Van Halen studio albums countdown thread! (#01 featured!!)

[King Postwhore]

The album that made Eddie build 5150 studios.  They recorded Pretty Woman and the record company forced them to make a full album.  Little Guitars is a fantastic tune on an average album. It was # 10 for me. 

[HOF]

During the last VH countdown, I got to really like this album. The covers are great, and you have really fun original tracks like Hang ‘Em High, Secrets, and Little Wings, plus the beautiful Cathedral. Big Bad Bill, The Full Bug, and Happy Trails are a bit of a letdown at the end, but it’s obvious they were just having some fun with this one.

I ranked it 6th, which was the highest of the DLR albums for me.

[Dream Team]

Yeah they kinda mailed it in with this one, they were never really a hardworking band and these short run times (of both songs and albums) sometimes show a lack of imagination or fleshing out ideas. Definitely a few really good songs here but easily the worst by far of the Roth albums.

[Samsara]

Nailed this at #11. I just find this record to be pointless.

Ranking things that are cover records has always been a roll your eyes moment for me. It's essentially an EP. The originals should have been used on a proper full album.

[jammindude]

Ok. I’ll be that guy.

I LOVE Diver Down. I had it at #6 and it’s my 3rd highest Dave album. I originally had it lower, but the more I thought about it, the more seeing it that low didn’t sit well.  This album is just so much fun. To this day, I can still occasionally be heard singing Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now while making omelets on a Saturday in the summer and dancing my fool ass off.  The Full Bug and Hang Em High are some of the best DLR/EVH songs in existence. Little Guitars isn’t far behind. The covers are wonderful! 

When I listen to this album from start to finish, it only makes me smile for a half an hour straight.

Bom ba ditta bom ba ditta

[HOF]

Ok. I’ll be that guy.

I LOVE Diver Down. I had it at #6 and it’s my 3rd highest Dave album. I originally had it lower, but the more I thought about it, the more seeing it that low didn’t sit well.  This album is just so much fun. To this day, I can still occasionally be heard singing Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now while making omelets on a Saturday in the summer and dancing my fool ass off.  The Full Bug and Hang Em High are some of the best DLR/EVH songs in existence. Little Guitars isn’t far behind. The covers are wonderful! 

When I listen to this album from start to finish, it only makes me smile for a half an hour straight.

Bom ba ditta bom ba ditta

I'm with you (also ranked it 6th). It's just a fun listen from start to finish. Doesn't bother me in the least that it has covers or is short.

[devieira73]

The album that made Eddie build 5150 studios.  They recorded Pretty Woman and the record company forced them to make a full album.  Little Guitars is a fantastic tune on an average album. It was # 10 for me.

I didn't know that, the recording sounds really good!  Listening to it right now, Dacing in the Street is so cool... yes, it's really a great EP!

[devieira73]

People kind of always belittle bands for doing covers... but doing excellent versions like VH is clearly on another level to me.

[jjrock88]

Big fan of Diver Down.  The first six VH albums are my favorite from the band without question.

[bosk1]

OK, yeah, I'll be the guy to shake things up a bit.  Here's where these two albums fall for me:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7.  III
8.  Diver Down
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 

III.  This album ranked higher for me than I thought it would.  I'm a fan of Cherone's vocals, so that was never an issue for me.  What was an issue, and was a BIG issue at the time, was that the band treated him as just "singer #3," to the title of the album, how the tour was handled, etc. really rubbed me the wrong way.  In theory, the tour-first/write-second approach seems like it should have worked better.  But in practice, I'm not sure it would have made a huge difference.

Diver Down:  I feel like it shouldn't have ranked as high as it did.  But there are two things working in its favor:  (1) When Van Halen would do a cover song, they would do it with such flair and originality that it might as well have been an original.  And (2) VH original works during the DLR honestly don't do much for me and just blend together into a wall of drivel, with a few exceptions.  So when I did my re-listen, this album just had more songs that didn't make me tune out and had a familiarity that made me go, "OK, yeah, that's not bad."  A lot of the classic DLR era of the band doesn't have that for me, or has little of it.

[Fonzie]

Yuk.  I hate ‘Dancing…’. My least fave VH track.
But, love the rest.
Low down my list of DLR , but still essential

[KevShmev]

People kind of always belittle bands for doing covers... but doing excellent versions like VH is clearly on another level to me.

I agree that their covers were usually really good.  I agree with Tim that the long intro to Pretty Woman here is pretty rad.  I just think there is a lack of top tier VH songs, or even second tier ones, and with the shorter running time and a few throwaway songs, it just doesn't make for much what I would call essential material.

[Mosh]

It’s probably sentiment largely, but I really like Diver Down. I always have a good time listening to it. The length and amount of covers never bothered me, a good album is a good album even if it’s short and Van Halen always had a knack for doing great covers with their own bit of flair. The few originals are among my favorite VH tracks. Secrets, Hang Em High, and Little Guitars all top tier for me. It’s a little heavy on interlude tracks, but again I really enjoy a lot of those. Cathedral and Little Guitars (intro) all work really well and are enjoyable on their own as well.

[The Realm]

Diver Down - a couple of good songs but tough to even call this an album. It is an enjoyable listen though for what it is. My rank 11.

Current list:

12   Van Halen III
11   Diver Down
10   
9   
8   
7   
6   
5   
4   
3   
2   
1   

[bl5150]

I always liked Diver Down back in the day and when viewed in context I think it's pretty brilliant.  Van Halen had no intention of recording at all and had Warner Bros demanding an album pronto to back up the surprise success of Pretty Woman (released just to keep their name out there) and they knocked off the album in a couple of weeks. 

[Mosh]

One thing I’ve wondered about is the fact that VH wasn’t ever really in need of new material. As you can tell from the demos and ADKOT, there was plenty of material to work with, so it’s a bit strange to me that their albums got to be so short sometimes. They could’ve easily put tracks like She’s the Woman or House of Pain on Diver Down to fill it out. Anyone know why they sat on so much material?

[KevShmev]

Speaking of which...


10 A Different Kind of Truth

Highest finish: 1 (devieira73)
Lowest finish: 12 (DragonAttack, hefdaddy42, Samsara, HOF, Kingly Gizz & Liz Wiz Bizzy)

I ranked this 8th, but figured it would have a tough time beating anything but Diver Down or III, and I was correct in that assumption.  The lead single, Tattoo, was pretty blah, but the rest of the album is damn good, and the back half of the album is where the real magic lies.  I cannot remember which songs were brand new and which ones were old demos they finally finished for this record, but I just know that this is a damn fine collection of songs. I wish it had produced to sound like the classic Roth material rather than the modern hot mix that it got, but it was the early 2010s.

Favorite songs: Big River, Outta Space, The Trouble with Never, Stay Frosty, Honeybabysweetiedoll

[King Postwhore]

Rehash of VH with a subpar Dave vocals.  I wanted new music, not old, lost relics from the past.  It was a missed opportunity in my eyes.

[jingle.boy]

I honestly listened to this for the very first time in order to do my ranking.  It landed 10th for me, but solely because I'd never listened to it before, and couldn't justify it getting any higher.  I was quite impressed though, and bought it outright.  Over time, I could rank this higher than a couple of other DLR albums.

[Dream Team]

Wow I thought I would be the highest ranker of this one (#3) but devieira73 went all in! The return of proper VH with balls and energy and swagger and the only singer they ever needed even if he’s well past his prime.

[devieira73]

Yeah, Dream Team, I made it!! 
ADKOT (my #1) is a Roth era album, but seasoned by all the last years making albums with more layered guitars and maturity in the arrangements. I know most of the album is from non-used demos, but, from what I've heard, it really updates and improved them a lot. It doesn't sound like a B-sides album at all and I think it's great to have a Roth era album 15 minutes longer than it used to be and with this quality. It makes a fuller and more satisfying listen experience. Just to comment other points that people normally dislike in this album: I really like Tatoo, it's a really good commercial song in a sea of killer tracks; I don't know, I think Dave is performing very well here, at least, it worked in studio; as the only negative aspect to me, sure the production is a bit muffled, unlike the others Roth era albums, that sound great.

[Mladen]

I had this album at #6, but I could have ranked it even higher.

There are some fantastic songs on here. She's a woman, You and your blues, China town; now that's already a streak of Van Halen classics. The Trouble with never is also fun, and finally, there's As is. Probably a top 5 Van Halen track for me. It's heavy, it's intricate and complex in spots, it's borderline insane. How a band that's been in the business for 35 years can pull of such a track is beyond my comprehension. As is deserves more recognition.

Had it been cut down to ten songs, it would have been an even better record.

[HOF]

Have only heard ADKOT once, and it was better than I expected. Had a few moments that stood out, but mostly just not enough familiarity to rank it over any of the others.

[DragonAttack]

12 Van Halen III (#11) almost as unappealing as that album cover. 

11 Diver Down (#10)  I love all the cover versions plus 'Intruder', but there's not much left to this EP.  Having read the history and comments, now I know why.

10 A Different Kind of Truth (#12)  I liked Sammy.  I liked Mike.  I was soooooooo  tired of the years' long dramas, that I simply boycotted this one.  I've heard one track, and there's no need for me to listen to a second one.

[jammindude]

#3 overall and my #2 Dave album.

When I heard Tattoo, it was so bloody awful that I nearly didn’t buy the album at all. Fortunately, there’s the rest of the album which is DLR/EVH at their finest!!

[bosk1]

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.  III
8.  Diver Down
9.
10.
11.  ADKOT
12. 

I'm not denying anything anyone says about this album on the positive side.  For me, it just doesn't bring anything to the table that I'm interested in.  There are a few '70s and '80s bands that put out material in the '00s or '10s that was either modern completions of older material, new material that was somewhat of a modern update to their classic sound, or a combination of both, and had it work as something that was worthwhile to listen to.  To me, ADKOT tries and mostly fails.  Just sounded like an old band that, while they may still have had some things to say musically, didn't manage to say anything I wanted to hear.  The classic era stuff, even if it was stuff I didn't much care for either, still had that classic charm and nostalgia to it.  This album doesn't have that going for it. 

[Samsara]

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but ADKoT just rang hollow for me. Most of it was unused bits from the 70s, Diamond Dave was a shell of himself, and it just seemed like it was all thrown together in order to do an album and say they did another one. This is easily the worst VH album for me, because of that.

[Stadler]

You guys are all whack.

12   Van Halen III
11   
10   
9   
8   
7   
6   
5   
4   Diver Down
3   A Different Kind Of Truth
2   
1   


III:  Other than "Without You" that album is trash.  Every song (other than WY) was in the bottom 14 of my song count (Amsterdam, Big Fat Momey and Spanked were interspersed in there).  Gary was an inspired choice, but that was Ed left to run roughshod and no one to reign him in.

Diver Down:   So... when an album is 60 minutes, it's "bloated", but this is an "EP"?  Let's make up our minds, shall we?!  I LOVE this record.  The originals are all killer, and the covers.. even the original artists (well, at least Ray Davies) has sommentde that the VH record is outstanding.  Other than Happy Trails (which is just a 1:00 long), everything else has it's place.   

ADKOT:  My record of the year for 2012, and it stands the test of time.  I think Roth was on FIRE for this record.  His lyrics were quintessential Roth/Van Halen ("Mousewife to momshell in the time it takes to get that new tattoo" is modern society poetry.   And it has perhaps one of the top three best Van Halen moments of all time:


Told ya I was comin' back...
(Told Ya!)
Say you missed me...
(Say it!)
Say it like ya mean it!


And then Ed rips off a killer, world-class solo.   Love it. 

And by the way: King, I love ya, man, but the "it's recycled" complaint is misleading.  EVERY Van Halen album had riffs and songs that Ed carried with him through the years.   On Balance, "Deja Vu" was played live before the first album was recorded; there's video of Ed playing "Amsterdam" in the studio from before Roth left, and "The Seventh Seal" was from before there even WAS a Van Halen.  That's what Ed did; he was a musician and he percolated ideas.

And not for nothing:  But "She's a Woman" predated VHI and was on the Gene Simmons demo of 1977; if you A/B it, Roth sang that at full speed and in the original key.  No small feat for a guy widely criticized for his vocals.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

A few thoughts on VHIII:

*I think it would have been much better received as an Edward Van Halen solo album, with his brother and Cherone as guests.  VH fandom was already so divided between DLR and Hagar, adding a third person into the mix was always going to complicate matters.  It has a lot of EVH's best and more explorative playing, and that has always been the most important thing about VH to me.  I never really cared for DLR or Hagar in the first place.

*When it came out I wasn't really regularly listening to the radio on my own yet, but somehow stumbled onto a live radio broadcast of it and taped it.  So it was one of the earlier somewhat heavier albums I had to listen to, since my parent's collection was kind of lacking in that department.  And I've continued to listen to it more frequently than anything else of theirs.  "Once" and "Fire in the Hole" are my favorites, and Todd in the Shadows is crazy, the nonlinearity of "Neworld/Without You" is one of the most interesting parts about it, and it's loaded with killer rhythm playing. 

*I think the amount of hate it has gotten over the years arguably makes it the most underrated rock album of all time, of albums that are widely known. 

[HOF]

A few thoughts on VHIII:

*When it came out I wasn't really regularly listening to the radio on my own yet, but somehow stumbled onto a live radio broadcast of it and taped it.  So it was one of the earlier somewhat heavier albums I had to listen to, since my parent's collection was kind of lacking in that department.  And I've continued to listen to it more frequently than anything else of theirs.  "Once" and "Fire in the Hole" are my favorites, and Todd in the Shadows is crazy, the nonlinearity of "Neworld/Without You" is one of the most interesting parts about it, and it's loaded with killer rhythm playing. 

*I think the amount of hate it has gotten over the years arguably makes it the most underrated rock album of all time, of albums that are widely known.

Wow, I taped that same radio broadcast. That was my first experience of the album and I loved everything about it right away.

And yeah, it’s definitely one of the more criminally underrated albums. Maybe it’s not a great “Van Halen” album as VH fans are concerned, but it’s a great album on its own merits which is all I care about.

[Stadler]

A few thoughts on VHIII:

*I think it would have been much better received as an Edward Van Halen solo album, with his brother and Cherone as guests.  VH fandom was already so divided between DLR and Hagar, adding a third person into the mix was always going to complicate matters.  It has a lot of EVH's best and more explorative playing, and that has always been the most important thing about VH to me.  I never really cared for DLR or Hagar in the first place.

*When it came out I wasn't really regularly listening to the radio on my own yet, but somehow stumbled onto a live radio broadcast of it and taped it.  So it was one of the earlier somewhat heavier albums I had to listen to, since my parent's collection was kind of lacking in that department.  And I've continued to listen to it more frequently than anything else of theirs.  "Once" and "Fire in the Hole" are my favorites, and Todd in the Shadows is crazy, the nonlinearity of "Neworld/Without You" is one of the most interesting parts about it, and it's loaded with killer rhythm playing. 

*I think the amount of hate it has gotten over the years arguably makes it the most underrated rock album of all time, of albums that are widely known.

That's Chinese Democracy, since it gets as much or more hate, and is a far better album.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Aggregators give it better ratings than VHIII generally, but it very well could be a good candidate for it.  I didn't care for it myself, but I only listened to it once when it was released, so my opinion could be different now.  I have no motivation to revisit it though, unless there's a particularly outstanding song worth rehearing from it. 

[hefdaddy42]

To recap:

12 - Van Halen III - I wasn't far off the consensus, having this one at # 11.  It's got some interesting ideas; they just aren't Van Halen ideas.

11 - Diver Down - I had this one at # 10.  I like the album, but the covers bring it way down in the rankings.

10 - A Different Kind of Truth - The album that killed Van Halen in my eyes.  I had it dead last.  Fuck this album.

[KevShmev]

Bill, I agree regarding songs from ADKOT being from old demos and whatnot.  Not sure how or why that is a big deal. They were new songs to us, so that is how I took them.  Even if you had heard the demos before, getting a final draft vs the rough draft (demo) is almost always going to be an upgrade.  And for as bad as Roth's live vocals were on the last few tours, they were good enough on the album. I am sure it took him 100 takes of each song and a bit of studio magic to make them workable, but they worked.

[TAC]

There are a million reasons to hate on ADKOT, and all of them are valid. I've hated on many albums over the years. For example, I completely refused to acknowledge the Martin Era Black Sabbath, and I missed out on some excellent albums in real time, not to mention a number of tours. But how on earth could you sell me that as Black Sabbath?

This album has not Michael Anthony. Old material. Thrown together to justify a tour? A one off cash grab?
All of the above.
I heard Tattoo and thought it blew chunks. I had zero to low expectations of the albums.
I went into it free of any inhibitions or concerns. I just pushed play. And it blew me away how generally good it is. It's a bit long, but there's a great 6-8 song run right in the middle of it. I was really impressed.

I have it at 7, but it's basically a tie with my #8 album. The tiebreaker went to DLR.
It's a shame Eddie was so unproductive for so long.


12   Van Halen III
11   
10   Diver Down
9
8
7     A Different Kind Of Truth
6
5
4
3
2
1