1984 - Van Halen's best album ?

DLM

Philly_Q said:

Going back to 1984, I just remembered that when it was first released in the UK they put a strip of paper across the bottom of the album cover to hide the fact that it was a baby smoking a cigarette.  I wonder if that would create a stir nowadays?

@Philly_Q I always thought this was stupid: it's clearly a cherub, not a baby. I'll bet I can get an album out uncensored showing Nessie with a baggie.

Anyway, I've had the old VH out too, recently. They were great with both singers back in the day, perhaps more consistent with Hagar, but more flashes of brilliance with Roth.

Philly_Q

DLM said:

Anyway, I've had the old VH out too, recently. They were great with both singers back in the day, perhaps more consistent with Hagar, but more flashes of brilliance with Roth.

I much prefer the Roth albums.  Everything was short, sharp and to the point.  I even like the cover versions and throwaway stuff on Diver Down because it's all so good-humoured.

I loved 5150 when it came it, it was a more polished, slightly more conventional sound but all the songs were really good (and at the same time Roth was doing a great couple of albums with Vai so it was almost like we had two great bands for the price of, err... two).

From OU812 onwards, I started to get sick of them.  The three-minute songs became five-minute songs but all those extra minutes were just lazy, repetitive rambling.  Perhaps reflecting what was going on in the members' personal lives...?

Is A Different Kind of Truth any good?  I bought it but somehow I just couldn't ever be bothered to listen to it.

bacchanalian

Has to be VH I for me. Just for the impact alone. It has been described as landing like an atom bomb, and I think that is about right. I think EVH suffers from Shakespeare syndrome in that they are part of the language even if you don't realise it. There are a number of players whose influence is so pervasive and deep that even if you don't like them or even know who they are, if you play the guitar, you have been influenced by them

MagicPigDetective

So, been listening to Fair Warning this afternoon for the first time. Apart from a few songs, never been that familiar with the band or even EVH's guitar playing. As a sprog in the 80's there was Jump of course. In the grungy 90's there was a rejection of 80's metal bands, to which I subscribed to. I never saw or heard much mention of EVH, apart from in Guitar World, where it was clear that he was considered a guitar God in the US.

Anyway, I'm now older and no longer care about what's considered cool or what anyone else thinks; it's liberating to shake off those preconceptions. I've given this album a good listen and I fucking love it. What a hell of a guitarist. I will now be investigating the rest of their discog and studying EVH's playing  \II/

not_the_dj

MagicPigDetective said:

So, been listening to Fair Warning this afternoon for the first time. Apart from a few songs, never been that familiar with the band or even EVH's guitar playing. As a sprog in the 80's there was Jump of course. In the grungy 90's there was a rejection of 80's metal bands, to which I subscribed to. I never saw or heard much mention of EVH, apart from in Guitar World, where it was clear that he was considered a guitar God in the US.

Anyway, I'm now older and no longer care about what's considered cool or what anyone else thinks; it's liberating to shake off those preconceptions. I've given this album a good listen and I fucking love it. What a hell of a guitarist. I will now be investigating the rest of their discog and studying EVH's playing  \II/

You can get a "classic album" box set of all the DLR Cds for under £15

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Studio-Albums-1978-1984-Van-Halen/dp/B00B125QRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519831391&sr=8-1&keywords=van+halen

frank1985

Fair warning for me....they’re all good up until the Hagar era. 

andyoz

SimonC said:

The correct answer is of course Fair Warning

Couple of crackers on Fair Warning...so underrated..

MagicPigDetective

not_the_dj said:

MagicPigDetective said:

So, been listening to Fair Warning this afternoon for the first time. Apart from a few songs, never been that familiar with the band or even EVH's guitar playing. As a sprog in the 80's there was Jump of course. In the grungy 90's there was a rejection of 80's metal bands, to which I subscribed to. I never saw or heard much mention of EVH, apart from in Guitar World, where it was clear that he was considered a guitar God in the US.

Anyway, I'm now older and no longer care about what's considered cool or what anyone else thinks; it's liberating to shake off those preconceptions. I've given this album a good listen and I fucking love it. What a hell of a guitarist. I will now be investigating the rest of their discog and studying EVH's playing  \II/

You can get a "classic album" box set of all the DLR Cds for under £15

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Studio-Albums-1978-1984-Van-Halen/dp/B00B125QRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519831391&sr=8-1&keywords=van+halen

Thanks for the tip. The good news is that a guy at work has bought it so I will be working my way through them.