Van Halen appreciation thread

[HOF]

I don’t care how VH like it is, VH III is the most musically interesting VH album. It’s great.

[King Postwhore]

Every now and then I dust off my copy of Van Halen III and play it, thinking I might have missed something. Every time, the result is the same: it still sucks. The only song worth listening to is Fire in the Hole.

Once and From Afar are also good, IMO, although very un-VH-like. But other than that, the album is tripe.

I disagree. It just needs a real producer to reign Eddie in. Not a friend.

[TAC]

It's not even that it's un-VH. It just plain sucks straight out.

[King Postwhore]

Wrong. Eddie was allowed to do what he wanted. It's well known that Eddie works parts but needs guidance to structure a song. He had no one to tell him otherwise.

Do you even Van Halen?

[KevShmev]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

[King Postwhore]

REO looked good though. It went in progression as good, better, great.

[KevShmev]

We didn't stay for REO. 

[HOF]

I saw Loverboy 16 or 17 year ago and they were old then.

[King Postwhore]

We didn't stay for REO. 

WTF!

[KevShmev]

We didn't stay for REO. 

WTF!

The concert was on a Friday night, it was hot, and IIRC my brother and I had both had rough work weeks, so by the time Styx was done, we were both like, "Let's go."  We both like REO, but we were there for Styx, plus the venue was packed, and neither of us wanted to be up till 1 am (that venue can sometimes take an hour to get out of the parking lot when it is that packed).  We both made an old man decision.

[cramx3]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

[Stadler]

And even that was a couple years ago.

[EPICVIEW]

And even that was a couple years ago.

did he wear the red leather pants?  : )

[EPICVIEW]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

im kinda shocked   they sounded just fine   go figure

[cramx3]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

im kinda shocked   they sounded just fine   go figure

They sound live and raw, which I love, but still, sound a bit old to me on vocals.  I also think Sammy sounds pretty old on the vocals too.  Overall, definitely thought they were a solid classic rock opener. My only negative is that I just saw them so I'd rather another band open, but that is no fault of anyone but myself going to so many shows.

[jjrock88]

Loverboy is a great band and a great choice for an opener.  This "new" version of Van Halen is obviously the last version of the band that will play live, so I'm all for it.  Joe Satriani and EVH are my two favorite guitarists of all time, so my interest in this is high.

[bosk1]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

im kinda shocked   they sounded just fine   go figure

They sound live and raw, which I love, but still, sound a bit old to me on vocals.  I also think Sammy sounds pretty old on the vocals too.  Overall, definitely thought they were a solid classic rock opener. My only negative is that I just saw them so I'd rather another band open, but that is no fault of anyone but myself going to so many shows.

I never cared for Loverboy even a little bit, so it's unfair for me to comment on them.  But as for Sammy, yeah, he does sound old, but still credibly carries the songs.  At this stage in life, he's kind of like Bruce Dickinson (and, no, I'm not saying he's on Bruce's level) in that, yes, his voice sounds tired and worn at times, and he sounds like an older singer, but still has a ton of energy and power and is able to inject his vocal performances with a level of that energy and power that still sells the songs well, even though they of course don't sound like they did in the '80s. 

[EPICVIEW]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

im kinda shocked   they sounded just fine   go figure

They sound live and raw, which I love, but still, sound a bit old to me on vocals.  I also think Sammy sounds pretty old on the vocals too.  Overall, definitely thought they were a solid classic rock opener. My only negative is that I just saw them so I'd rather another band open, but that is no fault of anyone but myself going to so many shows.

agreed   I was just talking about that RAW sound that is missing often  I saw Aerosmith in Philly and UBS before Tylers injury and they were soooooooo great and so RAW and it was such a great show UBS far better than Philly...  and then I was watching Kiss who ive gone to many times over the years( along with Aerosmith ) and the last shows seemed so piped in and it lost the charm...

[cramx3]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

im kinda shocked   they sounded just fine   go figure

They sound live and raw, which I love, but still, sound a bit old to me on vocals.  I also think Sammy sounds pretty old on the vocals too.  Overall, definitely thought they were a solid classic rock opener. My only negative is that I just saw them so I'd rather another band open, but that is no fault of anyone but myself going to so many shows.

agreed   I was just talking about that RAW sound that is missing often  I saw Aerosmith in Philly and UBS before Tylers injury and they were soooooooo great and so RAW and it was such a great show UBS far better than Philly...  and then I was watching Kiss who ive gone to many times over the years( along with Aerosmith ) and the last shows seemed so piped in and it lost the charm...

Yeah, Aerosmith in 2022 was really good for me.  Sure, old sounding, what do you expect? But I just love when a band is completely live and you can hear and feel that.  I'll take a struggling live performance any day over backing track perfect sounding show.  (and I don't think anyone was struggling in the examples given here) 

Another older band I saw last year, Jefferson Starship, was incredible.  Sure they sounded old, they are! But they also were pretty damn good and I will give credit to anyone who is over the age of 80 and out there performing well.

[Stadler]

^ Where did you see Jefferson Starship?  I bet that was a good show. 

[cramx3]

^ Where did you see Jefferson Starship?  I bet that was a good show.

They opened for Bret Michaels last summer. Yeah, I enjoyed their opening set.

[lightningbolt]

It's not even that it's un-VH. It just plain sucks straight out.

Yeah, I recall that it is a very rough and jarring listen. I don't like the Hagar era songs or albums, but I don't find the songs completely unlistenable like I do with respect to the tracks on VH3.  I absolutely can't stand Gary's (or Ed's on How Many Say I) singing on the album either.  I have revisited it a few times over the years, but it has only strengthened my initial opinion.  Fortunately, I never purchased this album.

Crazy to think Van Halen only released one studio album after VH3 along with a couple of additional Van Hagar tracks.  I do still enjoy "A Different Kind of Truth," so I'm happy we got something along with a few tours with DLR.  It just could have been so much more.  Then again, maybe that was all this crew was capable of producing post VH3 when you consider how dysfunctional they appeared to be.

[TAC]

I'm not a fan of Gary Cherone's voice to begin with. I respect him and his talent, but he's not the first really good singer to not resonate with me.

ADKOT was surprisingly good.

[cramx3]

Crazy to think Van Halen only released one studio album after VH3 along with a couple of additional Van Hagar tracks.  I do still enjoy "A Different Kind of Truth," so I'm happy we got something along with a few tours with DLR.  It just could have been so much more.  Then again, maybe that was all this crew was capable of producing post VH3 when you consider how dysfunctional they appeared to be.

Considering ADKoT was also a lot of old unreleased songs, you are probably right that they just weren't capable of making VH music anymore for whatever reason.

ADKOT was surprisingly good.

Yeah, it's solid.

[EPICVIEW]

III is not un-VH-like.  That is what Van Halen sounded like in 1998.

Also, I don't see Loverboy being the opener as being a good thing on Sammy's tour.  We saw them open for Styx last year, and they sounded older than they looked...and they looked OLD.

Yeah Loverboy sounded and looked pretty old last summer Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel NJ 9/3/2023

im kinda shocked   they sounded just fine   go figure

They sound live and raw, which I love, but still, sound a bit old to me on vocals.  I also think Sammy sounds pretty old on the vocals too.  Overall, definitely thought they were a solid classic rock opener. My only negative is that I just saw them so I'd rather another band open, but that is no fault of anyone but myself going to so many shows.

agreed   I was just talking about that RAW sound that is missing often  I saw Aerosmith in Philly and UBS before Tylers injury and they were soooooooo great and so RAW and it was such a great show UBS far better than Philly...  and then I was watching Kiss who ive gone to many times over the years( along with Aerosmith ) and the last shows seemed so piped in and it lost the charm...

Yeah, Aerosmith in 2022 was really good for me.  Sure, old sounding, what do you expect? But I just love when a band is completely live and you can hear and feel that.  I'll take a struggling live performance any day over backing track perfect sounding show.  (and I don't think anyone was struggling in the examples given here) 

Another older band I saw last year, Jefferson Starship, was incredible.  Sure they sounded old, they are! But they also were pretty damn good and I will give credit to anyone who is over the age of 80 and out there performing well.

I agree bro   give me raw and authentic   If I want to hear it sound like the record Ill play the records at home... I want a LIVE show and to see real stars

[lightningbolt]

ADKOT was surprisingly good.

I was so happy when it didn't suck and was actually good.  I was very worried going into that release.  Wish they had played a few more of the tracks live, "As Is" is the first one of those that comes to mind.  I still listen to the album fairly often.

[Stadler]

ADKOT was surprisingly good.

I was so happy when it didn't suck and was actually good.  I was very worried going into that release.  Wish they had played a few more of the tracks live, "As Is" is the first one of those that comes to mind.  I still listen to the album fairly often.

It was my AOTY in 2012, and my third favorite VH record in our recent poll. 

[WardySI]

Agree ADKOT was surprisingly good particularly after first single Tattoo which turned out okay as an album cut but yeah...

Why though is it not available on streaming services?

[Stadler]

Agree ADKOT was surprisingly good particularly after first single Tattoo which turned out okay as an album cut but yeah...

Why though is it not available on streaming services?

Wolfie talked about that; I think it's a combination of things, but ultimately falls down to Alex and Dave not seeing eye-to-eye and not LOVING the record in hindsight.   That's what I took from the discussion.

[cramx3]

Agree ADKOT was surprisingly good particularly after first single Tattoo which turned out okay as an album cut but yeah...

Why though is it not available on streaming services?

Wolfie talked about that; I think it's a combination of things, but ultimately falls down to Alex and Dave not seeing eye-to-eye and not LOVING the record in hindsight.   That's what I took from the discussion.

Thats odd.  It seems pretty well received.  But I understand theres likely a lot of complications between these guys.

[Kwyjibo]

I would have thought that it's mostly the record company that decides what's on those streaming services.

[hefdaddy42]

I would have thought that it's mostly the record company that decides what's on those streaming services.

In this case, it's apparently Dave holding things up.

[Kwyjibo]

I would have thought that it's mostly the record company that decides what's on those streaming services.

In this case, it's apparently Dave holding things up.

Probably, but I find it interesting that he has the right(s) to do this. Especially when everything else is on there.

[jjrock88]

It took awhile to warm up to the "Tattoo" song.  But after that track, ADKOT was pretty kick ass.  Not sure how many songs were from the 70's, but it was a much better album than I expected.  Haven't played it in quite some time though.

[Kwyjibo]

Tattoo is probably the worst song, but it's still solid. But when I heard the solo back then, I thought, yeah, Eddie's stil got it. 

The rest of that record is really really good, much better than I expected. And it still holds up for me, just spun it recently.