some of these critics have no idea what the F.U.C.K there writing about! Oh well Mr Reviewer just dial up 1-900-Spanked!
Runaround gets the band back on track and this is another sure fire winner with a super duper excellent chorus and this Runaround has ton of zip in it’s step. Well done after the chaotic creepiness of Spanked. Sam Halen know there bread and butter and thats tracks like this one.
Pleasure Dome is pretty much a musical number kinda with some Sammy echoey like mumbling and stumbling as the Brothers and Anthony keep the train a chugging.
Side 2 begins with Alex kicking In ‘N’ Out and more silliness from Sam I Am. Now before you Hagar Fans (Trust me I’m one also) get all nutty thinking I’m beating up Sam and his lyrics he’s just comes across as a BeachBum not taking his crap too seriously and just living life so can you really blame him. Sam-innuedo are these lyrics for In ‘N’Out.
Man On A Mission is the track no one ever talks about but it’s a pretty good track that builds off of Ed’s Riff’s. Love the guitaring on this track. Pretty cool vocals especially the backing vocals of Mikey. That should come as no surprise though.
This Dream Is Over may actually be my fav off of this album. Ed soars right out of the gate with this track and he lifts right off until Sam checks in with singing. See,give Sam his due as he when he puts his mind to it can write some crafty words, EVH takes this track to the next level come solo time!
At the 92 MTV Awards show Halen cleaned up on some awards with Right Now which has Ed twinkling the ivories but do not be fooled by the piano as Ed supercharges and ramps up during the solo. Actually this was areal cool video and still is….Liked the clip where they show Mikey wanting to make a solo album….betcha Ed and Alex were chomping at the bit…..Still though this is a great song with great lyrics!
316 is a little Guitar doodle from Edward as in the year of 1991 his son Wolfie was born on the third month/16th day….
Ed begins Top Of The World and the boys all join in and this is a great rock track and was the tour closer for the tour as well. If you listen closely to the end of the song you can here Ed picking a few bars of Jump. EVH does it the right way..he steals licks from himself!
F.U.C.K is a good Sam Halen album. At time the lyrics are loosey goosey but than again like I had mentioned in my OU812 review if Sammy confronted me about this accusation I would tell him Tbone made me say it!
Seriously though this album if the production had been notched up a bit could have been a great album as the songs are there kinda. You got serious stuff and goofy stuff(in the lyrics) so even though Van Halen was maturing age wise they still wanted you to keep them in mind when the Bong N Booze/ Doritos would come out!
ADDED COMMENT…..
Mikey Ladano reviewed this back in 2014 and gave it a 2.8/5 rating….
Here’s my 2 cents worth of a comment ..
Deke
October 3, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Yeah man the bass on here like Aaron said is aweful. The songs for the most part are good except for fruit cake toons like Spanked and Poundcake the music is good but Sam has always had a thingy for big dumb goofy lyrics but that’s who he is,Sam I Am!
Ha…but yeah in 91… I liked this one immensely but in 2014 I lean towards another Hagar/Halen album but I ain’t saying till my Sonic Wave deal..how’s that for a self plug!
But still I would plunk this a little higher Mikey than what U gave it but fair enuff…
Ladies and Gent’s! A few weeks back at Tbone’s house I asked him to jot down a few words at some point on one of the very few shows we haven’t seen together and that was …..(Top Secret as that review shall come at a later date) This past Saturday I was cruising around You Tube and came across some Halen 2004 shows. Hagar has publicly stated and even in his book that Ed was a mess both personally and professionally! Well what better way than to get a first hand account of a life long Halen Fan writing a review who was at one of the 2004 shows…. So I zipped Tbone a message this past Saturday and said…..”Jot a few words down” Bam into my inbox on Sunday was this great read!
Halen called this the Best Of Both Worlds Tour. I’m not so sure that’s the case….
Take it away Tbone!
July 22, 2004 Saint Paul, Minnesota….
So back in the summer of 2004 my brothers, Randy (Rugg) & Darren (Darr) along with Darr’s son Ryan, went on a trip to Minneapolis/St Paul. Rugg and I had bought tickets to the Van Halen show and Darr and Ryan were last minute tag alongers who just came for the chance to get away.
The show was to feature Sammy Hagar back at the mic and the most commercially successful version of Van Halen was now seemingly back together. Although I personally was disappointed that the brief reunion with Roth in ’96 didn’t work out, this was at least a close second favorite version and was a lot better than the alternative which would have benn “No” Van Halen.
The band was supporting their recent “Best of Both Worlds” Best-of album which featured three new Van Hagar songs, “It’s About Time”, “Up for Breakfast” and “Learning to See”. The second of these being my favorite, as to be honest I can’t really remember the other 2 tunes off the top of my head as I’m writing this. I do remember noticing that Michael Anthony was not given credit for any of these new songs. Although I don’t recall it being a big deal at the time, it certainly became clear why in the months and years that followed.
So off to the show Rugg and I go, and since it’s been almost 13 years my recollection is a little shady at best. For instance I had to look up online that Shinedown opened the show and to be honest I don’t really recall anything good/bad or otherwise about them as the opener.
Then after the usual intermission break between opener and headliner, Van Halen finally takes the stage and opens with Jump. They go right for the big number right out of the gate and it was a pretty decent version as I recall. (Full disclosure: I looked up the setlist online, as I’m 11 days shy of my 50th birthday, and there is no way I am going to accurately remember this from so long ago. Thank you, internet!)
Runaround was next followed by Humans Being, which I was pumped to hear live as this was the first tune of the night that I hadn’t heard live before and also in my mind this song had marked the end of the previous Van Hagar.
Up for Breakfast was a pretty cool tune live as I recall and I like the tongue-in-cheek lyrics to this one.
Anthony’s Bass Solo was his usual Jack-Daniels mixed heavily with sound effects coupled with him lurking the stage like a lovable nut-job.
Somebody Get Me a Doctor was up next followed by Poundcake. As I recall it was probably around this point in the show where Rugg (who also plays guitar) and I started noticing something about Eddie’s playing. He was sounding off on occasion and actually seemed to be hitting off notes intermittently. He also was really hitting his strings hard , like really hard, with some pretty severe aggression. So much so that it could have been this aggressive playing that was making some notes go seemingly sharp. He was shirtless and shoeless as I remember and looked every part the madman. Almost a bit scary.
It’s About Time which I don’t really remember was followed by a fairly typical Al Drum Solo which as I recall was fairly uneventful. Not in a bad way, but nothing crazy happened.
Top of the World, Unchained and Why Can’t This Be Love which are all good live tunes in my opinion were next, and other than us being very focused on Ed’s unusual rough playing by this point, they were otherwise pretty decent versions.
Then Sammy had his solo segment, just Sammy and his guitar doing, Eagles Fly and Deeper Kinda Love. I seem to recall him jamming a bit either before or between songs but can’t specifically remember but it was a pretty good segment of the show, although I’ve always found it a bit awkward for there to be a 2 song Sammy solo show in the middle of a Van Halen show.
Seventh Seal was next which I was pumped to hear live as I never caught them on the Balance tour and I’ve always liked this song.
Then came Best of Both Worlds which led into Eddie’s Guitar Solo. Now normally this is any Van Halen fan’s favorite part of the show. The moment we’ve all been waiting for, so to speak. But this was not Ed’s best solo not by a long shot. I’ve seen them a couple other times live and those times he was spot on. Any of the versions I’ve seen on DVD’s or online concert footage it’s usually more of the same… Lesson’s from the Master. But on this night the solo kind of rambled on like a drunk Eddie in a MTV interview. Lots of very aggressive string smashing which kind of made my brother and I cringe a couple times and actually look at each other like “WTF!” Don’t get me wrong, it was not terrible, it just wasn’t up to the extremely high standard that we have grown accustomed to from the greatest rock guitarist of my generation.
The highlight part of the solo was when a young Wolfgang got up on stage and jammed with his Dad on 316, the song that is titled after Wolfies March 16th birthday and as legend is told, is the song Ed would play to a pregnant Valerie’s belly to calm the future Van Halen bassist. This was the happiest Ed seemed to be the whole night. This was the calm in the middle of the storm.
After the guitar solo I have to admit I think I had trouble really focusing on the remainder of the show as it had become apparent that there was something troubling going on with Eddie. Was it his health? Was he fighting with Sammy? … we didn’t know what it was at the time, but something was off.
Dreams, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love and Right Now rounded out the show before the band re-emerged to play You Really Got Me and Panama as a first encore and then When It’s Love as a second and final one.
Van Halen shows are like pizza to me. Even bad pizza is still good pizza if you know what I mean. It may not be the best pizza you’ve ever had but you’ll still eat the shit out of it because you love pizza. This show was bad pizza. Better than no pizza but certainly not the Stans’ Jumbo Thundercape (local pizza reference) that I was hoping it would be.
My main takeaway from that show being “What’s Eating Edward the Great?”
Only time would give us the answer.
Friday it was Sam’s 1984 big breakthrough album V.O.A that was reviewed but let’s rewind a few year’s back to 1980 in the recording’s of Sammy…
Yup..
After being blown away by Hagar’s Live show in the fall of 1984 as soon as my feet landed back in Thunder Bay it was off to the record shop and purchase anything live Hagar….
It was Kings Stereo that I purchased Live 1980 a live Sam album from well ….1980! Recorded at the infamous Hammersmith Odeon in London England.
The Tunes…
“Trans Am (Highway Wonderland)” (Sammy Hagar) – 5:15
“Love or Money” (Hagar) – 3:57
“Plain Jane” (Hagar) – 2:26
“20th Century Man” (Hagar, Gary Pihl) – 3:59
“This Planet’s on Fire (Burn in Hell)” (Hagar) – 5:14
“In the Night (Entering the Danger Zone)” (Hagar) – 1:26
“The Danger Zone” (Hagar) – 5:00
“Space Station #5” (Hagar, Ronnie Montrose) – 4:28
The Dude’s who don’t look like Ladies…
Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, lead guitar
Gary Pihl – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Bill Church – bass guitar, backing vocals
Chuck Ruff – drums, backing vocals
This album blew me away for one thing you can see pre 1981 Sam was all old school hard guitar rock! No keyboards except for some dabbling In The Night/Danger Zone.
Ok so when I spun this the very first time the thing struck me right off the hop was the intro to the first song of the show and thats Trans Am. Great opening number with the intro(you can hear a Motor revving) and some dude on the mic introducing the “Red Rocker Sammy Hagar” and bam the curly-haired dude is singing about his Car?! Hahaha…whatever yanks the crank I suppose! But still a great live number listen below…
So as soon as Sam gets off the Highway Wonderland it’s into another Gem of a tune called Love Or Money. “I may be crazy but I ain’t no fool!” Sammy hollers and boom were off. Nice shuffle of the drums by Ruff as well as backing vocals. Sammy 1980 is a serious Hard Rocker!
Plain Jane has a real cool vibe not an all out rocker but Plain Jane still packs a real good oomph! Super cool verse’s with a real cool bass line that follows the lead vocal!
Big rock riff’s lead the way and that song is called 20th Century Man No radio fodder her on this tune as Sam and Gary weave the guitars in and out while flexing some serious muscle live. Another standout track that no one ever talks about! Even Hagar himself!
Side 2 begins with one of my favourite Hagar tracks and that’s This World Is On Fire. Boogie woggie riff a roo and this was even Sam’s opener when I seen the show in 84. It’s basically a tune about selling your soul to the music business…lyrics below…
‘Cancelled flights, limousines
Hustle bustles, crazy scenes
First you’re here, then you’re there
Pretty soon man, you been everywhere
Ooh, this planet’s on fire
Oh, Satan’s desire
We’ve seen the rise, we’ll see the fall
He’s here to see us all
Burn in hell…’
Even better I’m going to post a live clip of a young Sam from 1978 blasting this tune live. People tend to forget what a great Lead/Rhythm Picker Sam is …..watch it man its Rock Gold!
Form there it gets trippy with a short interlude awash with keys called In The Night which goes right into The Danger Zone which is more spacey and crazy with the album ending with the Montrose classic Space Station Number 5 which is a rip snorting rock attack as the band is on an all out rock attack! More huge guitars and this is Hard Rock done to perfection with a chorus that is gold!
As with the end of every Sam show he introduces the Boys in the band something he still does to this day! Props all around!
This is a quick snap shot audio assault from Sam and he’s a rocking beast as is his band. The performance on here is top-notch and Sam as he entered the 80’s shifted his musical chops somewhat with a more commercial hard rock sound. Fair enough as you gotta make cash!
Circus Magazine was the first time I had seen the name Sammy Hagar and that was back in 1982 for an advertisement for his current album at the time Three Lock Box.
It wasn’t until the summer of 1984 when I had first seen Sam’s video for I Can’t Drive 55 on MuchMusic and I was sold. The song featured a crunchy guitar not overtaken by the keyboards and the video was fun as well with Sam blasting around in his Ferrari/Eluding the Cops/Being tossed in the Slammer and then busting out and there’s Sam in the cool car while the boys in his band follow him a truck! You know who’s cutting the cheque’s!
I was 16 and Sam was badass in a Hard Rock kind of way as it seems Sammy wasn’t taking his shit too serious by making a cool goofy video!
Off to fetch my first Hagar record and that was Voice Of America or V.O.A for short!
Sammy already had a slew of solo albums under his belt as well as two Montrose albums so he had been in the game for a while!
Sam’s career by 84 was picking up steam and as well just a few months later in Oct 1984 I caught Hagar headlining in Ladano’s favourite city Duluth Minnesota with Krokus opening. Sammy delivered an exceptional live show to this day I still recall fondly..
Hagar Tunes…
“I Can’t Drive 55” (Sammy Hagar) – 4:12
“Swept Away” (Hagar) – 5:36
“Rock Is in My Blood” (Hagar) – 4:29
“Two Sides of Love” (Hagar) – 3:41
“Dick in the Dirt” (Hagar) – 4:19
“VOA” (Hagar) – 4:29
“Don’t Make Me Wait” (Hagar, Jesse Harms) – 4:06
“Burnin’ Down the City” (Hagar) – 5:32
There ya have it. 8 Hard Rockers with Don’t Make Me Wait being the bona-fide token Power Ballad but other wise a pretty kick ass album.
Sam nicked Ted Templeman for this album and Ted of course produced the 6 Roth Halen albums and just a short year later Wham Bam Ol Thank You Mam! Sam I Am becomes the new VH singer after Dave Roth gets the boot/quits ..yada yada…
Hagar’s Honcho’s…
Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, lead guitar
Gary Pihl – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Jesse Harms – keyboards, backing vocals
Bill Church – bass guitar, backing vocals
David Lauser – drums, backing vocals
The great thing when I started buying Sam’s albums was that these guys were his backing band for many years. Sam remained loyal to them and it wasn’t like the Dave CoverdaleWhitesnake switch aroo member changes from album to album tour to tour it seemed which I got so sick and tired of.
V.O.A like I had mentioned blasts of with I Can’t Drive 55 and once Lauser rolls that snare intro it takes you the listener all of 5 seconds to know that the Production is going to be top-notch as well as the performances! Love this tune as 55 is just plain old fun Rawk! No Frills’s as Sam is smart as he buy’s into the don’t bore us get to the chorus philosophy and I’m ok with that as my attention span is short to begin with…
Swept Away is a Gem! Sam nails one out of the park with this track. Love the big power chord that begin’s the song and it shifts into a decent balance of keyboards and acoustic before Sam ramps it up on the chorus. Check out the Live 1984 audio clip I posted to hear it for your self….
Rock Is In My Blood lyrically is kinda silly but the music is slow with a bit of hard rock thrown in to keep the music somewhat raunchy. It’s a decent track musically but after Swept Away Sam can be forgiven for writing some Dumbo Like Lyrics…. Sam must have found some of Gene Simmons leftover Animalize lyrics lying around!
Sam and the boys deliver a real decent hard rock single written all over it track called Two Sides Of Love. Driven by keyboards and drums along with some ripping guitar Two Sides is a great fun summer time hard rock track. Love the pre chorus that segues right into the catchy happy chorus. Great tune….Another video posted below…
Dick In The Dirt wins funniest song title in 1984.. Sam sings about a down on his luck dude named Richard so come chorus time the lyrics go “She Knocked Dick In The Dirt” hahaha,,,that silly ol Red Rocker. The music is good as well and when I caught the VOA show this was the second track played that night….
The title track V.O.A is Sam rolling up with Rock Troops and they will kick anyones ass that is in the way! Sam even name drops the USSR as well and I remember reading back than interviews asking him about being political etc which was kinda funny because these lyrics are kinda just goofy words like Triumph wrote with there Allied Forces lyrics. No harm no foul right? But by Sam name dropping a country I guess he stirred someones coffee the wrong way…than again as with a lot of music back than it was probably a calculated move. I bought into it!
Don’t Make Me Wait is the big power slobbery tune on this album and it’s not a bad track actually! Everyone was doing this back than and so it falls into that heap of song’s I can’t handle but some I can. Today I can’t though…
Burnin Down The City was a tune I kinda neglected as I would pick up the needle after the tune V.O.A and would move onto something else. Having said that it’s not a knock as this tune is a mid tempo end of the album rocker. Features Sammy yammering on about some-crazed ass dude Burning Down The City…Case in point… Here’s some lyrics ….
Every night he rocks this place
He burns the best, but never shows his face, oh, no.
Burns the walls, burns a truck,
Burns a trian, don’t give a fuck, no, no.
Aren’t those lyrics classic? HAHAHA….
Still though a great revisit and you have to hand it to solo Sam as he was basically putting out album after album followed by tour after tour and building up the fan base. Plus writing all the tunes and such the dude no matter what you think of Sam he has a great work ethic even though at times he get’s a little sloppy with the lyrics! But who cares I love Big Dumbo Rock look at KISS’s 80’s output especially that Asylum album…haha….
My next post will be the second ever album of Hagar’s I purchased on Monday Folk’s …A Double Sam Shot….
Cold Beer & Kentucky Fried ChickenFoot….Does it get any better than Cardiac Chicken/Loud Rawk and Suds?
Yup…Here’s another fine instalment of DVBeers…..
So basically I got together with TBone and we cranked DVD’s at his place! The first one being Triumph’s Live At Sweden Rock.. Which is reviewed here as the first ever DVD review I have done..
Now it’s time for Chickenfoot ….
Here’s the tracks that are featured on the Live DVD performed in front of an Vegas Crowd..
Tracklist
1 Avenida Revolution 5:56
2 Sexy Little Thing 5:32
3 Soap On A Rope 4:14
4 My Kinda Girl 4:54
5 Down The Drain 3:52
6 Bitten By The Wolf 4:41
7 Oh Yeah 6:17
8 Learning To Fall 4:34
9 Get It Up 5:13
10 Turnin’ Left 5:48
11 Future In The Past 6:38
12 Bad Motor Scooter
13 My Generation
In case yer wondering Chickenfoot is Sammy Hagar/Michael Anthony/Joe Satriani/Chad Smith..
You got hand it to Hagar as he’s worked with some pretty damn good Guitar players…Let’s take a moment with a bit of my Yammering and look at these Ax Slingers that Sam has been involved with…
The late Ronnie Montrose where Sam back in 1973 made his debut on a classic album called Montrose but after a less than stellar followup album Ronnie booted Sam and after some hard solo slogging, Hagar by 1984 was pretty big news with his V.O.A album selling big time which shot him into the Arena’s as the Top Dog..
Following that Sam hooked up with Journey Guitarist Neil Schon who Neil himself was looking to find the volume knob on his Marshall after being diluted by the Soft A.O.R Mush of early 80’s Journey. Neil found some heaven in the great H.S.A.S album which was just a one-off. Search for the H.S.A.S song Top OF The Rock. You will not be disappointed!
Course we all know what happened next Sam hooked up Van Halen. They all loved each other for a number of years and then got divorced reconciled and then divorced again and blah blah blah…
Sam is not one to laze around so he went solo (for a second time)but was itching to form a band so he hooked up with VH buddy Michael Anthony who we all know was punted from Halen and they together got together with Chill Pepper Chad and here come’s another Super Duper 6 Stringer in Joe…
Together ChickenFoot put out a decent debut and of course comes the Live DVD and these songs kick it up a notch Live…
Satch is on fire! Joe is more than just a shredder he can dip n slide with the best of them. Look no further than opener Avenida Revolution as Satch does his Boogie and teaches us how it’s all done on the 6 String.
Now before you start thinking “Is this DVD just a Guitar Macho Man workout?” Nope…..
My Kinda Girl is a Great Great Rock Track. Sam slams down a great vocal along with Mikey’s great backing vocal driven by Chad Smith’s drums.(Tbone even commented on Smiths Bad Co. T-shirt.in the video) This song oozes cool and Sam is a great live performer as he continuously high fives Fans in the front row. I know this from first hand as back in the day when I seen Sam on 1984’s VOA Tour he turned on the houselights to see and read the homemade banners that were decorated throughout the Duluth Arena. Many years later on the 1991 Van Halen tour in Winnipeg Sam high fives the front row all night and off to one side of the stage there was about a dozen Fans wearing homemade Juiced For Halen T’s written on a white t-shirt with a black marker and when on of the Homemade T’s was tossed on stage it was a matter of seconds before Hagar put it on and made those fan’s day! That’s all it takes man…a simple gesture….
Ok sorry for the Ramble Flashback but yeah My Kinda Girl is a great track …just watch it for yourself straight from Get Yer Buzz On!
Mikey Ladano over at his Fantastic site covers a ton of stuff musically and he’s a great reviewer who at times dabbles in Movie Reviews but also writes about his past which he has called Getting More Tale.
Mikes one post titled #519: Mistakes I Made Fixing Broken Tapes totally brought back the time that my good pal of over 40 years Tbone bought the first 5 David Lee Roth fronted Van Halen releases on cassette tape sealed for just under $20 back in 1984…
Lemme tell ya about…..
Too make a long story even longer ….January 1984 I lent Tbone my vinyl copy of VH’s 1984. This was Tbones first Dabble with Halen and he liked what he heard! So much so he quickly purchased a copy of 1984 for himself!
It wasn’t too much long after that T got the Halen Itch so one day over lunch at school he told me “I’m going to buy all the Halen albums TODAY!”
Whut? …
So after lunch we split from High School and off we headed to our local Shopping Mall which was and still is called Intercity. We parked and headed into Sears to cut over to the mall and head into A&A Records so Tbone could drop some cash on Dave Halen!
But before and If Tbone’s good luck couldn’t get any better we came across two Bins stuffed with Cassette Tapes One Bin had basically a bunch of shit tapes marked for $2.99. The only one worth mentioning Ironically was an Sammy Hagar Greatest Hits Tape called Cruisin And Boozin. The next Bin was stuffed with a bunch of $9.99 cassette tapes (current rock at the time)like AC/DC /Def Leppard/Quiet Riot and bands of that ilk. The big score in the $9.99 Bin was that there was the first 5 Van Halen tapes sitting there waiting for Tbones hands to grab them up!
Tbone paused for a second took a look around and told me to watch for Sears staff sniffing around the area we were in. Basically I was on “Watch” Duty. Alert T of any incoming Sears Staff headed our way!
Next thing you know Tbone digs into the Cheapie Bin’s and pulls out a handful of Crap tapes all priced $2.99 and manage’s to peel off the stickers (quicker than a Monkey peeling a banana) and transfer them to the other bin where the Halen Tapes were all marked $9.99 and T than proceeded to place the $2.99 stickers over the $9.99 Stickers that were the VH cassette’s.
What a friggin Genius move before my eyes! TBone did this to all the Halen Tapes …
Let’s calculate this….(tax not included)
Full Price for 5 Van Halen Tapes at Sears back in 1984- $49.95
TBone’s Discount Sticker Removal Times for 5 Van Halen Tapes in 1984-$14.95
Tbone even bought Hagars Tape for the actual price of $2.99..(Big Spender!)
Tbone spent $17.94! A savings of $34.96….for 6 sealed Cassette Tapes…..
Son of a Beeatch! I quickly did the Math on the Halen purchases and I DID pay at least $9.99 each for those Halen albums on Vinyl…..
In other words….
Deke’s 6 Van Halen albums on vinyl back in the early 80’s. $9.99 Times 6=$59.94….
Tbone was like a Giddy Pig In Shit that Day and we blew off the afternoon classes and drove all over Tbay that afternoon and everyone heard Hang Em High blaring from Tbones car whether they wanted to hear it or not!
1978. AC/DC puts out the classic Powerage. Judas Priest release Stained Class. Scorpions drop on the public Taken By Force. What do these three albums have in common?
They all stalled on the American Charts! None of them cracked the Billboard Top 100 unlike the four long hairs from Pasadena California calling themselves Van Halen.
David Lee Roth/Eddie and Alex Van Halen along with Michael Anthony did what AC/DC,Judas Priest and Scorpions couldn’t do in the United States and that’s sell records.
Van Halen’s debut titled simply enough Van Halen got as high as 19 on the Billboard Album Charts selling over 2 million copies. If your thinking overnight success not really and Greg does a very in-depth detailed look at the years leading up to 1978 and the release of the debut album. That’s as far as the book goes and it’s a awesome representation of the early years and struggles of Van Halen. Believe it or not they worked there asses off and it as we all know paid off in spades but getting there for these guys was tough.
Van Halen Uprising explains it all!
Greg did his homework here. Well over 200 interviews with people associated with the early years of Van Halen. Plus as an added bonus there are pictures of the earliest incarnations of Pre VH of photos who played with Ed and Alex and also pics after Anthony joined.(pics I have never ever seen) Too be honest I’m not big on unauthorized books except for this one as Greg interviews key people to give this book a ton of legitimacy like Pete Angelus (who toured and worked for Halen and with Roth when he went solo) Neil Zlowzer(photographer) and the two biggies to gain street cred with me and that’s Ted Templemen(VH’s Producer) and Michael Anthony(VH’s bass player)
One of the many great things about this book are things that I didn’t even know about Van Halen is that Ed and Alex had auditioned David Lee Roth as far back as 1971 and he failed 4 auditions with the brothers. I’m not gonna give it away but the friction between Roth and Van Halen was boiling long before 1978 rolled around. Some of the earliest band names of VH were Trojan Rubber Company,Genesis(until they heard about the British Genesis) and Mammoth(which I had read about).
The Brothers VH went through a few bass players before settling on Michael Anthony and the real deal of this book for myself is Greg goes at detail when VH opened for U.F.O and better still when the one and only Gene Simmons shows up and begins working with VH! For every Kiss and Van Halen fan out their was always talked that Gene had Ed play on some Kiss demos around the time of Love Gun. Greg goes into great detail on this time frame of the Simmons/VH alliance fallout and disappointment that VH were dealt with. (Course we know the ending) this part is the Meat And Potatoes of the book!
We also get to read how Warner Brothers Records came to signing the band. It’s all here. No stone is left unturned!
What’s another real slick move on Greg’s part is his breakdown almost dairy like of the recording of the debut album. Greg places dates and this is not a bunch of B.S as its Ted Templemen (VH’s producer of the first 6 studio albums) giving the timeline of the debut albums recording.
Of course there’s also the tour details of Van Halen’s first Arena Tour opening for Black Sabbath and countless others. Also In true record company fashion you can read about the sordid details of how VH sells 2 million copies of their debut yet owe Warner Brothers 1 million dollars!
Welcome to the biz boys!
This is a totally awesome read! Hunt this book down its well worth it. Greg digs deep with interviewing a ton of people associated around VH(Templemen) and in VH (Anthony). I have even seen with my own eyes Billy Sheehan and Gregg Bisonette (Roths Bass Player and Drummer on the Eat EM And Smile Album and Skyscraper releases) even call Uprising a must read!
I could go on but Nope…buy this book and support a music fan (Renoff) who took the initiative to tell the story of Van Halens origins to a fan (myself) who has followed Van Halen for 36 years yet new little about their pre 1978 history.
1-Iron Maiden/Book Of Souls-Was there really any doubt! Maiden roared back with what I would say is there best album since Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son(1988). If your wondering where’s the review? Well I’m working on it and kinda funny how Maiden is my all time número uno fanboy act yet I’ve only reviewed Piece Of Mind and Seventh Son. I got a great idea for this review so give me time peeps! Of note the video posted is the song Tears Of A Clown a tune Adrian Smith and Steve Harris wrote about Robin Williams(RIP) it’s a great track!
2-Rush/R40- A few weeks back it took me 3 posts to get through this 29 song mega opus! If R40 is indeed the end of Rush as we know they have gone out on top! Thanks for a fine career fella’s!
3-Harem Scarem/Live At The Phoenix- Here’s the shocker of the bunch! This was released just a few weeks back and I tell ya its 20 songs of AOR Hard Rock Genius! When Toronto’s Harem Boys re-recorded Mood Swings in 2012 I delved back into that album which I may think cracked my Top 5 back in 2012 at Mike’s site! Fast forward to this year these songs are so good performed live! The vocals and musicianship are top notch and there’s songs on the Phoenix like Human Nature and Dagger that I had never heard til now and man oh man they are classics! Review a comin…..
4-Van Halen/Live At The Tokyo Dome(tie)The Circle At Your Service
Now your wondering what is Harem Scarem doing above VH and Hagars live albums. Easy this is a list of surprises and Harem is no doubt that as with VH and The Circle you know there gonna deliver with the classic material! Sam’s The Circle proves without a doubt that all though Hagar is pushing 70 years young he still delivers live vocally as well as having side kick Michael Anthony along for the ride doesn’t hurt as well!
VH delivers a warts n all double album and who cares if Dave has some rough patches vocally it’s Ed,Alex and especially Wolf that deliver the soundtrack of my highschool years right into my iPod! Wolfs bassing on this record is bad ass! Check out the opening to Everybody Wants Some! His bass cranked with the Wah Pedal is out of this world!
5- Def Leppard/Def Leppard(tie) Europe/War Of Kings
Ha! Boy did I ever set off a discussion with my review of this Leppard album. I was blown away by it as quite honestly I wasn’t expecting much as the last real good Lep record was Slang back in 1996. Lep delivers some throwback sounding material as well as some songs that sound like tribute songs to there idols. The album starts off well but really picks up steam about halfway thru! Great album! But I think Ladano is still lost at sea on this one! Haha…Toss him a life preserver Joe Elliot and save his ass!
UPDATE- Mr Ladano has entered Def Leppard at Number 6 Fav album of the year!
Europe along with Harem Scarem are the shockers of the year! Europe dabble into UFO and Deep Purplish Perfect Strangers territory and along with solid written material and awesome production from Dave Cobb(Rival Sons) who makes John Norums guitar all fuzzed up sonically as well as mixing the keyboards brilliantly into a win win! Jon at CD Festival And Music Guide got me onboard with his 10/10 review of War Of Kings.
Final Yammer- Yep a couple of Tie’s tossed in as this year it was hard to nail down a top 5! It was cool though as Lep,Harem and Europe surprised me and this is what the list is about! VH and The Circle delivered double live albums which means a ton of tunes and Rush as always ruled with there musical supremacy. I mean for Rush to resurrect Cyngus and Hemispheres ….Wowzers!
Iron Maiden though are top dogs and viola they delivered a solid full of epic proportions sonic assault masterpiece! Maiden rules!
Out of the seven albums in my Top 5 I have reviewed 5 of them so feel free to check out my Yammering on them!
25 Van Halen Songs recorded live(2014) in c’mon folks read the title! What we get here is a pretty good snap shot of Van Halen Mach Roth 2.0!
Now if you think I’m gonna get into a Dave’s voice sucks here blah blah blah or a complaint that the original bass player(Michael Anthony) is no longer there also and should be blah blah blah. Nope I will tell it like I hear it by that I mean when Dave comes unglued here vocaly I will say it….
I just laugh at people who post all over FaceCrack how bad Roth is in concert. Perhaps,and everyone’s entitled to there opinion but man it’s old news….just move on with life and talk about those two Yokos in Ratt (DeMartini and Blotzer ) that are suing each other over there bands name instead. Now that’s worthwhile Rock News…Hahahaha…
Where’s Kurt Loder and MTV News?
Going to highschool from the years 1981-1986! Van Halen along with Iron Maiden were the two biggie bands in my world. I bought everything recorded between the two,bought everything in print between the two! You get the picture! I was a obsessed music fan and toss in a bunch of other acts…..
This album has been out since the end of March this year and yep we gots a lot of songs to cover here. So without further ado…..
Diamond Dave,Ed,Alex and Wolfie kick Godzilla’s ass and drop down what I would consider a great,unpolished,warts n all live compilation (for the most part) of my Highschool Years served 30 years later!
UNCHAINED- VH Brothers(Ed &Al) and Associates (Wolfie) power up the intro to Unchained with Ed doing his hammer ons and the tricks of the trade and than there’s the riff of Unchained that we all know and love! Before not to long here’s Dave one bit singing,one part gibbering,one part mush mouthing(as Dave would call it ) and it works! This is live Halen mixed with a sound of the backing vocals live without a net(Ha!). Dig the jam at the end and hey guys I’ve waited 30 years for this live 2 do!
RUNNIN WITH THE DEVIL-ahhhh there’s that siren wail at the beginning and cue Wolfie smashing on his bass the opening bars and Ed an Al fire up the musical high heater and deliver one of the all time greats! Dave knows his deal he’s singing and yapping his way thru and it’s really no different than Dave from 1983s Classic US Festival! Except that one Dave was polluted into next year! Ha! Bada Bing!
SHES THE WOMAN- a song recorded years ago but tuned up and released on the fantastic A Different Kind Of Truth album from 2012! Wolfie plays some straight ahead simple rock bass and Dave sings this one pretty much from start to finish! Ed and Wolfie do a pretty cool guitar/bass mashup half way thru….
I’M THE ONE- Ed rips out super duper riffs and make no mistake this is one of Em! Dave, Allright I can say it he’s coming a little unglued here vocally but that’s the thing with actual live albums! Dave could have fixed this up but like I said earlier this is warts n all! Surprisingly Wolf and Ed hold the backing vocals quite well! Ed, man had me worried just by that How Many Say I lead vocal he so butchered back on the VH3 Album…..
TATTOO-the studio version of this song kinda spooked me! I’ll tell Ya why. Now like many others back in 2012 we were all anxiously awaiting A Different Kind Of Truths arrival! Hence VH drops Tattoo as the lead off single. My first impression was, well I was like Ok this is where there headed fair enough but man what my real concern was it was the lead off track on the studio album. I was hoping that this wasn’t gonna be the style of the record! Fortunately that wasn’t the case! Having said that this live version of Tattoo works way better live the Bros and Son of VH drown out the synth and Dave like he always does on the Halen singles he sings it thru! Good Job!
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME-8 minutes 31 seconds of tribal drums,Ed playing like there’s no tomorrow and Wolfie adding some real cool bass at the beginning and the sonics are heavy! Song just blows out the doors. Of course 3 minutes of this tune in the middle regions of the song has Dave showing off his speaking of the Japanese language! Ha! I have no idea what he’s saying but it sounds like the crowd does! Good for them I suppose! Seriously though Wolfs bass playing on this tune is absolutely sick! He’s a monster on bass man! No doubt! Of course I miss Michael Anthony but what can you do? Mike’s off jammimg some serious Riff Rolla with Sammy Hagar in the very good band The Circle so as listeners we get the Best Of Both Worlds!(ha!) Whats Ed gonna do fire his own kid from VH ? Ain’t happening folks!
SOMEBODY GET ME A DOCTOR- Halen doesn’t let the Japanese fans end with applause when Everybody Wants Some finishes up so it’s right into Somebody…..love the intro to this tune this is Halen 79 configured straight between the eyes into 2015! Eds guitar is jacked heavy in this tune and its a show boaters delight! Al pounds the skins like there’s no tomorrow and were all headed to the E.R! Great solo and boom back to the beginnings of the song! Man who does not love this kind of tune! Dave and his lyrics here are hysterical man, he’s just having a grand o time!
CHINA TOWN – another newbie from ADKOT and this is one ass kicker of a track! Ed,Wolf and Al slam this song into submission with its fast pace double timing tune! I tell Ya its one of my favs from the studio album and Ed here is on fire! The solo is sick. Dive Bombs,Hammer Ons and Wolf joins him in doing some dual riffing between bass and guitar! Dave here does his best man but he’s kinda gasping HAHAHHA….fair enough I mean even before Eds solo he doesn’t even bother with singing ‘My Town’ he just lets the boys musically take it over! Smart Call!
HEAR ABOUT IT LATER- Yes friggin please! Into the Gems here as the party’s still a rolling as Ed begins his cool real neat picking and Al and Wolf pick up the pace and were off! Hear About It Later what can you say the song builds up slow than takes off and Dave he sings this one fine. Well at some points he’s about to lose it but thankfully Ed and Wolf deliver the backing vocals and than there’s one of my fav Ed Solos Ever! He dips he doodles he’s doing his deal! Alex smashes the crap out of his cow bell and the song just displays pure brilliance! Melodic Hard Rock at its finest!
OH PRETTY WOMAN-Yup! Here it comes the big cover tune! Daves in all his glory as he digs the cover tunes,from what I understand the brothers not so much! But Halen barn blasts through the old Roy classic and rockify it to the skies!
ME AND YOU-Wolfies Uncle Al gets his turn and does his drum solo mixed with a salsa kinda of flair backing track! Kinda interesting slant on things from King Alex! I would have just liked oh so liked if he woulda lit his gong on fire just like he does at the end of the classic live Unchained video from 1981s Fair Warning Tour! Man Oh Man if that would have happened myself and Tbone woulda lost our shit when we seen Halen live back in 2012!
YOU REALLY GOT ME-the song that has been a staple in and out of tours even with Sam comes You Really Got Me! Eds guitar is a buzz saw crackin and a air banders delight! Of Course the middle section Ed and Al jam around and than Dave joins and rambles and babbles along… Great Stuff…
Well Friends that ends Disc 1 of Live From Tokyo! Tune in Wednesday when I hammer down some thoughts on the 2nd Disc! ….
Haven’t smashed out a Van Halen album review in a bit so let’s jump into the Van Hagar fire with there 1991 release For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album or as every one call’s it F.U.C.K.
Mikey Ladano over at his Fantastic site covers a ton of stuff musically and he’s a great reviewer who at times dabbles in Movie Reviews but also writes about his past which he has called Getting More Tale. 
deKe's Vinyl Reviews & More... 