Cosmic Harmony
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2009
- Posts
- 12,935
- Reaction score
- 24
1. "Yankee Rose" – 3:47
2. "Shy Boy" – 3:23
3. "I'm Easy" – 2:11
4. "Ladies' Nite In Buffalo?" – 4:08
5. "Goin' Crazy!" – 3:11
6. "Tobacco Road" – 2:27
7. "Elephant Gun" – 2:23
8. "Big Trouble" – 3:56
9. "Bump And Grind" – 2:32
10. "That's Life" – 2:29
After his departure from in 1984 Diamond Dave headed back into the studio a year later to record the follow up to his successful EP "Crazy From The Heat" (which is referenced in the song "Goin' Crazy" off this album). This followup came in the form of his first full length studio album "Eat 'Em and Smile".
Unlike "Crazy From The Heat", which consisted entirely of lounge covers of popular songs, "Eat 'Em and Smile" was Roth's return to the hard rock style of earlier Van Halen albums....with a throwback or two to his love of lounge covers.
For this fresh start Dave pulled out a crop of then relatively unknown musicians to be his bandmates. They consisted of Billy Sheehan on bass, Gregg Bissonette on drums, and Steve Vai on guitar with a large level of technical ability between the three, particularly between Sheehan and Vai who's parts have a large degree of complexity. Because of this and Dave's strong association with Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai was launched into the guitar stratosphere and stylistically considered a top contender with Eddie Van Halen.
Musically the album is everything you'd expect from David Lee Roth and from an 80's rock album, though executed at a level that greatly exceeds standard 80's hard rock as well as every Van Halen album following Roth's departure. The over the top cheese and tongue in cheek sexual overtones are as present as ever and all delivered with Dave's bountiful charisma. The instrumentality of the album is another major appeal of the album as the band is quite skilled at what they do and flaunt it well. Tracks like "Shy Boy", "Elephant Gun", and "Bump and Grind" are great examples of the prominent, complex bass and guitar parts found on "Eat 'Em and Smile".
Other notable things on the album are that the opening track and lead single, "Yankee Rose", is about the stature of liberty and opens with the "talking guitar" technique that Steve Vai would also use later on in his solo career on tracks such as "The Audience is Listening". The are two covers on the album "That's Life" originally performed by Frank Sinatra and "Tobacco Road" originally by Eric Burdon & War. There are also two lounge songs that are musically similar to those found on "Crazy From The Heat", the previously mentioned "That's Life" and "I'm Easy".
Overall this is a great party album, great 80's album, and all around fun record that actually has great deal of musical ability to back it's ultimate "cock rock" status.
Unfortunately nearly all of the songs from this album aren't on Youtube so I can't really share them (most of my favorites on this album for that matter) but here are a couple.
(Yes, as with all of Dave's videos they have long, cheesy, humorous intros)
(The audio is a tad off on this one)
(The audio is a tad off on this one)