[SPOILER-FREE] Van Halen 2012 discussion

[Zint]

did you guys see the london 2011 show yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_8nY2GoBI

Is that out on dvd? I'm gonna have to get it.

Yeah was wondering the same thing.

[Powerage5]

did you guys see the london 2011 show yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_8nY2GoBI

Is that out on dvd? I'm gonna have to get it.

Yeah was wondering the same thing.

TV broadcast, though there is an official album coming out from this show.

[Turn_It_Up]

Tour starts tonight!

Whos gonna peek?

Who's going radio silence??

I'm torn..

I'm all over this tonight--can't wait to see the setlist. My show isn't until April 1, so it's possible they could make a few changes by then.

But I don't really care. Once you're in the arena and feeling the electricity, the adrenaline and anticipation easily wipes away any spoilage from watching Youtube vids or whatever. At least for me.

Would be so awesome if they made a DVD at some point.

Added: Think I'll start a separate thread with VH Tour (Spolier) in headline. We can post all sorts of show-specific stuff there for those who want to see it. Easy to avoid for those that don't.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Turn_It_Up

[James Bond]

Tour starts tonight!

Whos gonna peek?

Who's going radio silence??

I'm torn..

I'm all over this tonight--can't wait to see the setlist. My show isn't until April 1, so it's possible they could make a few changes by then.

But I don't really care. Once you're in the arena and feeling the electricity, the adrenaline and anticipation easily wipes away any spoilage from watching Youtube vids or whatever. At least for me.

Would be so awesome if they made a DVD at some point.

Added: Think I'll start a separate thread with VH Tour (Spolier) in headline. We can post all sorts of show-specific stuff there for those who want to see it. Easy to avoid for those that don't.

Good call! Hopefully the mods don't mind two Van Halen threads. After a couple weeks this one should die anyways once users start seeing the shows and all the discussion moves to the tour thread.

I'm so tempted to peak but I don't want to. I can wait, I can wait. No, I'll probably peak once and then leave it until Buffalo.

[Powerage5]

Tour starts tonight!

Whos gonna peek?

Who's going radio silence??

I'm torn..

I'm all over this tonight--can't wait to see the setlist. My show isn't until April 1, so it's possible they could make a few changes by then.

But I don't really care. Once you're in the arena and feeling the electricity, the adrenaline and anticipation easily wipes away any spoilage from watching Youtube vids or whatever. At least for me.

Would be so awesome if they made a DVD at some point.

Added: Think I'll start a separate thread with VH Tour (Spolier) in headline. We can post all sorts of show-specific stuff there for those who want to see it. Easy to avoid for those that don't.

Good call! Hopefully the mods don't mind two Van Halen threads. After a couple weeks this one should die anyways once users start seeing the shows and all the discussion moves to the tour thread.

I'm so tempted to peak but I don't want to. I can wait, I can wait. No, I'll probably peak once and then leave it until Buffalo.

I like this idea actually more so than trying to use

tags. I'll edit the titles of both to explicitly reflect what is contained within.

[Turn_It_Up]

Tour starts tonight!

Whos gonna peek?

Who's going radio silence??

I'm torn..

I'm all over this tonight--can't wait to see the setlist. My show isn't until April 1, so it's possible they could make a few changes by then.

But I don't really care. Once you're in the arena and feeling the electricity, the adrenaline and anticipation easily wipes away any spoilage from watching Youtube vids or whatever. At least for me.

Would be so awesome if they made a DVD at some point.

Added: Think I'll start a separate thread with VH Tour (Spolier) in headline. We can post all sorts of show-specific stuff there for those who want to see it. Easy to avoid for those that don't.

Good call! Hopefully the mods don't mind two Van Halen threads. After a couple weeks this one should die anyways once users start seeing the shows and all the discussion moves to the tour thread.

I'm so tempted to peak but I don't want to. I can wait, I can wait. No, I'll probably peak once and then leave it until Buffalo.

I like this idea actually more so than trying to use

tags. I'll edit the titles of both to explicitly reflect what is contained within.

Thanks man.

[dalsh327]

Tour starts tonight!

Whos gonna peek?

Who's going radio silence??

I'm torn..

I'm all over this tonight--can't wait to see the setlist. My show isn't until April 1, so it's possible they could make a few changes by then.

But I don't really care. Once you're in the arena and feeling the electricity, the adrenaline and anticipation easily wipes away any spoilage from watching Youtube vids or whatever. At least for me.

Would be so awesome if they made a DVD at some point.

Added: Think I'll start a separate thread with VH Tour (Spolier) in headline. We can post all sorts of show-specific stuff there for those who want to see it. Easy to avoid for those that don't.

VH has never put a live album or video out with Dave, yet there's a lot of stuff with Hagar and even Cherone. They sat on the 2007-2008 tour footage prob. because they knew they were going to work on new music, but if that fell apart, had it on hand. I think some of the You Tube footage is pretty good and gives you an idea of how they were on the last tour. I do think we got way more songs from this tour than they ever did in

There's not a lot of classic era footage apart from US Festival, Venezuela, and Maryland. There is one sitting in the NFL vault of the Texxas Jam from 1978, which is probably the only one from the early days. The stuff we've seen on VH1, they shot 3 songs for II and 3 songs for Fair Warning and didn't bother to film the whole show. Promos were mostly shot for countries that didn't get many bands coming out to them. Now it's not an issue.

[Zint]

There is one sitting in the NFL vault of the Texxas Jam from 1978, which is probably the only one from the early days.

I've got the Aerosmith official VHS release that came out years ago from that show..

[James Bond]

http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1048551&c=1

a week after becoming their highest charting album yet, Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth slumps 6-32 (4,782 sales).

Ouch. They better release another single soon and get this album the sales it deserves.

[DirtyDeeds]

http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1048551&c=1

a week after becoming their highest charting album yet, Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth slumps 6-32 (4,782 sales).

Ouch. They better release another single soon and get this album the sales it deserves.

Are you shitting me? That's it? Those are like... Don Dokken solo numbers man. I mean I know they had no chance after Whitney died and Adele got 3875997462 grammy awards, but damn. That's embarrassing. And it's really a great album.

[James Bond]

Quite an unbelievable drop. It's such a good album.

Tattoo, Tattoo? Fuck you, fuck you!

I like the song, but it seems it really did turn a lot of people off. It's a shame, this album kicks ass.

[DirtyDeeds]

I've heard a new Van Halen song a grand total of one time on the radio. It was "Outta Space" and it was played after 11 PM. If Tattoo killed it, I think a decent amount of it was from internet people ranting about how they thought Tattoo sucks, and thus Van Halen sucks, and thus they won't be buying the album, and a lot of other people being influenced by that opinion. Because this is what people have been waiting 28 years to hear and it delivered, but nobody is listening, and Mitt Romney's radio stations aren't playing.

[James Bond]

I've heard a new Van Halen song a grand total of one time on the radio. It was "Outta Space" and it was played after 11 PM. If Tattoo killed it, I think a decent amount of it was from internet people ranting about how they thought Tattoo sucks, and thus Van Halen sucks, and thus they won't be buying the album, and a lot of other people being influenced by that opinion. Because this is what people have been waiting 28 years to hear and it delivered, but nobody is listening, and Mitt Romney's radio stations aren't playing.

Indeed. Word of mouth can be hit or miss. In this case, a big miss. People either checked out Tattoo and that satisfied the craving of what this new album would sound like, or they heard it sucked, and therefore the album must suck too. A lot of people dismissed the album too before even hearing it and sadly that must have rubbed off on people. I remember seeing comments like "Tattoo sucked so I'm not even going to listen to the album" and that kind of thing. Once the tour starts rolling and we get another single hopefully it picks up. I'd like it to go at least Gold to encourage another effort from the guys, but at this rate that seems unlikely.

[Turn_It_Up]

http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1048551&c=1

a week after becoming their highest charting album yet, Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth slumps 6-32 (4,782 sales).

Ouch. They better release another single soon and get this album the sales it deserves.

Articles seems off. What country(s) are these sales #'s specific to? It talks about Lana Del Rey's album having been #1 for 2 prior weeks and now dropping to #2. But we know Adele has been #1 for 21 straight weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart and VH was #2 their debut week. Last numbers I saw, VH had sold like 58,000 more copies for the 2nd week.

Irregardless, no doubt it's well past time to get out the 2nd single and make a smart decision with that choice. Tattoo has faded into oblivion. It's not that I expect them to have some big crossover success with the next single on the Hot 100, but it can help shore up longtime VH fans and other hard rock-starved fans who weren't compelled to pony up based on the 1st impression with Tattoo.

Added:

OK, ADKOT sold 102,000 more copies worldwide last week, bringing it to 389,000.

This week's Billboard

#1 "Rock Albums"

#1 "Hard Rock Albums"

#5 Canada

#6 US. Top 200

Edited February 24, 2012 by Turn_It_Up

[Turn_It_Up]

Interesting related article:

================

The Curious Case Of Van Halen

The album is FANTASTIC!

At least that’s the buzz. I may have been the only person who liked "Tattoo", but all the fanboys love the album.

But nobody’s buying it. It sold only 187,494 copies in its debut week. And it’s not lighting up the Mediabase charts either, "Tattoo" is number 26 at Active Rock and "She’s The Woman" is number 40.

But people love the album. On Amazon it’s got a four and a half star rating, which is extremely rare, even the most popular albums settle in at three and a half.

Now if you grade on a scale, "A Different Kind Of Truth" entered the chart at number two, beaten only by Adele. So, if you’re someone who enjoys rankings, you can take pleasure in this.

But the sales number is piss-poor.

In other words, the old paradigm is dead.

You know, the one that began in the SoundScan era, twenty years ago. Where your project was front-loaded, where you amped up the publicity to get a good first week number, to get retailers to stock the CD. And if you got a high number, you were on your way, if not, and you were an established act, you were dead.

But now recording income is no longer the primary revenue stream. It’s just a piece of the pie. Albums are advertisements for the tour. And based on reaction to "A Different Kind Of Truth", Van Halen will be able to tour for years to come.

In other words, if you weren’t going to go to the show, if you’re not a Van Halen fan, you can completely ignore "A Different Kind Of Truth". But amongst those who care, who’ll lay down a hundred bucks for a ticket, word is spreading, Van Halen is back.

In other words, if you’re playing to everybody, you’re wasting your time. Don’t worry about either pleasing or offending everybody, just think about satiating your core.

All the criticism has gone out the window. That the band recycled old riffs, that "Tattoo" was a disappointment. Now that everybody can hear something, opinion can change instantly.

And where you listen is Spotify.

Which is why you want to be on Spotify.

Because you want to have a chance for your music to be discovered. Word would not be spreading if everybody had to lay down in excess of ten bucks to hear "A Different Kind Of Truth". Look at that sales number, most people aren’t. But fans are ECSTATIC!

1. Focus on the music.

People thought "Tattoo" sucked, but they think the whole album is great. "Tattoo" is forgotten and now Van Halen is riding a high.

2. Don’t front-load your publicity.

It’ll only be a matter of time before you read about an established act’s momentum deep into their album cycle. Music is not movies, here for a weekend. Music is forever if done right. Think about making it that way, like you want it to last.

3. The recordings are an advertisement for what else you have to sell.

Used to be the recording was the end all and be all. Hell, labels only garnered this revenue. Now the music is only the beginning. I don’t think music should be free, but given the choice between selling an album for ten bucks plus or giving it away I’d say to go the latter route. You can’t sell tickets, you can’t sell merch if people don’t hear the music.

4. Short term thinking is dead.

Don’t think about this tour, but the two or three after it. By putting out a great album, Van Halen cemented its future business. There may not be stories in the mainstream press, but the fans know.

5. Ignore the news cycle.

It’s brief and your career is long.

6. America likes to forgive.

Well, not Chris Brown. But assuming your only offense is lousy music, great stuff can change people’s impression instantly. We’re all looking for great stuff, and there’s very little of it out there.

It’s a new game. Although Van Halen got a big check from Interscope, I don’t think the label was necessary. Larry Solters could get them publicity on his own. Dave loves to talk, news outlets love to listen. And with physical retail on its last legs, anybody can get on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, et al.

As for radio… Van Halen’s never going to cross over to Top Forty, and that’s the only format that sells music in vast amounts.

And the band is not lighting up the Active Rock chart, which wants younger bands.

In other words, everything the label can provide, other than cash, Van Halen doesn’t need.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2012/02/18/the-curious-case-of-van-halen/

Edited February 24, 2012 by Turn_It_Up

[Zint]

ADKOT sold 102,000 more copies worldwide last week, bringing it to 389,000.

This week's Billboard

#1 "Rock Albums"

#1 "Hard Rock Albums"

#5 Canada

#6 US. Top 200

That's more like it..

Thanks for the info TIU

And now...I'm outta these VH threads until after the gig.

The MIGHTY Van Halen is coming to town in a few weeks and I'm fucking STOKED!

Van-fucking-Halen...with David fucking-Lee-Roth!

B)

[Turn_It_Up]

ADKOT sold 102,000 more copies worldwide last week, bringing it to 389,000.

This week's Billboard

#1 "Rock Albums"

#1 "Hard Rock Albums"

#5 Canada

#6 US. Top 200

That's more like it..

Thanks for the info TIU

And now...I'm outta these VH threads until after the gig.

The MIGHTY Van Halen is coming to town in a few weeks and I'm fucking STOKED!

Van-fucking-Halen...with David fucking-Lee-Roth!

B)

Alright guys, what's the Over/Under (not even days, but hours or minutes) for when Zint checks back into a VH thread?

I say 2 hours at most, so let's keep watching for him lurking.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Turn_It_Up

[tat2d1]

A buddy of mine who is a HUGE Van Halen fan was saying that he thinks they will tour this album for 2-3 years, off and on. He thinks they will do a different batch of the new songs on each tour, to keep the diehards coming back. They have enough material that they could do it.

[JKKDARK]

She's The Woman should be the next single, it's my fav song off the record.

[tat2d1]

She's The Woman should be the next single, it's my fav song off the record.

It is the next single. Pretty sure it's at #40 on the rock charts.

[Turn_It_Up]

She's The Woman should be the next single, it's my fav song off the record.

It is the next single. Pretty sure it's at #40 on the rock charts.

Yeah, it's official--hits 2/27:

http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=16697

[James Bond]

She's The Woman should be the next single, it's my fav song off the record.

It is the next single. Pretty sure it's at #40 on the rock charts.

Yeah, it's official--hits 2/27:

http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=16697

Good choice! Here's hoping some of the people who dismissed the album hear it.

Thanks for the updated numbers too. At least the album is rocking hard on the worldwide scale.

[Turn_It_Up]

Cool article:

===================

HELLYEAH DRUMMER VINNIE PAUL LOVES THE NEW VAN HALEN ALBUM

by: Mary Ouellette Yesterday

The Van Halen reunion has made Vinnie Paul a happy man. Paul, who brings his own brand of musical magic to the hard rock community with his band Hellyeah, as well as his past body of work with Pantera and Damageplan, has called the new disc from Van Halen his favorite new record.

In a recent interview with Noisecreep, Paul talked about VH’s ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ saying, “I feel like I’m in high school again when I pop it on [laughs]. It just has that energy and vibe of their classic records.”

Paul also talked about meeting Eddie Van Halen, a musical hero to both he and his brother Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott. Paul explained the bittersweet moment, saying, “We actually got to meet Van Halen right before the horrible events that lead to my brother’s death.” Eddie just happened to be visiting the strip club owned by Paul, and called him up to come hang out. “I meet Eddie and we start talking about music right away. After about 5 minutes into the conversation, he says to me, ‘Man, I feel like I’ve known you for a lifetime. We have so much in common!’”

Years later, the music community would suffer an unbearable loss when Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott was the victim of a heinous shooting at a Damageplan show. However, Dimebag took his love for Van Halen along with him when he was buried with one of Eddie Van Halen’s historic Bumblebee guitars featured on the inside of the ‘Van Halen II’ album. A true testament to the shared love for music and mutual respect Eddie and Dime had for each other.

Paul also hopes that some day Van Halen and Hellyeah will join forces for a show, or even better a tour, “We were supposed to play with them last fall, down in Australia, but the tour got canceled because they weren’t quite ready yet.”

Read Vinnie Paul’s full interview with Noisecreep here.

http://loudwire.com/hellyeah-drummer-vinnie-paul-loves-the-new-van-halen-album/

Edited February 29, 2012 by Turn_It_Up

[Turn_It_Up]

Another great review:

================

'A Different Kind of Truth' sets Van Halen fans free

Back in the late 1970s and early 80s when Eddie Van Halen was constantly rewriting prevailing wisdom on what people presumed possible to achieve on electric guitar, he used to describe his playing approach as falling down the stairs and landing on his feet.

Applying that same analogy to “A Different Kind of Truth,” Van Halen’s first studio album with lead singer David Lee Roth in 28 years, it sounds like Eddie should update the status of his guitar acrobatics to sliding down the banister, dismounting with a front pike somersault and sticking a perfect landing at the bottom.

As far as classic Van Halen fans are concerned, “A Different Kind of Truth” – pound for pound, perhaps the heaviest VH record ever -- constitutes several giant steps in the right direction.

From the opening guitar growl of "Tattoo” to the sustained 30-plus seconds where he slowly wrings every last bit of fuzz and distortion out of his instrument to close “Beats Workin’,” “A Different Kind of Truth” expertly testifies that Eddie has once again taken his guitar playing “Back to the Future.”

There was a reason, after all, that when Marty McFly needed some serious guitar mojo to forcefully frighten his father into critical action during the popular 1985 Michael J. Fox flick that he did so with a cassette tape labeled “Edward Van Halen.” In its original incarnation, Van Halen always did tend to scare parents while unabashedly encouraging the young at heart to become “Unchained” and “Hot For Teacher” or simply to “Dance the Night Away.”

Classic Van Halen was quite literally a glimpse into rock’s future, as nearly every new album contained at least one reinventing-the-instrument guitar moment. Think “Eruption,” “Spanish Fly,” the “Mean Street” intro, “Cathedral,” and “Little Guitars Intro,” not to mention any number of “How-in-the-world-did-he-do-that?” in-song solos that routinely sent guitarists worldwide scurrying back to the woodshed to learn at the frets of Professor Van Halen.

And sometimes the guitarist trying to learn what the younger Van Halen did was the guitar god himself. When I had the opportunity to interview him in 1998 during the course of the Van Halen III tour where the band was playing a lot of Roth-era songs that hadn’t been played in more than 15 years, Eddie told me that relearning a part of 1978’s “I’m the One” had given him fits.

“It sure blew my mind -- I didn’t realize how much my playing has changed over the years,” he said. “You know, it’s an unconscious thing, but there’s a lick in the beginning that I’m going, ‘Man, how in the hell did I do that?’ And it took me a while to learn.”

“A Different Kind of Truth” is literally Van Halen relearning, revisiting and reclaiming its legacy as the greatest American rock band of all time. Much has been written about the band going back into the vaults and revamping up to seven old demos -- many of them from the unreleased recording sessions financed by KISS bassist Gene Simmons prior to the band’s official debut with Warner Brothers.

While that approach may indeed seem at odds with conventional wisdom, just ask yourself this question: When has Van Halen ever done anything by the book? From a listener’s standpoint, I couldn’t care less if the smoking guitar riffs that billow throughout “A Different Kind of Truth” were written last century, last year or last night. The simple truth is there remains nothing else quite like it in music today.

When discussing “A Different Kind of Truth,” there is no getting around the chip off the old block in the room. As Roth declared during the band’s 2007-08 tour, this edition of Van Halen is three parts original, one part inevitable. The latter half of the equation refers to the addition of Eddie’s son, Wolfgang (21 next month), on bass, following the subtraction of Michael Anthony.

Clearly, Anthony, who had remained a member of the band through all three of its previous lineups, was popular and extremely fan-friendly. His onstage exuberance and background vocal abilities are missed. However, it’s quite likely that were it not for Wolfgang, there would have been no reunion with Roth, no new tours and no new music. The potential to play with his son was likely the main impetus that led Eddie back to rehab, back to the stage and, eventually, back into the studio for the new recording sessions after years of band inactivity – sans a somewhat disastrous reunion tour with second-singer Sammy Hagar in 2004. In that respect, it’s hard to begrudge father and son this unprecedented opportunity.

Yeah, but can he play? The proof is in the creme brulee. Wolfgang is not only locked in step with his uncle, drummer Alex Van Halen, but he adds his own little flourishes throughout the entire record and holds up the bottom end with aplomb. The kid is more than all right. And the rhythm section on this entire record is off-the-rails powerful.

The typical sign of a great album from an established band is if there are three or four tracks that you would want to see in concert. Let’s just say I would be ecstatic if the band played the entire record from top to bottom’s up. Track by track, and there are a blazing baker’s dozen of them, this album ranks right up with the band’s best work.

Here’s my song-by-song breakdown:

“Tattoo” -- The diehard Van Halen camp has not been so split over the merits of a lead single since the release of “Jump.” Half the fanbase seems to love it, while the other half loathes it. I fall into the former group. While it did initially raise some red flags with those who hoped the band would return to its hard rock roots, those fears would prove to be completely unfounded. When the initial reviews started filtering out in advance of the album’s release, I scoffed when many claimed “Tattoo” was the worst song on the record. I now hear their point. I still love the song, with Dave’s lyrical imagery and Eddie’s guitar solo making it already better than most anything else on the radio today. I also like the subtle keyboard in the verse -- the only spot on the album where any keys are apparent — and the “Down in Flames/You’re No Good” volume swell ending.

Favorite lyric: “Swap meet Sally, tramp stamp tat, mousewife to momshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo.”

“She’s the Woman” -- While “Tattoo” hints of “Down in Flames,” this is the first track that draws heavily from an earlier demo. Same title and music, completely different lyrics. While on the subject of lyrics, I’ve got to give it up to Roth here. It’s incredible having his gift of gab and wink-and-a-nod sense of humor back in play. This song is a perfect example. The last Hagar-attempted lusty love song with the band was the wholly unappetizing “Up For Breakfast,” and its line upon line of third-grade fruit metaphors (“Cherries on bananas ... honeydew my melon”? Seriously? Gag me with a prune!) But with Dave we get lines like “suburban garage a trois” and “I want to be your knight in shining pickup truck.” Upbeat and fast-paced, this track features a funky feel and Eddie’s trademark between-vocal guitar fills and squeals. This song also answers all questions about Wolfgang’s bass abilities.

Favorite lyric: “The song ain’t dirty it’s really just the way we sing it.” (Reminds me of the famous Jessica Rabbit line from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”: “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.”)

“You and Your Blues” -- At this point in time, I can’t get enough of this song. A syncopated Eddie riff sets the mood and carries the song for the first 15 seconds before Alex and Wolfgang join in mid-first verse. I’m probably not recognizing them all, but Dave name checks at least nine different blues songs in the lyrics. This is Van Halen-style blues, in that you don’t get pulled to a darker, somber place while commiserating with the lyrical point of view. Instead, the upbeat chorus lifts your spirits even while it hammers home the suffering viewpoint. The background vocals also stand out -- checking off another question lingering from Anthony’s departure. I could see this as a potential single.

Favorite lyric: “Ain’t goin’ down to no crossroads, ain’t gonna dust no broom, no evil woman’s got a hold on me, ain’t goin’ to heaven anytime soon.”

“China Town” -- This is as heavy a song as Van Halen has ever recorded. It’s 3 minutes and 12 seconds of pure adrenaline. If you could somehow bottle this, you could put Red Bull and Rockstar out of business. Alex’s drumming throughout this breakneck pace is incredible. Looking for your mind-blowing guitar moment of this album? Check out the last 12 seconds of the song -- as Eddie unleashes a free-falling torrent of notes that just make you shake your head and say, “Wow!” I would love to see the band open its new tour -- which as I write this opens tonight in Louisville -- with this song. Besides, how can you not love a song that begins with the line, “Headless body in a topless bar”?

Favorite lyric: “Heroes aren’t born they’re cornered, and this corner is where we write the story.”

“Blood and Fire” -- Longtime Van Halen fans recognize the main music motif in this song as “Ripley,” an instrumental written by Eddie when he scored the soundtrack to “The Wild Life,” a 1984 movie by Cameron Crowe. Fans have always wondered what it could turn into with lyrics and the full band treatment. Now they know. Lyrically, with its talk of “forgotten empires” and “lost victories long past,” it seems to be an autobiographical nod to the band’s history. Dave even inserts his trademark concert exclamation of “Look at all of the people here tonight!” Speaking of trademarks, this marks the first of several standard spoken mid-song slowdowns (think “Everybody Wants Some!,” “Unchained” and “Panama”) with Dave breaking down the third wall and talking directly to the listener. “Told ya I was coming back. Say you missed me. Say it like you mean it.” The transition from spoken word to over-the-top guitar solo still gives me goosebumps, even after a couple dozen listens. I kind of feel like rating Eddie’s guitar solos is a bit like judging Michael Jordan’s dunks in that even his average takes are on such a higher plane than the competition it’s almost unfair. It’s mostly futile to compare Eddie to others, he’s best compared only to himself. With that in mind, this solo stands up to some of his best work.

Favorite lyric: “Look at all of the people here tonight.” (This line never ceases to put a smile on my face.)

“Bullethead” – So far, I have a real love/like relationship with this song. When I’m scanning the songs on the disc, it’s never one of my first choices to listen to. Yet, when it does come on, invariably I enjoy it. With its blast-from-the-gates guitar squeal, this is another blistering rocker. Musically, it dates back to the Simmons demo, but with new lyrics, albeit the same title. Personally, I place it toward the bottom of this album, but I know many others who rate it near the top. This album tends to invite that very rare phenomenon where opinions are across the board on what the best songs are. I’ve read hundreds of comments, from professional reviews to message boards, listing the best and worst songs on the album, and someone’s treasure is another’s throwaway track. To me, that’s actually the sign of a very good album.

Favorite lyric: “How many roads must a man walk down, before he admits he’s lost?”

“As Is” -- This song is just a monster! I remember Eddie saying once that before there were lyrics to “Me Wise Magic” he referred to the song as “The Three Faces of Shamus” because of its trio of distinct musical sections. In that case, this song might as well be called “The Five Faces of Shamus” for its handful of abrupt turns and changes of pace. Alex kicks things off with an 18-second drum intro before Eddie and Wolfgang join in, and just when you’re settling into what you expect to be the main groove it all turns upside down with what turns out to really be the song’s main riff. Discerning fans will recognize a striking similarity in the predominant riff to the explosion-of-jam moment he played during his walk-on appearance of “Two and a Half Men” in 2009. (On the show, that was given the tongue-in-cheek title of “Two Burritos and a Root Beer Float.”) Everybody is just firing on all cylinders throughout the song before eventually settling into an ethereal rideout section that eerily endures for more than a minute. Great, great song.

Favorite lyric: “It's not who you squeeze, but who returns once again to squeeze you no doubt, love ’em all I says, let Cupid sort ’em out.”

“Honeybabysweetiedoll” -- There is so much going on musically in this song that I’m still finding amazing things in it with each new playback. It opens up with 30 seconds of guitar wankery and weird sound effects. The main segment is a roiling undertow of a riff that pulls you in and relentlessly pummels you before finally releasing you exhausted at song’s end. Dave handles most of this song in a lower register, half singing, half speaking his way through. The final minute and a half is all instrumental and features a furious solo by Eddie and some guitar playing that has a surprising Mideastern flair.

Favorite lyric: “Stone soul sistah soccer mom, muchacha-miga, cherry bomb.”

“The Trouble With Never” -- Another top flight song that could be a potential single. There’s much to like about this song, from its main verse and chorus to the couple “Alice in Wonderland” references and some nice backing vocals. But my favorite section of the song is the middle, which features a more-than-a-minute-and-a-half departure from the proceedings. It kicks off with a killer, wah-induced guitar solo lasting 45 seconds before easing into another classic Dave-speak breakdown that sets up a thundering reverie before returning to the original chorus. Amazing!

Favorite lyric: “Let’s un-plan the moment, dance the night away, selective amnesia is only a heartbeat away.”

“Outta Space” -- The backstretch of this album is just unbelievable. There is no let-up and no filler. It’s undoubtedly buoyed because three of the final four songs are revamped from a trio of all-time demo favorites -- their explosive main riffs having lost none of their power in the intervening 35-plus years, and, in fact, even gaining more of an edge in the hands of a battle-tested and –scarred Eddie.This song is based on “Let’s Get Rockin’ ” and is flat-out stellar as Dave updates it with his take on overpopulation and political correctness.

Favorite lyric: “Need no polar bear to scare me, no Eskimo to share with me his fate, woo, we outta space. No blog-o-sphere to sell me, no dolphin needs to tell me, no starving kid to make the case.”

“Stay Frosty” -- If “Stay Frosty” weren’t poised to become the catchphrase of 2012 -- Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has already chanted it like a mantra -- then you could call this “Son of Ice Cream Man.” Completely different song, of course, but the formula is the same -- the only thing missing is Dave dedicating one to the ladies and a hearty “All right, boys!” before the song ramps up from acoustic to power-based boogie blues. Dave’s storytelling talents are in fine form here, transporting the listener on a journey to various religious leaders who offer sage advice along the lines of: “Don’t want them to get your goat, don’t show ’em where it’s hid” and “You want to be a monk, you’ve got to cook a lot of rice.” There are not one, but two high-octane guitar solos, and Alex and Wolfgang keep up the oft-frenetic pace.

Favorite lyric: “Stay Frosty, and there's nothing you can’t handle, far and wide, far as you ramble, trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.”

“Big River” -- Reworked from a fan-favorite demo titled “Big Trouble,” this is another amazing song. It’s almost redundant at this point: The musicianship on here is first-rate. Great catchy tune, with a pair of mind-numbing guitar solos.

Favorite lyric: “Listen to a sea shell, you can hear the sea, listen to a beer glass, that river belongs to me.”

“Beats Workin’ ” -- Top to bottom, this is one of my favorite songs on the album -- a potential party rock anthem for the new generation. Opening with a 45-second setup, the song receives a complete jolt when the extremely catchy main riff (originally from the demo “Put Out the Lights”) explodes onto the scene. This song is vintage Van Halen. Great vocals, blazing guitar with three solos, great backing vocals, heart-thumping rhythms. Not only does this make a great closing number, especially with its exaggerated fadeout, it would also make a fantastic single.

Favorite lyric: “One empty floor, stands between the stage, and the welfare door, heads or tails, of the same bread, coin of the realm, just like the man said.”

In summation: Forget all the infamous backbiting, sniping and animosity between various members throughout the decades. Forgive the years and years of wasted time and lost opportunities. Throw the “No news is good news” slogan to the wind.

Trust your ears. This is the exactly the type of “Truth” that can set long-suffering Van Halen fans free.

After a couple dozen listens, my fur-rising factor rates “A Different Kind of Truth” on a nearly equal hallowed plane as “Van Halen I” and “Fair Warning” -- my two personal favorites based on 35 years of utmost fascination with this little old band from Pasadena.

Ultimately, only time will tell if it stands the test of ...

http://www.theeditingroomfloor.blogspot.com/2012/02/different-kind-of-truth-sets-van-halen.html

[dalsh327]

I look at it like it's part FUCK, part DLR Band, and a few vault cuts blended together.

I think when something's been played so much on radio, you're going to have bias against new music, whether it's CD or ADKOT, it's hard to win the audience over on new music after a long wait, but over time, the songs become more familiar.

Lady Gaga's ex (or F-buddy?), Luc Carl, wrote a review of the VH concert.... more about the crowd than the show. My only comment is that the VH concert I went to had a lot of women at it. I just think the frenzy to see them last tour, calmed down this tour, and a lot of people going there are just getting to know the songs. It's going to take at least the summer and maybe another year to warm up to it.

http://drunkdiet.com/where-have-all-the-girls-gone/

Yesterday was just about the most amazing day of my life. I signed 600 copies of the book for Jameson, did my show on Hair Nation, then went to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden. Sometimes my life is just too good to be true. I went to the show with my good friend Tommy who sings for a band called The Dirty Pearls (which is irrelevant but a good shout out never hurt anyone). If I am a huge Van Halen fan, consider him obsessed. (It’s always best to go to a show like that with a guy who’s a super-fan. It’s much more fun than going with someone who’s heard Jump on the radio a few times).

The show was amazing. All the bull shit you read on line about Diamond Dave not being able to sing, the guys in the band are fighting already, Wolfgang isn’t really singing back ups…. Politics, and fuck politics.

The truth is they killed it. Dave was amazing. His outfits were great and of course he’s in great shape. The only thing missing was the girls. Since when do girls not like rock n roll? Had we gone to a Katy Perry concert the place would have been packed with hot 20 something girls in the bras. Meanwhile the rock n roll shows are packed with 50 something guys remembering when the used to get laid on a regular basis.

Rock n roll was invented to cultivate more sex. It seems as of 2012 it’ll only get you laid if you get the balding gray haired guy next to you drunk enough to mistake your long hair for a girl. If you can even find a guy with long hair at a rock n roll show. The only other guy I saw with long hair was wearing a fucking 80′s Halloween wig and had the cover of 5150 on the back of his jacket. If we weren’t in different sections I would have kicked his ass.

My point is, ladies, rock n roll is sexy. Rock n roll men are much more complex and interesting than other men (if you call beer and pre-mature ejaculating complex). And for you guys out there under the age of 55….. Just because it’s not on pop radio doesn’t mean you can’t be a fan! Just because you’re 24 doesn’t mean you can’t listen to Van Halen 2 for the very first time and get excited! Hell I didn’t hear that album for the first time until about 2000 when I was 20 years old! It’s ok to like things that aren’t modern and popular! In fact by liking them you are making them modern and popular.

I don’t have all the answers, but I will continue to preach the gospel of heavy metal rock n roll to younger generations. I’m disappointed that there were no girls at the concert last night. And virtually no one in their 20′s or even 30′s. And as usual, I got made fun of for having long hair. A Van Halen concert is the last fucking place anyone should make fun of someone with long hair. If anything it should be the other way around. What the fuck has the world come to?