OU812 Appreciation Thread (and other Van Halen worship allowed)

[Kwyjibo]

The only real integral part of Van Halen is Eddie Van Halen, not to take away from the others, but what made them unique is Eddie's guitar playing, no one played like that. Sure, DLR had a great part in them becoming famous, with his ego and his stage antics and Alex is a great drummer and Mike is at least a solid bass player, but none of them has such a distinctive, never heard before style.

[WardySI]

Will take all this period, the first couple DLR records and all the Van Hagar albums, all of them still regular plays although those Roth and first two Hagar records all in desperate need of remastering...

In respect to the OP while 5150 would probably take the win for nostalgic reasons, these days OU812 is my preferred Van Hagar and has been for a long time.  The heavy hitters are where it's at, Mine All Mine is the perfect opener, both Sucker and AFU are magnificent and agree the take it or leave it Source Of Infection actually works surprisingly well.  Of course love the kicking back Cabo Wabo and Black And Blue, neither have lost anything over the years and gotta shout out for the I'll Wait throwback of Feels So Good which often gets looked over albeit a sensational tune it is and deserves a look in.  In fact my least liked song is the usually much loved Finish What Ya Started go figure.

So for arguments sake ranking 5150 and OU812 equal and both essential.  I'd then put F.U.C.K. slightly ahead of Balance, the former the more complete but somewhat one directioned album (Judgement Day was IMO worth the price alone however) and the otherwise great Balance slightly behind due to too much filler (Seventh Seal and Aftershock however two of the best Hagar era songs, and Lordy me how great an album would it have been had they managed to write and include the very epic Humans Being and closed the album with the Japan bonus track Crossing Over right?)

Anyway yes, still enthusiastic with OU812

[hefdaddy42]

I don't understand anyone saying that Michael Anthony wasn't essential to VH.  Like, it doesn't compute.

I get preferring DLR to SH, or vice versa.  But Anthony's high vocal harmonies, regardless of who was the frontman, were almost as much of the VH sound as Eddie's playing.  His bass playing was good, but his vocals are what made him essential.

[SystematicThought]

Finally!

Thank you hef.

Sorry, every person in the Classic era is essential to the Van Halen sound

[Stadler]

I remember our local rock radio station (KSHE-95) playing the VH cover of Won't Get Fooled Again a ton from that "live" record. I didn't care for it.  It feels like one of those songs that no one should try to cover, and I say that as someone who likes the song more than I love it.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but just as observation, when I saw the Def Leppard/Kiss double bill, WGFA was that intro music for Leppard, and when the keyboard part happened, they switched to playing live, and Leppard finished the song.  It was not The Who, but it was cool for what it was.  Then during Kiss's set, during Lick It Up they also played a snippet of WGFA and and it also wasn't The Who but was cool for what it was.

I'm not sure in all my years of seeing shows that an opener played the same song as the headliner in the same show.

[KevShmev]

Will take all this period, the first couple DLR records and all the Van Hagar albums, all of them still regular plays although those Roth and first two Hagar records all in desperate need of remastering...

In respect to the OP while 5150 would probably take the win for nostalgic reasons, these days OU812 is my preferred Van Hagar and has been for a long time.  The heavy hitters are where it's at, Mine All Mine is the perfect opener, both Sucker and AFU are magnificent and agree the take it or leave it Source Of Infection actually works surprisingly well.  Of course love the kicking back Cabo Wabo and Black And Blue, neither have lost anything over the years and gotta shout out for the I'll Wait throwback of Feels So Good which often gets looked over albeit a sensational tune it is and deserves a look in.  In fact my least liked song is the usually much loved Finish What Ya Started go figure.

So for arguments sake ranking 5150 and OU812 equal and both essential.  I'd then put F.U.C.K. slightly ahead of Balance, the former the more complete but somewhat one directioned album (Judgement Day was IMO worth the price alone however) and the otherwise great Balance slightly behind due to too much filler (Seventh Seal and Aftershock however two of the best Hagar era songs, and Lordy me how great an album would it have been had they managed to write and include the very epic Humans Being and closed the album with the Japan bonus track Crossing Over right?)

Anyway yes, still enthusiastic with OU812

Nice post.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think the band ever played Feels So Good live.  That is a crying shame.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but just as observation, when I saw the Def Leppard/Kiss double bill, WGFA was that intro music for Leppard, and when the keyboard part happened, they switched to playing live, and Leppard finished the song.  It was not The Who, but it was cool for what it was.  Then during Kiss's set, during Lick It Up they also played a snippet of WGFA and and it also wasn't The Who but was cool for what it was.

I'm not sure in all my years of seeing shows that an opener played the same song as the headliner in the same show.

Makes you wonder if that was planned or if it was just a coincidence.

[TAC]

First time I saw KISS was the Asylum tour, and they play WGFA for the encore. I was like WTF? It was a short set and I thought they should've given that time to their own material.

[KevShmev]

Kiss playing covers rather than their own material can only be a good thing.

[TAC]

[KevShmev]

I just saw that film for the first time this past holiday season!  Solid Christmas flick.

[TAC]

I just saw that film for the first time this past holiday season!  Solid Christmas flick.

The first time?? Shit that's one movie my family always agrees on. I'm generally not a Wil Ferrill guy, but that movie is pretty much perfect.

[Peter Mc]

Finally!

Thank you hef.

Sorry, every person in the Classic era is essential to the Van Halen sound

Whilst that may be true, I would say that if you put Eddie with any other 3 guys, I’m listening to it. If you put the other 3 guys in a band, without Eddie, I’d have zero interest unless I particularly liked the guitar player.

[bosk1]

How could anything be a let down after 5150? 5150 blew big chunks.

You spelled "5150 is easily the best Van Halen album of all time" wrong.

As for the thread topic, I'm late to the party, but that's because I've been struggling for something positive to say.  VH was a very hit-and-miss band, and that album was a miss for me, despite that I really liked the two albums on either side of it. 

[jammindude]

How could anything be a let down after 5150? 5150 blew big chunks.

You spelled "5150 is easily the best Van Halen album of all time" wrong.

As for the thread topic, I'm late to the party, but that's because I've been struggling for something positive to say.  VH was a very hit-and-miss band, and that album was a miss for me, despite that I really liked the two albums on either side of it.

Totally with Bosk on this one.   Every word.   5150 and For Unlawful are *the* Hagar albums for me.  And yes, VH in general is often hit or miss for me.

[jingle.boy]

I just saw that film for the first time this past holiday season!  Solid Christmas flick.

 

It is *the* Christmas essential movie for the jingle.family.  Every Christmas Eve since it came out.