I had Balance at #4, so a few spots higher than the forum majority. Let me start with the minor negative - the only song I don't dig on this album is "Big Fat Money," and really, I just consider it filler. Not a fan of "Doin' Time," but it's a 1:41 segue, so no big deal. The rest are really great. I think what hurt this album overall were a lack of singles. "Can't Stop Lovin' You" is the best in that category, IMO, but the others they released I really didn't feel were singles. They were good to great songs, but not single-ish. Re-listening now, maybe that statement is wrong. They work better as singles than I remember. So disregard that.
This was one of the albums that served as the soundtrack for one of the best periods of my life, spring/summer 1995. Finishing up my freshman year at college, working, spending time with my best friend, my college sweetheart, doing tons of things that young guys do (work, school, party, not necessarily in that order). Balance was the record in the center of it all. Favorite tracks are "The Seventh Seal," "Can't Stop Lovin' You," "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)," "Baluchitherium," "Take Me Back (Deja Vu)," and "Feelin'."
"Take Me Back" is especially poignant now, as my childhood best friend, who I spent the majority of the summer hanging with when not hanging with my girlfriend, passed away a couple years ago. Sure, the song is about a woman and a relationship, but just sentiment behind the song reminds me of the times with my buddy Rob. I always connect this album to those great memories. We were supposed to go see Van Halen on this tour, one of the three nights they played at Jones Beach in August 1995. But being college students, and having already seen Bon Jovi on the These Days tour, and Queensryche on the Promised Land tour the previous month, for whatever reason, we couldn't do it. At least I couldn't. Being a poor college student was fun, but that is a huge regret.
Anyway, Balance has a special place for me in VH's discography. And I tried being as objective as I could, which is why it is #4. For those six songs in particular, I felt like the record needed to be in my personal top tier of VH albums. I felt the record did indeed strike a balance, musically, and lyrically. "Feelin'" is one of my favorite of those more social commentary pieces that VH does.
When Sammy revealed years later how difficult the brothers allegedly made things for him in the studio (and I do believe Sammy) it really upset me. I never really thought about where his voice was, register-wise, on the record. Listening now, I can hear he's pushing the very top end of his range throughout most of it. That must have been difficult. But the result is a beautiful collection of songs, some striking artwork on the cover, and a record that's forever linked to one of my favorite periods of life.
"Some call it fate, some superstition
Some call it luck, it's all the same
Oh, just one of the mysteries of creation
Somethin' you feel but can't explain, oh
Take me back..."