I've been on a Halen kick lately - Dave only, sorry Sammy - and happened to see a "Gray area" release on Amazon, apparently a radio broadcast from 1982. Pretty solid! Dave sings pretty well on some tunes and vaguely addresses others. The Band sounds very good - one advantage of just 3 instrumentalists is that no instrument gets lost in the mix. Eddie was in top form - some songs have pretty composed solos while others are go for broke. There is a little tinniness to the recording that actually feels accurate and correct to me; I saw a lot of hard rock / metal shows at arenas in the 1980s, and it usually WAS pretty tinny sounding. It was not like seeing DTB in a nice theater!!
But yeah, Eddie was on fire, and he really did have a great sound, not over distorted like metal became. And he really knows his instrument, pulling sounds out of it with a sense of the guitar just about up there with Jeff Beck. The setlist is great - Bottoms Up, Romeo' s Delight, The Full Bug, Ice Cream Man, lots of great classics beside the obvious hits.
Dave does too much dumb talk. I like when he is witty; this has too much obvious "You are the best crowd ever" stuff. And the harmony vocals are fascinating; the band almost created a trap by having such pristine back up vocals in the studio; who could hit those harmonies live?! Well, Michael Anthony, apparently. Pretty impressive. When they are a little off, they sound sour because the studio was so perfect, but they are mostly on.
You get some drum solos, bass solo, a bunch of Diver Down, some odd between song edits for radio, and the last song cuts out, but this is an enjoyable raw recording if you like old VH.
I like old VH too. Saw the original band several times and it was fun. Eddie's Frankenstrat had a pickup and a couple of switches on it that didn't work just to confuse imitators. I remember reading an interview with Eddie in 1984 and he didn't like any of the guitars made. Said he thought the perfect rock guitar would be a Fender Strat with Gibson pickups. The last time I saw the original band Eddie played about 14 different guitars. Fender Strat, Gold Top Les Paul on just one song and several Hamer, Ibanez, Kramer Strat style guitars all notified by Eddie himself the guitar mags said. Eddie critized Led Zepplin in the interview saying the guitar player is just average, drums and singer good. Couple months later Gary Moore opened for VH on a tour in the 80's and he didn't agree with Eddie on LZ and said something like " if he didn't do all that double hammer on licks it would go down hill quickly".
I don't like famous musicians trash talking other musicians. All the REAL good players have their own style and it's hard to hear their influences. None is better they are just different. I remember Eddie said he turned his back to the audience when he soloed before they got a great record deal because he didn't want someone to steal his technique. Man it wasn't long after VH had their first hit album and big tour that most of the rock and heavy metal guitarists started using double hammer ons all over their solos. Frankly I got sick of that style for awhile but I still enjoy seeing Eddie play.
I’ve been a fan since Diver Down and enjoyed all of the singers. I was quick to grab the Live In Tokyo record as I read there were no overdubs and such and sure enough, Dr Ed brings it. I agree that the 80s got saturated with the Metal scene but what a time it ended up being for guitar.
There are some great soundboard Van Halen boots from the 78 and 79 tours when they were on fire, pardon the pun.
Their shows were still great in 82. This show catches them right before they drop off a little, the 1984 tour was a little bloated with all of the solo pieces getting too extended.
I wish I could have seen them back then.
My first ever concert was Van Halen with Alice In Chains opening in 1992.
I have a 1978 bootleg that is tremendous. I've listened/streamed a bunch of others from the DLR era.
I saw them on the 1984 tour. Wish I could have seen one of the earlier tours though, with the Fair Warning 1981 Tour being the one I'd pick....for how they were playing, the way DLR was singing and the setlists. The few videos captured for that tour show them a the top of their game:
Hear About it Later, So This Is Love, Unchained:
Wish this entire show was available as a CD release and video, but this is supposedly all that was captured.
I have a 1978 bootleg that is tremendous. I've listened/streamed a bunch of others from the DLR era.
I saw them on the 1984 tour. Wish I could have seen one of the earlier tours though, with the Fair Warning 1981 Tour being the one I'd pick....for how they were playing, the way DLR was singing and the setlists. The few videos captured for that tour show them a the top of their game:
Hear About it Later, So This Is Love, Unchained:
Wish this entire show was available as a CD release and video, but this is supposedly all that was captured.
According to some they just recorded those three songs for promotional videos during a three night stop in Oakland in 1981, according to some they recorded those full shows. It's been a mystery among the fan base for years.
http://www.vhnd.com/2009/03/19/the-van-halen-holy-grail/
Van Halen had lyrics? Hardly noticed.
During the Roth era, sure the lyrics were questionable at times but they never ruined the song for me. Roth could also turn a clever phrase or two so that and the music more than made up for his misses. There are some Hagar lyrics that make me cringe (every song doesn't need "love" somewhere in it), but for the most part they don't ruin the song either. The weak 80's production is the main negative of the early Hagar era.
