Hello & welcome! The music world seems to currently (unfortunately) revolve around hip-hop, rap, country & sugar pop slop...Those are fine if that's your thing, but, here, as well as in many other places, ROCK still lives! This blog is all about ROCK, BLUES, & METAL. With occasional love to funk & punk too! You'll have to go elsewhere for the other flavors because, sorry, this ain't Baskin Robbins..
So, when radio stations started playing, "Tattoo", the first Van Halen single from the just-released-today, first new album in 28 years with David Lee Roth, "A Different Kind of Truth", I was a little disappointed. I thought that song was mediocre at best, very ho-hum. But then, fantastic little snippets of other songs started leaking onto the internet, and the great Eddie Trunk played a second song on his syndicated Q104.3 (NYC) radio show, titled, "The Trouble With Never", which kicked real ass. My hopes began to raise a bit, as everything I was hearing rocked exceptionally HARD, and truly bled that classic Van Halen sound, even without the incredible high harmonies of Michael Anthony! Don't get me wrong, I love, love, LOVE Sammy Hagar, but to me, Van Halen IS David Lee Roth on vocals, and I wanted nothing more than this new album to succeed and kick more ass than ever could be imagined from the return of two legendary musicians that, unfortunately, haven't gotten along for almost three decades. Well, to my pleasant surprised, iTunes downloaded my pre-ordered new release onto my iPhone at 9am, and, no joke, I haven't shut it off yet, and it's now 7pm. That includes driving around at work all day, driving home, and 45 minutes on the Stairmaster! Even without Michael Anthony in the band (sadly, there's still an issue there), this album is a BEAST. I honestly do not know what could possibly touch this in 2012--it kicks THAT much ass! No "Jump" keyboards, no "I'll Wait" ballads, very live in production, filled with fast rockers & medium tempo groovers, and Eddie slams on guitar (of course), giving a clinic that only he could do! Killer riffs, solos, & songwriting, and David Lee surprises with a great, beyond-solid vocal effort! There was worry that he wouldn't be able to muster the vocal power to sound like the glory days of Van Halen...Well, I gotta tell you, it's pretty damn close! No worries, my friends! And there's not a clunker on this album! "She's the Woman" knocks you for a loop, as it harkens back to "Mean Street", and will have you instantly bobbing your head and smiling with it's titanic groove (link to sample it is coming up in just a few more lines). "Chinatown", "Bullethead", & "Outta Space" are fast-tempo rockers that should give the satisfaction of classic monsters like "On Fire" and "Romeo Delight". "You & Your Blues" and "Stay Frosty", are fun, classic Diamond David-style bluesy rockers that satisfy like a Snickers bar, and the latter of the two should make you feel the whimsical playfulness of "Ice Cream Man". And, "The Trouble With Never", might be the funkiest-yet-hard-rockin' tune that this band has EVER done. Then there's "Big River", which to me, sounds like it shoulda' been on "Women & Children First", with its borderline rock perfection...
I feel that I'm being perfectly honest here when I say that there's not a stumble or misstep on this album. The cliche of "All Killer, No Filler" definitely applies to the newest VH release. Go buy it, don't steal it like some asshole, and support the boys in their endeavor. After all, 28 years is a LONG time! Hello to Wolfie, and welcome back, EVH, Alex, & Diamond Dave. This new album was worth the wait..
