Favorite Van Halen album sides of the original David Lee Roth era

[KevShmev]

This is my new idea for a series of threads to keep us distracted during these stressful times.

Pick your 3 favorite album sides of these options.

First two were easy for me: Side 1 of the debut and Side 1 of Fair Warning.  I eventually went with Side 2 from the debut as well. I might have picked Side 1 of 1984, but Top Jimmy isn't nearly as strong as the rest of the songs there.

[Mladen]

I would also choose side one of the debut and side one of Fair warning. The former is flawless, actually.

[jammindude]

This almost isn’t fair. Because Side 1 of the debut is kinda loaded. I almost wanted to pick something else just so it wouldn’t be lopsided, because there’s a lot of good stuff here.

My honorary mentions would go to Women Side 2, Warning Side 1, and DD side 2. That last one might surprise some, but it’s just extremely diverse and still really fun. Almost every facet of VH is in the mix on that side.

[DragonAttack]

Sides 1 and 2 of the first album, Side One of 'Women and Children First'.

Honorable mention to combining 'Diver Down' to twenty minutes, same with VHII (since its so damn short anyway)

[Kwyjibo]

1984 side 1
Fair Warning side 1
Debut side 1

[pg1067]

I went with side 1 of Diver Down (side 1 of the debut and FW would be second and third in some order).

Damn, these were SHORT albums (EPs by today's standards):

VH - 35:34
VHII - 31:36
WACF - 33:35
FW - 31:11
DD - 31:04
1984 - 33:22

[Stadler]

Side 1 of Fair Warning took me longer to click than it did to decide.  That's Van Halen in a nutshell, if you're asking me.

I went in the ditch for the rest, though:
Side 2 of the debut
Side 2 of Diver Down

[Dream Team]

Whoops only picked one. Side 2 of VH.

[TAC]

Side 1 of Fair Warning took me longer to click than it did to decide.  That's Van Halen in a nutshell, if you're asking me.

Where every album side has it's flaws, I feel that Side 1 of Fair Warning is easily the most consistently good.

[jammindude]

I went with side 1 of Diver Down (side 1 of the debut and FW would be second and third in some order).

Damn, these were SHORT albums (EPs by today's standards):

VH - 35:34
VHII - 31:36
WACF - 33:35
FW - 31:11
DD - 31:04
1984 - 33:22

But since they were literally pumping out an album per year (instead of the 2 or sometimes 3 years we wait for an hour or so of music today) it balances out.

[Stadler]

I went with side 1 of Diver Down (side 1 of the debut and FW would be second and third in some order).

Damn, these were SHORT albums (EPs by today's standards):

VH - 35:34
VHII - 31:36
WACF - 33:35
FW - 31:11
DD - 31:04
1984 - 33:22

But since they were literally pumping out an album per year (instead of the 2 or sometimes 3 years we wait for an hour or so of music today) it balances out.

Kiss was the same way.

1974:
 Kiss - 35:11
 Hotter Than Hell - 33:02
1975
 Dressed To Kill - 30:02
 Alive!
1976
 Destroyer - 34:28
 Rock And Roll Over - 33:18
1977
 Love Gun - 32:53
 Alive II

Each two albums is over an hour of music, and so they put out almost three hours and 20 minutes of (studio) music - not counting the studio side of Alive II, which is another 16:00 - in the span of four years.   Maiden - who is somewhat prolific, relatively speaking, certainly on an album-by-album basis - has put out six hours and fifteen minutes of studio work in the 21st century, 20 years.

[TAC]

This is really tough. When faced with decisions like this, I have to use the desert island scenario, as in, these are the only 3 sides you'll be able to listen to for the rest of your life.

No album side is perfect IMO. Unfortunately, my 4 or 5 favorite songs from each album are split up on different sides.

That said, I'd probably so...

Side 1 or FW
Side 2 of VH1 (Contains Atomic Punk, my favorite VH song)
Side 2 of VHII

[KevShmev]

This is really tough. When faced with decisions like this, I have to use the desert island scenario, as in, these are the only 3 sides you'll be able to listen to for the rest of your life.

No album side is perfect IMO. Unfortunately, my 4 or 5 favorite songs from each album are split up on different sides.

That said, I'd probably so...

Side 1 or FW
Side 2 of VH1 (Contains Atomic Punk, my favorite VH song)
Side 2 of VHII

Using that logic, I would have picked Side 2 of VH1 quicker since there is no way I'd want to go without Atomic Punk as well or Little Dreamer, not to mention that the rest of the side is nails.  Then again, most album sides in this poll have songs I wouldn't want to go without (except maybe both Diver Down sides ).

[TAC]

But I use that logic because if you didn't, there'd be no way else to narrow it down. And yes, the only album without consideration would be Diver Down.

It hurt not picking WACF, because if I was picking 5 sides, both of those would've made the list.

[KevShmev]

Mayday! Mayday!

[TAC]

I LOVE Loss Of Control. Highly underrated.

[DragonAttack]

Kiss was the same way.
<snip>

1975
 Dressed To Kill - 30:02
 

With the annoying eight to ten seconds of silence between each track on the vinyl, and then still years later on the CD , which I certainly edited down when recording or ripping.

Always wish that Eddie would have had an extended jam (be it two or five minutes) in the middle of one song on each VH album, just to fill them out more. 

[pg1067]

I went with side 1 of Diver Down (side 1 of the debut and FW would be second and third in some order).

Damn, these were SHORT albums (EPs by today's standards):

VH - 35:34
VHII - 31:36
WACF - 33:35
FW - 31:11
DD - 31:04
1984 - 33:22

But since they were literally pumping out an album per year (instead of the 2 or sometimes 3 years we wait for an hour or so of music today) it balances out.

Kiss was the same way.

1974:
 Kiss - 35:11
 Hotter Than Hell - 33:02
1975
 Dressed To Kill - 30:02
 Alive!
1976
 Destroyer - 34:28
 Rock And Roll Over - 33:18
1977
 Love Gun - 32:53
 Alive II

Each two albums is over an hour of music, and so they put out almost three hours and 20 minutes of (studio) music - not counting the studio side of Alive II, which is another 16:00 - in the span of four years.   Maiden - who is somewhat prolific, relatively speaking, certainly on an album-by-album basis - has put out six hours and fifteen minutes of studio work in the 21st century, 20 years.

Not uncommon for the era, although I think most bands shot for something close to 20 minutes per album side.  I remember when Powerslave was released; it was a BIG deal that they crammed over 25 minutes per side.  When CDs became the dominant medium, both albums and the time between them got longer.

Rush's first 10 studio albums were released over a span of 10 years, 1 month and 1 days (392:45 in total or 38.94 per year).  Their final 9 studio albums were released over a span of 26 years, 7 months and 29 days (499:25 in total or 18:44 per year).  Obviously, this doesn't include live albums or Feedback.

[Lowdz]

Didn't realise I could have three!
Went for side one of Fair Warning, my favourite VH album. Made my top 50.

I'd also add side 1 of 1984 and side one of the debut.

I was a pretty casual VH fan back in the day. Their albums were short and still had too much filler. Their best tracks are as good as anyone's though.

[Lowdz]

It's pretty criminal that Eddie has hardly released any music in the last 20 years. He must have lost all love for music? Either that or he has a huge vault of unreleased stuff.

[Stadler]

WTF with the hate for Diver Down???   I love that record.   In fact, for me:

1. Fair Warning
2. Diver Down
3. Van Halen
4. 1984
5. Van Halen II
6. Women And Children First (though it has my favorite DLR VH song, "In A Simple Rhyme")

[TAC]

I'd go:

1. Fair Warning
2. VH I, VH II, WACF
3. 1984
4. Diver Down

[KevShmev]

WTF with the hate for Diver Down???   I love that record.   

Diver Down is not a bad record. It's just not nearly as good as any of the other Roth albums.  Or any of the Sammy ones, for that matter.

[TAC]

It's not really a good record either. Aren't there only like 4 actual songs on it?

[Lowdz]

WTF with the hate for Diver Down???   I love that record.   

Diver Down is not a bad record. It's just not nearly as good as any of the other Roth albums.  Or any of the Sammy ones, for that matter.

Big Bad Bill and Happy Trails are awesome. The rest, not so much. And I'm not joking.

[KevShmev]

Little Guitars is the best original tune, IMO, and I like Secrets as well.  Some of the covers are nice as well (Pretty Woman and Where Have All the Good Times Gone). 

[Lowdz]

Little Guitars is the best original tune, IMO, and I like Secrets as well.  Some of the covers are nice as well (Pretty Woman and Where Have All the Good Times Gone).

I didn't realise WHATGTG was a cover.

[TAC]

So the original songs on Diver Down:

Hang 'Em High
Secrets
Little Guitars
The Full Bug
…
and Big Bad Bill

4 1/2 original tracks.


Sorry, that album is not even close.

[KevShmev]

I sort of get the appeal of Big Bad Bill, as VH has no one other song like that in their history, so it is unique in that regard, but The Full Bug is about as bland a song as you can imagine. 

[Lowdz]

1. Fair Warning
2. VH I, 1984
4. WACF
5. VHII
6. Diver Down

[Lowdz]

Diver Down was the first VH album I bought too. 

[TAC]

I sort of get the appeal of Big Bad Bill, as VH has no one other song like that in their history, so it is unique in that regard, but The Full Bug is about as bland a song as you can imagine.

I like Big Bad Bill too, especially as it has the old man on it. I think that's neat. But it's effect is minimized by the handful of cover tunes including the lame as hell Happy Trails.

[pg1067]

Little Guitars is the best original tune, IMO, and I like Secrets as well.  Some of the covers are nice as well (Pretty Woman and Where Have All the Good Times Gone).

I didn't realise WHATGTG was a cover.

I didn't realize it was until fairly recently.  If you listen to the original, you can see that they really made it their own song.  Both WHATGTG and Pretty Woman are excellent covers (especially the latter with Intruder as an intro).  Dancing in the Street is less successful IMO.

I sort of get the appeal of Big Bad Bill, as VH has no one other song like that in their history, so it is unique in that regard, but The Full Bug is about as bland a song as you can imagine. 

I don't disagree about those comments about BBB, but none of that makes it a good song.  I guess it's good for its style, but I have no interest in ever listening to it again.  Happy Trails is an afterthought.  The Full Bug sounds like Eddie came into the studio and said, "I've got this killer rock song, but it's really short," and someone else said, "hey, let's combine it with a ripoff of that old ZZ Top song where the guy mumbles unintelligibly," and Dave then said, "dude, I can totally mumble unintelligibly!"

Hang 'Em High is one of my favorite VH tracks.  Secrets is meh, and Little Guitars is very cool.

[Stadler]

Little Guitars is the best original tune, IMO, and I like Secrets as well.  Some of the covers are nice as well (Pretty Woman and Where Have All the Good Times Gone).

I didn't realise WHATGTG was a cover.

The Kinks. They did another Kinks cover once before.   

[TAC]

Little Guitars is the best original tune, IMO, and I like Secrets as well.  Some of the covers are nice as well (Pretty Woman and Where Have All the Good Times Gone).

I didn't realise WHATGTG was a cover.

The Kinks. They did another Kinks cover once before. 

They did??