Before I get onto my #1 (world's worst kept secret - the band at least) I'll thank all you fogeys and fogeys-in-waiting for participating and making this thread - in the Olympic tradition - the best Top 50 ever
I made it a much bigger task than it needed to be but I wanted it to be not only a list of classics but a bit of a chance to discover some new bands . If anyone needs any help/info on any of the bands mentioned then just PM me.
And so......the winner is..................
#1: Nitro - O.F.R.
Released 19891. Freight Train
2. Double Trouble
3. Machine Gunn Eddie
4. Long Way From Home
5. Bring it Down
6. Nasty Reputation
7. Fighting Mad
8. Shot Heard 'Round the World
9. O.F.R.
Oops - wrong file........
#1 Van Halen : Van Halen
Released 19781. Runnin' With The Devil
2. Eruption
3. You Really Got Me Cover: The Kinks
4. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
5. I'm The One
6. Jamie's Cryin'
7. Atomic Punk
8. Feel Your love
9. Little Dreamer
10. Ice Cream Man
11. On Fire
if ever there was a simple album cover that did a great job of letting you know exactly what was inside then this was it - Eddie's guitar generating it's own heat , David Lee Roth holding his mic suggestively......you just knew this was going to rock. I wasn't even around (music aware ) but I can only imagine the impact this album had - it sounds bloody heavy today let alone in 1978 and is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest debut rock/metal albums ever. I've certainly never heard anything from that era that even comes close. For me it is THE best ever.
As I stated at #3 , when it comes to purely music my #1 is Images and Words. Van Halen in particular though interacted with me on another level and it wasn't just the music - it was attitude , swagger and humour. It's metal and it's tons of fun. Many of the things I love about Van Halen are very much love/hate and so I totally understand why people don't "get" the classic Van Halen albums .
My Van Halen experience started in 1984 at the age of 10. I was already a big KISS fan and Van Halen were my 2nd major band. It would be easy to imagine that I first heard them on the radio playing Jump or Panama but that's not the case. Like Ozzy , my first exposure to the band was on the late night Australian music show called Rage. They had one of their metal specials on and it was a group of four videos - the three track "live" promo they recorded at The Whiskey featuring Running With The Devil , You Really Got Me and Jamie's Cryin' , along with the live clip from Fresno 1979 of Dance The Night Away. I've included a couple of the clips below along with another very patchy audience clip from the same Fresno gig of Light Up The Sky ..............this 78-79 period was when they really owned the stage and were near untouchable. Recently there was an amazing clear upgrade of this Fresno gig on Youtube but the
took it down before I could get around to capturing it.
I saw VH recently and wasn't greatly impressed - DLR sang while chewing gum FFS - but it was in this 1979 period that I wish to God they'd recorded professional live footage (perhaps they have it stashed?) because contrary to the myth Roth was good live back then , hit all the high notes and remembered "the fucking words." That didn't last long though
You Really Got Me (Whiskey promo)Dance The Night Away (live)Light Up The sky (audience)So 1984 was my first purchase and I worked my way backwards. If I was to rank my Top 20 most listened to albums of all time then all of the VH albums from the debut to OU812 would be represented in that list.
Back to the debut - I'm told that it was a WTF moment for the guitar playing community the likes of which had not been seen since the arrival of Hendrix and it's not hard to see why. It wasn't just the 2 handed tapping , or Eddie's brutal "warm up exercise" Eruption that inspired a generation of shredders - there was a heaviness, a fire on this album that is still pretty much unmatched. And that's why it gets the gong amongst their catalogue - although each album has its special place with me (Fair Warning and 1984 were under consideration) I don't think they ever matched or bettered it in terms of :
- Eddie's guitar sound and playing. I don't believe he really progressed greatly as a player over time - in fact I think he went backward in many ways during the 79-82 period and peaked again around 84-88.
- heaviness
- production (most albums released today don't sound near as good) .........recorded pretty much live in the space of a week , like most of their albums
Like Dream Theater with Labrie , Van Halen started at the peak of their powers and it was damn hard trying to even maintain similar altitude.
As I worked my way through their catalogue I just fell in love with the whole vibe of the band. Not only was the music rocking , the guitar playing brilliant etc... (if very unorthodox and not very "musical" at times) but there was an intangible element to the band that connected with me. I pretty much loved everything about them ...............from Roth's ADHD style , charisma, humour and vocal histronics to the whole idea of the band throwing in ad libs , "Whoo"'s , "Owww"'s and laughter in the background - nobody else had the nads to pull this stuff off. And each time I listen with ear buds in I hear something new. Then their was their bitching logo, Eddie's cool look , his striped guitars,his pick slides and whammy bar feel, his penchant for going mad scientist with his gear and certainly the comedy value in many of their songs.
Eddie's playing also connected with me in a way nobody else did. As a musician who reached a decent level myself - I don't consider Eddie a great master of the instrument in a truly musical sense. He wouldn't know a Dorian mode if it hit him in the guts. He once described his own playing as "falling down the stairs and landing on my feet" and that's how I see it too - he's very much a feel player who manages to make weird shit sound good. And like most players of this type , when they have an off night (especially an improv) they can sound bloody awful and I've heard Ed sound terrible too. All that said he had a fire and a cheeky humour that he was able to get across in his playing that matched the music and Roth's attitude.....and the chops to make it sound damn special.
Some quick thoughts on the other albums:
VH 2 : A flat production ,a questionable cover of You're No Good and yet an all time favourite or two like Light up The Sky. I feel on this album and WACF the humour element took over a bit and while the music wasn't quite as strong , tracks like DOA and Beautiful Girls were certainly entertaining
Women and Children First: Moved even further in the humour direction - still a very good album but songs like Fools, Romeo Delight, Everybody Wants Some and Take Your Whiskey Home were again great for a laugh and cool songs but not quite in the class of the debut. Ed's lead playing was not as strong around this time either IMHO
Fair Warning: More complex arrangements , a darker mood and yet still plenty of laughs on tracks like Dirty Movies and One Foot Out The Door (dat solo
). Certainly a highlight and Ed's rhythm playing seriously impressed too. Possibly their best writing along with the debut and 1984.
Diver Down: An album that was rushed into existence and written and recorded in weeks due to the label demanding an album after the unexpected success of (Oh) Pretty Woman .........sure it's half covers but still contains some great moments - Little Guitars, The Full Bug and Secrets among them. The rhythm playing on Hang Em High is uber cool.
1984: Ed stepped up the leads here and regained a lot of the fire of the debut and his playing was again more varied and inspired. Whatever you think of Jump and Panama (I have no problem with them) there's some blistering stuff on this and great aggression reminiscent of the debut in songs like Girl Gone Bad and House of Pain. Top Jimmy is a cracker too.
5150: Sammy's debut and while it sounds like ass now , back in the day I loved it. Still a huge fan of Dreams, Summer Nights, 5150 etc...... but avoid a number of songs.
OU812: Under rated and suffered from a weak production but this is the last album that really inspired me with it's guitar work - Sucker In A 3 Piece is Eddie going out with a bang. Some clunkers on here but Mine All Mine, AFU and Sucker are
FUCK/Balance : Not the VH I grew to love - Eddie lost the Kramer for a fat sounding EBMM and his fire went with it. He started recycling stale licks over and over and for me that was a real loss. Having said that I still love both records as they still contain some wonderful songs and it's on songs like Pleasure Dome that Alex and Mikey get time to shine. It becomes obvious that Alex has progressed a ton over the years. Faves from these albums: Judgement Day, The Dream Is Over, Pleasure Dome , Seventh Seal , Feelin'
ADKOT: A fine return to form - plenty not to like but was far better than I expected and Roth's lyrics are masterful.
There's my mini VH Discography thread - done
Oh - did I forget 3 ? Oops
So there we have it - a pretty clear number one for me and the leftovers from the writing prior to this album fueled much of the rest of their catalogue. There's plenty of trivia around the album and I have half a room full of memorabilia I could chat about, but I'm already in tl:dr territory.
Favourite Tracks: All of em but if I had to pick one - I'll go for one out of left field with
On Fire.Thanks guys
I can now get back to discovering new music and posting weird shit in the album listening thread - both of which i have missed.
Honourable Mention: Brazen Abbott: Live and Learn