Coz, I love VHII and take it over their first album anyday.
Yikes, I cannot agree with that. I think
II is easily their second worst album of the Roth era (only better than the mediocre
Diver Down). It has a few good songs, but it cannot touch
I or
Fair Warning, easily the two best they did with Roth, and
Women and Children First and
1984 are also considerably better, IMO.
Forget the Sammy stuff
Rubbish.
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is great (probably THE heaviest VH record to date, and doesn't have any of those sappy ballads that can be found on the other Van Hagar records),
Balance is probably their most underrated record to date (very solid the whole way through, and with three or four truly great VH songs), and
5150 is good, as well (even though it sounds very dated).
And I gotta give a shout-out to III, the Cherone record. It is a lot better than most give it credit for being. No, it isn't as good as their best records, but it is better than the two worst Roth era records, as well as
OU812. There are some damn fine songs on that record.