Van Halen (Official Thread)
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METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Check this out!! FULL CONCERT from 1982 Capital Center Largo
Vehicle
Aging Metalhead
Thought I'd post this.
Happy to say, Eddie looks healthy.
He's put on some weight and isn't the same sallow shadow he spent most of his career being.
There's a little Eruption, some Little Guitars and some Cathedral.
There are some effects, but at the root of it all, this guy is one of the greats. Spawned an entire generation of guitarists.
Happy to say, Eddie looks healthy.
He's put on some weight and isn't the same sallow shadow he spent most of his career being.
There's a little Eruption, some Little Guitars and some Cathedral.
There are some effects, but at the root of it all, this guy is one of the greats. Spawned an entire generation of guitarists.
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Michael Anthony Flattered by David Lee Roth’s Van Halen Reunion Suggestion
SOURCE LINK
Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony says he was flattered by comments his former bandmate David Lee Roth made about wanting him back in the famous group recently. As he jokingly noted, “He never used to talk like that when we were all playing together.”
In an interview with Eddie Trunk, Anthony touched on a number of topics, including the possibility of joining his Chickenfoot (and former Van Halen) bandmate Sammy Hagar on the singer’s upcoming multi-band career retrospective tour (“Sammy wants me to be a part of that, because I was a part of that”) and the future of their current band (“We’ll get back together as soon as the schedules align… probably in the fall”).
When asked about Roth’s comments, Anthony, who was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen when Eddie and Alex Van Halen reunited with Roth in 2007, seemed legitimately touched. “I really don’t know what to say to that. It was flattering that he said that.” But he also makes his priorities clear: “At this point in your life and career and whatever, the career aside, it’s more about the friendship and just people. And if the music side of it, if that happens, if that comes about, all the better, but that’s not what it’s really about at this point.”
SOURCE LINK
Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony says he was flattered by comments his former bandmate David Lee Roth made about wanting him back in the famous group recently. As he jokingly noted, “He never used to talk like that when we were all playing together.”
In an interview with Eddie Trunk, Anthony touched on a number of topics, including the possibility of joining his Chickenfoot (and former Van Halen) bandmate Sammy Hagar on the singer’s upcoming multi-band career retrospective tour (“Sammy wants me to be a part of that, because I was a part of that”) and the future of their current band (“We’ll get back together as soon as the schedules align… probably in the fall”).
When asked about Roth’s comments, Anthony, who was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen when Eddie and Alex Van Halen reunited with Roth in 2007, seemed legitimately touched. “I really don’t know what to say to that. It was flattering that he said that.” But he also makes his priorities clear: “At this point in your life and career and whatever, the career aside, it’s more about the friendship and just people. And if the music side of it, if that happens, if that comes about, all the better, but that’s not what it’s really about at this point.”
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Van Halen’s ‘Diver Down’ Turns 31
SOURCE LINK
Van Halen‘s fifth album, 1982′s ‘Diver Down,’ turns 31 years old today (April 14). As a hastily-recorded collection featuring only four full-length original songs, this record should by all rights be a disaster.
Instead, it’s just about the most fun thing you can play at your next summer family picnic.
Having barely completed an exhausting world tour in support of their 1981 album ‘Fair Warning,’ their fourth record in as many years, Van Halen was as you can imagine looking forward to taking a break.
But first, lead singer David Lee Roth reportedly convinced the group to release a cover of Roy Orbison’s ‘(Oh) Pretty Woman‘ as a time-buying, stand-alone single. This move backfired in the best possible way. The track became a sudden hit, and Warner Brothers pressured the band to record an accompanying record… and fast.
Understandably short on new material, Van Halen whipped together a thirty-one minute hodge-podge featuring five cover songs (including their brief album-closing take on Dale Evans’ ‘Happy Trails‘), three short Eddie Van Halen-showcasing instrumentals and just four full-length original songs.
Although some critics, understandably not grading on the curve to account for the rushed recording schedule, criticized the album’s lack of original material, with Rolling Stone declaring it appeared the group was “running out of ideas,” the four original songs on ‘Diver Down’ prove this was hardly the case at all.
The album’s two new rockers, ‘Hang ‘Em High‘ and ‘The Full Bug,’ the latter of which featured Roth on both acoustic guitar and harmonica, have clearly stood the test of time. In fact, the group has been treating fans to occasional renditions of both of these dusted-off gems on their current world tour.
Even more impressively, the album features two of Van Halen’s most textured and mature tracks; the lilting, Spanish-influenced ‘Secrets‘ and the exotic pop-rock guitar symphony that is ‘Little Guitars.’ Anyone who thinks that Van Halen couldn’t have grown up musically with Roth on the microphone should pay attention.
Despite telling Guitar Player magazine at the time that putting together ‘Diver Down’ at such a hectic pace was “fun” — he and his brother Alex even got to recruit their father Jan to play clarinet on their version of ‘Big Bad Bill (is Sweet William Now)‘ — Eddie later revealed displeasure with the album’s reliance on outside material, and for having to graft a riff he had planned for an original song onto the band’s synth-pop cover of ‘Dancing in the Street.’
This realization led to a major change in how Van Halen operated. In an effort to retain more control over his music, Eddie built a recording studio — named 5150 — at his own home and has used it to create at least part of every one of the band’s albums ever since.
Van Halen would go on to record one more album with Roth, the career-and-genre defining ‘1984,’ before splitting with the singer and entering an entirely different phase of their career with Sammy Hagar on vocals.
Roth immediately kicked off his solo career with the audacious ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile,’ but after a couple of decades, the Van Halen brothers and Roth apparently realized they brought out the best in each other, reunited, toured (minus bassist Michael Anthony) and released the excellent ‘A Different Kind of Truth.’
SOURCE LINK
Van Halen‘s fifth album, 1982′s ‘Diver Down,’ turns 31 years old today (April 14). As a hastily-recorded collection featuring only four full-length original songs, this record should by all rights be a disaster.
Instead, it’s just about the most fun thing you can play at your next summer family picnic.
Having barely completed an exhausting world tour in support of their 1981 album ‘Fair Warning,’ their fourth record in as many years, Van Halen was as you can imagine looking forward to taking a break.
But first, lead singer David Lee Roth reportedly convinced the group to release a cover of Roy Orbison’s ‘(Oh) Pretty Woman‘ as a time-buying, stand-alone single. This move backfired in the best possible way. The track became a sudden hit, and Warner Brothers pressured the band to record an accompanying record… and fast.
Understandably short on new material, Van Halen whipped together a thirty-one minute hodge-podge featuring five cover songs (including their brief album-closing take on Dale Evans’ ‘Happy Trails‘), three short Eddie Van Halen-showcasing instrumentals and just four full-length original songs.
Although some critics, understandably not grading on the curve to account for the rushed recording schedule, criticized the album’s lack of original material, with Rolling Stone declaring it appeared the group was “running out of ideas,” the four original songs on ‘Diver Down’ prove this was hardly the case at all.
The album’s two new rockers, ‘Hang ‘Em High‘ and ‘The Full Bug,’ the latter of which featured Roth on both acoustic guitar and harmonica, have clearly stood the test of time. In fact, the group has been treating fans to occasional renditions of both of these dusted-off gems on their current world tour.
Even more impressively, the album features two of Van Halen’s most textured and mature tracks; the lilting, Spanish-influenced ‘Secrets‘ and the exotic pop-rock guitar symphony that is ‘Little Guitars.’ Anyone who thinks that Van Halen couldn’t have grown up musically with Roth on the microphone should pay attention.
Despite telling Guitar Player magazine at the time that putting together ‘Diver Down’ at such a hectic pace was “fun” — he and his brother Alex even got to recruit their father Jan to play clarinet on their version of ‘Big Bad Bill (is Sweet William Now)‘ — Eddie later revealed displeasure with the album’s reliance on outside material, and for having to graft a riff he had planned for an original song onto the band’s synth-pop cover of ‘Dancing in the Street.’
This realization led to a major change in how Van Halen operated. In an effort to retain more control over his music, Eddie built a recording studio — named 5150 — at his own home and has used it to create at least part of every one of the band’s albums ever since.
Van Halen would go on to record one more album with Roth, the career-and-genre defining ‘1984,’ before splitting with the singer and entering an entirely different phase of their career with Sammy Hagar on vocals.
Roth immediately kicked off his solo career with the audacious ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile,’ but after a couple of decades, the Van Halen brothers and Roth apparently realized they brought out the best in each other, reunited, toured (minus bassist Michael Anthony) and released the excellent ‘A Different Kind of Truth.’
I sure didn't know Diver Down was just thrown together like that. Doesn't matter, though, when you have a band that works well together and the amount of talen that VH had during this time, they couldn't go wrong.
Lynch
Here for the cookies and the tunes
WOW, I don't think I have ever seen this picture before.
Eddie with a Les Paul!?
Eddie with a Les Paul!?
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Could have been singer AFTER Sammy Hagar "Mitch Malloy"
Good move or bad move NOT to keep him?
Good move or bad move NOT to keep him?
After reading the Diver Down post, it reaffirms my belief that Van Halen is at it's peak with David Lee Roth at the microphone, taking nothing away from anyone else.
It's tragic they split up, how many more great albums would they have given us over the years?
With Sammy on vocals they weren't terrible or anything but I'll always be in the camp that early VH albums are far better than the later ones.
It's tragic they split up, how many more great albums would they have given us over the years?
With Sammy on vocals they weren't terrible or anything but I'll always be in the camp that early VH albums are far better than the later ones.
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Me too LG....much heavier and stronger all the way around
