At the end of the day, I don't think VH3 stood much of a chance after the reunion stunt with DLR a year or two before with the "Best of - Vol. 1" new tracks and the MTV Music Awards appearance with Roth.  The bad production and meandering/experimental songs didn't help, and I'm also not sure the tunes were written in the best key for Cherone's vocal range.  But by 1998 the fans wanted a full-blown reunion with DLR.  Anything short of that was destined to be a letdown.

Posted by: @zambi

VH3 definitely suffered from lack of producer.  I agree with matt05's comments above about shortening several of the songs.  They were too long and meandered a bit, but also needed some polishing.  I wish they had brought Bruce Fairbairn back for VH3 and go for the Balance sound.  Or get a Bob Rock or Mutt Lange (think AC/DC production; not Def Leppard production)  not only for a good straight up hard rock production treatment, but also to help shape the tunes a little bit.  That's what VH3 needed.

 

I think several of the songs for the follow-up to VH3 were reused later.  Not just the lyrics that Cherone took to Tribe of Judah, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Brothers worked on some of the same tunes in 2000 on the aborted Roth reunion.  Or the 3 songs they worked with Hagar in 2004 on BOBW compilation.  The VH Brothers liked to sift through old material, and also mix & match parts from old unused material.  Heck, it would actually surprise me if they didn't reuse some of the material that they had worked on with Cherone for a follow-up.  (This is also part of reason why I don't think we'll ever see much in the way of 5150 Vault material.)

 

Ted Templeman (and also VH Management) went with DLR at the time of the divorce.  Templeman produced Crazy from the Heat and also Eat 'Em & Smile.  Actually, Don Landee did the engineering on OU812 and that was one of the worst sounding VH records, so you never know.

 

Mikey also sang lead vox on Somebody Get Me A Doctor on the 2004 reunion tour with Hagar.  There's clips on YouTube.  It actually sounds kinda neat when you hear Hagar harmonizing the chorus vocals, with his more distinct voice.

 

I agree about VH3 . They needed someone to pull Ed in a little . I think he liked to experiment.  I really cant comment on the leftover Cherone stuff. I have heard Eddie Trunk mention more than once that Gary has played him some of that material off of his phone. Who knows what it is.

It will be interesting to see about 5150 vault...who knows.

I think we may have more luck hearing something from the Warner Brothers vaults before everything went 5150. See below video's.

I always thought the same about OU812, scratch my head on that one. With Landee being involved as Prod and Engineer, and was the engineer on everything before that.....what happened? That one definitely   needs a redo. Everything pre that was pretty much top quality.

Van Halen Vault. Whats In It? Engineer Brian Kehew explains. Sunset Sound Roundtable Ep.1 ans 2