This self titled Van Halen debut remains my favorite of their many recordings. Van Halen is up there on my list of favorite bands. But not so much the Sammy Hagar Van Halen, it was the David Lee Roth years that I enjoyed the most. To me, the band never recorded a great amount of strong material during the Sammy Hagar years. I did think their first effort with Sammy, 5150, was a great album, but after that I didn’t embrace their other releases. And I tried; I had them all and wanted to love it. All the albums had their moments, but none were raised to the level of my affection of their previous material.
I also found the solo releases of David Lee Roth to be the same. They all had some tracks I enjoyed, but didn’t come close to the original Van Halen albums.
I paid least attention to Van Halen during the brief Gary Cherone era. I remember when news broke that the former Extreme lead singer would be joining the band. I thought Extreme had released some good albums and Gary’s vocals were solid. However, when this Van Halen album came out, titled Van Halen III, it seemed to pass everyone by without much notice. I owned it, but found myself not really even giving it a chance or listening to it very much.
Finally, the much talked about reunion happened and Dave rejoined the rest of the clan for a very successful tour. Well, the rest of the clan minus bass player Michael Anthony who was replaced by Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. There have reports of a rift between Eddie and Michael since the Van Halen III recording session. Although many die hard Van Halen fans would have liked to have seen the original lineup together again, apparently young Wolfgang held his own just fine keeping up with his Dad and company.
The David Lee Roth reunion was a great success, their highest grossing tour to date. Still, what I would love to see is Michael back in the band, a new album recorded and a world tour to boot. Hey, how about a tour with both Hagar and Roth, where the band performs a set with each. Well, that would be dreaming for most Van Halen fans and probably one of the most unlikely things to ever happen in rock. I'll take another tour with Dave that hopefully I can get a chance to see next time round.
While we’re on the subject, here are my top 10 favorite Van Halen songs:
10. Jamie’s Crying, from the very successful self titled debut
9. Best of Both Worlds, from Sammy’s debut with the band, 5150
8. 5150, title track off Sammy’s debut
7. Runnin’ With the Devil, Great lead off track from their debut album
6. Ain’t Talking bout Love, Like so many Van Halen songs, hooks you in with a great riff. Also from their fantastic debut album
5. Drop Dead Legs, Great song from the wildly successful 1984 album. This album was also David Lee Roth’s last full length recording with the band.
4. Panama, One of 1984’s popular singles.
3. The Cradle will Rock, Great lead off track from the album Women and Children First.
2. Hot For Teacher, The lead in drum intro, the guitar and Dave all sound great on this one. It’s another single from 1984.
1. Unchained, A solid heavy rocker from the album Fair Warning, which was actually one of their least successful releases with David Lee Roth.
I also found the solo releases of David Lee Roth to be the same. They all had some tracks I enjoyed, but didn’t come close to the original Van Halen albums.
I paid least attention to Van Halen during the brief Gary Cherone era. I remember when news broke that the former Extreme lead singer would be joining the band. I thought Extreme had released some good albums and Gary’s vocals were solid. However, when this Van Halen album came out, titled Van Halen III, it seemed to pass everyone by without much notice. I owned it, but found myself not really even giving it a chance or listening to it very much.
Finally, the much talked about reunion happened and Dave rejoined the rest of the clan for a very successful tour. Well, the rest of the clan minus bass player Michael Anthony who was replaced by Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. There have reports of a rift between Eddie and Michael since the Van Halen III recording session. Although many die hard Van Halen fans would have liked to have seen the original lineup together again, apparently young Wolfgang held his own just fine keeping up with his Dad and company.
The David Lee Roth reunion was a great success, their highest grossing tour to date. Still, what I would love to see is Michael back in the band, a new album recorded and a world tour to boot. Hey, how about a tour with both Hagar and Roth, where the band performs a set with each. Well, that would be dreaming for most Van Halen fans and probably one of the most unlikely things to ever happen in rock. I'll take another tour with Dave that hopefully I can get a chance to see next time round.
While we’re on the subject, here are my top 10 favorite Van Halen songs:
10. Jamie’s Crying, from the very successful self titled debut
9. Best of Both Worlds, from Sammy’s debut with the band, 5150
8. 5150, title track off Sammy’s debut
7. Runnin’ With the Devil, Great lead off track from their debut album
6. Ain’t Talking bout Love, Like so many Van Halen songs, hooks you in with a great riff. Also from their fantastic debut album
5. Drop Dead Legs, Great song from the wildly successful 1984 album. This album was also David Lee Roth’s last full length recording with the band.
4. Panama, One of 1984’s popular singles.
3. The Cradle will Rock, Great lead off track from the album Women and Children First.
2. Hot For Teacher, The lead in drum intro, the guitar and Dave all sound great on this one. It’s another single from 1984.
1. Unchained, A solid heavy rocker from the album Fair Warning, which was actually one of their least successful releases with David Lee Roth.
Unfortunately, I did not see Van Halen’s most recent tour with David Lee Roth and Wolfgang Van Halen, but would love to hear from anyone who has.
