The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[jjrock88]

Impressive!

[bl5150]

Impressive!

What - that I held my ground against a nagging wife who wants to create wardrobe space? 

[wolfking]

New Satch, hell yeah.  His last one was actually really impressive.

EDIT:  Actually, I thought Black Swans was his last one, that was great.  The last one didn't do as much for me, but I didn't give it many spins either.  Will have to get it out.  This will be his 15th studio album, impressive.

EDIT 2:  There's a bit of a preview here;

https://www.guitarworld.com/node/24440

It sounds really nice.

[jjrock88]

Brent, I know you are a huge VH fan. What did you think/rate VHIII with Gary Cherone?

I was just watching some live footage, and Cherone has good charisma and did a pretty good job with the old songs

[TAC]

I, for one, completely ignored  VH III. I had no interest in it. I have never heard a lick of it.

[King Postwhore]

Live they were great.  Eddie had too much power in the studio and needed a real producer reign him in.

[TAC]

Ironically, the only time I saw Gary Cherone (Extreme) live was when they were opening for DLR.

[King Postwhore]

What tour for Extreme was that Tim?

[TAC]

What tour for Extreme was that Tim?

Summer of '91 at Great Woods, not sure what album they had out.

DLR
Cinderella
Extreme

[jjrock88]

I haven't listened to VH3 since it was a new release. But I do remember it being a grind to get through in its entirety

[bl5150]

Brent, I know you are a huge VH fan. What did you think/rate VHIII with Gary Cherone?

I was just watching some live footage, and Cherone has good charisma and did a pretty good job with the old songs

Like many I don't rate the album but enjoyed the tour.  I also met EVH on that tour which helped    If I can ever find the photo - I definitely have it somewhere - I'll post it,.

I recall being quite excited (but nervous) about the prospect of a VH3 album as I was a big Extreme fan too.  I was into the stores to get Without You the minute it was released and when I put it on I thought "WTF is this garbage".   A lot of people who dislike the album as a whole seem to like that song but I think it's horrible.  The album does have its moments but it's not something I ever listen to. In order to make it any sort of success they needed to change to suit Garry ,not make him sing like Sammy.

The tour was good mostly because EVH made a huge comeback in terms of his playing standard and we got to hear DLR stuff live.  It was at that point the first Australian VH tour also.  Cherone was good live but definitely struggled with the Sammy stuff. His stage image/presence (which I never noticed much in Extreme as it seems to fit) didn't suit VH at all I thought- he prances around like a bit of a fairy.  On the whole though I think he did a good job and I do recall him doing some crazy shit like climbing up and hanging on to the edge of a balcony in front of us.  I must have a photo somewhere.

So overall I dislike the album (although it has a few good moments) but enjoyed the tour.

[jjrock88]

Yes I did notice the prancing when watching the live clips

[bl5150]

Unfortunately DLR gives me the same feeling these days with his shimmying and tai chi/kendo moves    Although the stick twirling during the Jump solo is kinda cool.

[bl5150]

Here's an example of the Pyramaze I was talking about. The new singer sounds like he has the talent but the music to me is overproduced and they seem to be going for a "modern metal" sound that doesn't generally resonate with me.  I'll keep an open mind though until I hear it - it's getting strong reviews too.

https://youtu.be/Wnx9NfowCXc

[TAC]

Hey Brent, your thoughts on DLR solo and Van Hagar?

[bl5150]

Hey Brent, your thoughts on DLR solo and Van Hagar?

I'll start Top Tens on both of these soon but , in short ,I really like both.  I lost interest in Roth solo for the most part after A Little Ain't Enough, although Your Filthy Little Mouth and DLR Band have their moments.   Van Hagar were responsible for a couple of my all time favourite songs (Dreams being one) and appealed to my melodic sense as distinct from the humor , aggression and attitude that I love classic Van Halen for.  In my eyes they're two different bands and that's why I felt it might be better to separate the Top Tens.   I also felt that post OU812 Ed's lead guitar playing deteriorated quite a bit and became very repetitive , so that side of things lost some appeal. Some of Sammy's lyrics are downright awful at times too and the quality of the songwriting became a bit up and down.  Once the shit really started to hit the fan internally they got a bit darker on Balance and especially Humans Being .....it might have been interesting to hear what the next album revealed there.

I think all the Van Hagar albums have some great moments though and they're all still up among my most played albums ever. Live Without A Net is probably my all time favourite official music DVD release too.

I think I mentioned in my DLR era top 10 that only 5150 would rank above any of the DLR era VH albums for me these days and so I suppose that says something in terms of how I see it now.  It wouldn't have been so clear cut back in the 80's though - I really did love my Van Hagar. 

[BlobVanDam]

5150 would rank as one of my favourite VH albums overall (it would continue the tie for 2nd place), and F.U.C.K would easily top WACF and DD, and be on par with a couple of the others, so I consider the quality of those two to be as good as the Roth era. OU812 has some great songs, but it's a weaker album overall, and the production is shit. I don't care much for Balance, a couple of songs aside.

I'm glad you did the two eras separately here, because I had a hard enough time making a top 10 of just the DLR stuff. Becoming a fan after the fact, I generally don't care to compare them or choose one over the other, it's all good.

[jjrock88]

I'm just a casual Van Hagar fan, but "Dreams" & "Humans Being" are fantastic tracks

[BlobVanDam]

It's nice to see Humans Being get this much recognition. I'd expect a song recorded for a Best Of to get overlooked or ignored, but it's such a damn good song.

[SystematicThought]

The anger behind the song is really felt throughout the whole piece. I imagine if the lineup stuck together and continued being pissed off at each other, the resulting album could have been something really great. Balance had a bit of tension, but nowhere near what the next one could have been.

Also, thank God the brothers called the director of Twister who told them he didn't want a song about tornadoes, or else we would have gotten Sammy's original lyrics for "The Suck Zone"

[bl5150]

It's nice to see Humans Being get this much recognition.

Yeah - and I'm also pleasantly surprised to see my favourite deep cuts being so high on others lists too.

Also, thank God the brothers called the director of Twister who told them he didn't want a song about tornadoes, or else we would have gotten Sammy's original lyrics for "The Suck Zone"

   Sammy was in the WTF Zone with some of his lyrics.    Up For Breakfast too 

[bl5150]

Anyone who hasn't posted their lists yet - now's the time.  It'd be cool to get more than 4 entries if we can.

I'll summarise the results and get a Sammy era one started over the weekend.

[BlobVanDam]

I love Up For Breakfast, and I like the lyrics too, but to me they sound very sexually confused.

[SystematicThought]

I like those lyrics . I was ten when I heard it the first time and I thought he was literally talking about breakfast options. Ten year old me thought cream all over bananas sounded pretty good for breakfast.

Little did I know...

[WebRaider]

VH III was a poor effort overall and it's just nothing like VH but I still really dig "A Year to the Day" a whole bunch. Some cool playing from Eddie in that song (a bit different stylistically for him) and raw emotion from Cherone.

Thought Cherone did an awesome job on that tour... was extremely impressed. Of course sorta like bl5150 I have to preface the experience with the fact that I was front row and that was a small club show... VH in a small club??? Freaking awesome!!! Eddie ripping in your face? Yeah.

Unfortunately I saw them with Hagar on the horrid 04' tour that should have never been done. I've seen them three times with Roth since their comeback (was too young to have caught them prior to their breakup ) the last in 12' I was front row with my eldest offspring so it was exceptionally cool.

[bl5150]

Unfortunately I saw them with Hagar on the horrid 04' tour that should have never been done.

Some of you guys might be familiar with the Limited Edition EVH Art guitars that Eddie did - one of a kind hand striped designs that were played live, signed and auctioned off by Eddie gradually over the 04, 07-08 and 11-12 tours.

One of the 04 ones was sold in pieces    Says it all.

[SystematicThought]

Wasn't that one of the last shows of the tour where he got pissed off and smashed the guitar and then ran offstage?

And I think this picture sums up the 2004 tour. Jumbled and messy

[bl5150]

Ed doesn't have the Samurai hair there , so it's a good night     I believe the guitar in question was smashed in Hamilton, Ontario but I'm not 100% sure.  And Up For Breakfast was the song causing the problems if I recall correctly   Still sold for 10 grand   

The 07-08 (not so much 07 which got a bit average at times too) and 11-12 guitars were a much better standard of striping , autographing and general condition.

[bl5150]

Today's shirt and memorabilia is dedicated to WACF and Blob  - I don't have much memorabilia lying around but I found a signed album just to make it extra special for you.  The band looked so damn cool around this era.

The shirt below that is one I had forgotten about.  The Van Nailin' shirt was designed by Michael Starr of Steel Panther and of course as soon as I saw it I had to make some calls and get one for myself.  It took a lot of work as the guy who produced it was a unreliable tosser but I got it in the end.

[BlobVanDam]

Man, WACF doesn't even have a cool album cover to save it (although a signed vinyl is still very nice). Actually, Diver Down's album cover sucks too, and OU812 has the most dull band photo ever as its cover. I think the quality of their albums must be relative to how good the album cover is.

[bl5150]

Their two best album covers by a mile are the debut and 1984 IMO.  5150 and Balance are okay but none of the rest really do much for me.

[BlobVanDam]

Their two best album covers by a mile are the debut and 1984 IMO.

That alone backs up my theory! And I agree they're the best covers. VH2 also has a cool cover, with just the big logo, F.U.C.K is ok for the same reason. I'm undecided on what I think of the FW cover when I don't associate it with the music. I don't like the Balance cover. Too weird and serious and dark.

[bl5150]

The story behind the Fair Warning album art is certainly interesting anyway

"The original artwork is from a grotesque painting by Canadian artist William Kurelek (1927-1977). Raised on a prairie farm in midwestern Canada, he had experienced such a brutal childhood that he had become extremely withdrawn, eventually retiring into a private world of weird fantasies. In one of these, he imagined that if he cut off the flesh of his arm (lower right chamber) he would be shocked back to human feelings. When he actually made some cuts on his arm, he was admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. There, the 26 year old was given treatment for schizophrenia. Additionally, the sympathetic doctors gave Kurelek a room to pursue his artistic endeavors, a passion deemed helpful by his therapists. It was during this stay that he created a painting he called “The Maze”, a harrowing portrayal of his tortured youth in Canada during the Great Depression."

[BlobVanDam]

I'd seen the original artwork before, but I didn't know the story behind it. That's pretty metal.

[jjrock88]

I'd seen the original artwork before, but I didn't know the story behind it. That's pretty metal.

Cool, I always liked the FW cover