VH is in limbo.
Which makes total sense given the band's post-2000 history and is consistent with the official VH line is, except I think they used the word "hiatus" and followed it up with "Van Halen is..." DLR, AVH, EVH, WVH.
Just seems all very odd.
Fyi, if you want the quick version and skip 1300 posts, you can get the summary in post number 1210 over at VH Links Main.
VH is in limbo.
The story of much of the past twenty years.
Oh to get someone in 5150 to go through the vaults and prepare some releases of just what is sitting on the shelf.
Apparently nothing is ever going to come out of the attempted Roth/Vai/Sheehan/Bissonette reunion either. They show up for one show as a "surprise band" on an open mic night, 1,700 show up to a 300 capacity building and it gets shut down by the fire marshal, then nothing for a year since then.
As one of the newer songs goes, we must accept "As/Is".
5150 is the best song of the Hagar era, IMO.
As for the latest DLR version of VH, I enjoyed their album and I need to pull it out again. As for seeing them live? I wouldn't go on a free ticket, unless I heard something in advance that was much much better than my last two experiences.
In 2008, their sound system & mix at Philips arena was horrendous. They should have offered refunds. It's a shame because you could tell Eddie was ripping it up and at times it sounded really good....mostly it was a bass muddy mess.
In 2015, I took my then 13 year old to his first rock show at Music Midtown and Roth was really bad. No only does he not have the voice, he refused to sing the songs in the melody they were written. On top of that every song they played seemed to have the overwhelming "Hot for Teacher" heavy / fast bass drum sound. I was disappointed, but I was really disappointed for my son.
I saw VH on the 1984 tour and saw Van Hagar twice (second time being probably the best VH show I saw with no keyboards all night!).
There are some smoking bootlegs of the original band out there including one I have from 1978 where Roth and everyone sound great.
My favorite bootleg is from 78 while they opened for Sabbath in London. I shared it here in the Vine section years ago. The whole band is smoking and it sounds great. They never released it as it really only has tunes from the 1st album + a couple. I guess that made sense long ago but now....I bet people would love it.
EVH is his own worst enemy usually. Both musically and personally as he is not an easy guy to get along with. The usual drugs/alcohol got him like so many others and productivity ended. Having his own studio to constantly noodle didn't help in his case as the releases slowed when that happened.
Getting back with DLR was what fans wanted and to make money, they went for it. Nobody knows that DLR was bad more than EVH. The attempts at a new studio stalled because EVH didn't like it. Truth is that they got themselves in a hard place by going back and forth between Dave and Sammy.
Should have just got some young guy after Sammy left the first time.
I would be OK with Dave changing the melody of song lines if it made sense.
When yiu see the 1973 footage in the Zepp movie "The Song Remains theSame," Plant has already wisely changed the vocal melody of songs that are only 2 years old. He wants to sing notes he can hit. That makes sense.
That is much better than when Ian Gillan tries and fails to hit notes he hasnt hit in 30 years.
Dave should sit down wifh a vocal couch and intelligently map these songs out. It works for Robert Plant.
Should have just got some young guy after Sammy left the first time.
That was attempted as well with Mitch Malloy (who was apparently offered the job then backed out when he saw them with Roth on MTV), but Ray Danniels pushed for Gary Cherone.
I would be OK with Dave changing the melody of song lines if it made sense.
When yiu see the 1973 footage in the Zepp movie "The Song Remains theSame," Plant has already wisely changed the vocal melody of songs that are only 2 years old. He wants to sing notes he can hit. That makes sense.
That is much better than when Ian Gillan tries and fails to hit notes he hasnt hit in 30 years.
Dave should sit down wifh a vocal couch and intelligently map these songs out. It works for Robert Plant.
What Dave did more than change the melody was to change the timing. And he would get off track so when the band hit the chorus, he didn't. I saw a couple of the shows and EVH looked pissed off with Dave at both.
Plus having the wardrobe person in the pit up front was stupid. He focused more on hats and clothes than on the music. And he looked like Barry Manilow in most of the clothes.
Should have just got some young guy after Sammy left the first time.
That was attempted as well with Mitch Malloy (who was apparently offered the job then backed out when he saw them with Roth on MTV), but Ray Danniels pushed for Gary Cherone.
Sass Jordan was also given a run and it sounded good. Those demos are super hard to find. Sebastian Bach was also in the running at one point.
I've heard the Eddie quote about Sass Jordan and why she didn't make it. I have never heard Sebastian Bach mentioned before. Thankfully it wasn't him. Not that he can't sing, but his personality is too far over the top and he wouldn't have lasted a week with EVH.
I never heard the Sass Jordan possibility - that would have been interesting. I like her stuff.
Should have just got some young guy after Sammy left the first time.
That was attempted as well with Mitch Malloy (who was apparently offered the job then backed out when he saw them with Roth on MTV), but Ray Danniels pushed for Gary Cherone.
Sass Jordan was also given a run and it sounded good. Those demos are super hard to find. Sebastian Bach was also in the running at one point.
If Bach would have been in that band, I know the Apocalypse would have been near!!! 😛
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
VH is in limbo.
The story of much of the past twenty years.
Oh to get someone in 5150 to go through the vaults and prepare some releases of just what is sitting on the shelf.
Apparently nothing is ever going to come out of the attempted Roth/Vai/Sheehan/Bissonette reunion either. They show up for one show as a "surprise band" on an open mic night, 1,700 show up to a 300 capacity building and it gets shut down by the fire marshal, then nothing for a year since then.
As one of the newer songs goes, we must accept "As/Is".
I am not sure I would shut the door on the Roth/Vai/Sheehan/Bissonette reunion quite yet. I have heard some chatter on Eddie Trunks podcast that it still could happen and most parties are still interested in giving it a go. Maybe it comes down to DLR and if he has some sort of agreement with VH were he cant do anything outside, not sure, just speculation on my part.
I know John 5 has mentioned he has a whole album with DLR.
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/john-5-says-new-album-he-recorded-with-david-lee-roth-is-so-great/
Rob Zombie's guitarist, John 5, has spoken in more detail about new album he recorded with VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth, which he says is "great" and which he hopes to release at some point in the near future.
John 5, who got his first big break playing on Roth's solo album, "DLR Band", before landing stints with Marilyn Manson and now Zombie, told Jude Gold of Guitar Player magazine (hear audio below): "[Roth and I] did another record just recently — you know, now, I guess, a couple of years ago, or a year ago. I would just go to his house and I'd write these songs with him, and he would say, 'Let's go into the studio.' So he would go to Henson studio and record these songs. They came out… They're so good. They're so good. And we've got Gregg Bissonette playing drums on it, and I played the bass, and they're really great songs."
John 5 recounted one particularly funny episode that happened during the recording sessions for his latest collaboration with Roth. He said: "We [originally laid down all the guitar tracks] without click. 'Cause [Dave] wanted that natural feel. And I was, like, 'Great.' And he wanted to get drums on and some percussion, and the engineer was, like, 'Well, we're really gonna need click.' And I'm leaving for a tour with Zombie in, like, 40 hours… So [Dave] called me and he said, 'John, you've gotta come in and record the whole record again with click.' Now, we're talking overdubs, harmonies, doubling… everything. And I said, 'Dave, I'm going on tour in, like, 20 hours.' [He said] 'You've gotta do it. You've gotta come in and redo these guitars on the whole record.' Anybody else, I'd be, like, 'You crazy,' but it's Diamond Dave, and so I was, like, 'Okay.' So I went in there — I was exhausted — and I played this record to the click — everything; all the harmonies… everything. And did it to click."
John 5 added that the album "is so great" and expressed hope that Dave will release it one day. He said: "I know one thing: Dave loves the record. He loves the record. But he's doing VAN HALEN, which is doing great too. So we'll see what happens in the future."
The guitarist said that Roth's vocals on the album sound "like nothing you've ever heard. It's old VAN HALEN — sounds like 'Could This Be Magic?' or anything like that. It's just that sound, that tone."
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
I would be OK with Dave changing the melody of song lines if it made sense.
When yiu see the 1973 footage in the Zepp movie "The Song Remains theSame," Plant has already wisely changed the vocal melody of songs that are only 2 years old. He wants to sing notes he can hit. That makes sense.
That is much better than when Ian Gillan tries and fails to hit notes he hasnt hit in 30 years.
Dave should sit down wifh a vocal couch and intelligently map these songs out. It works for Robert Plant.
What Dave did more than change the melody was to change the timing. And he would get off track so when the band hit the chorus, he didn't. I saw a couple of the shows and EVH looked pissed off with Dave at both.
Plus having the wardrobe person in the pit up front was stupid. He focused more on hats and clothes than on the music. And he looked like Barry Manilow in most of the clothes.
Yeah I think I noticed the timing thing a little more on they're last tour. He has always done that, but it seemed a little more pronounced on the last go around.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
That Roth/John 5 record was done about 4 or 5 years ago. I remember him talking about it on That Metal Show and at that point it was a year or two old.
I think the speculation about if the VH contract might not allow Roth to do anything outside the band could be valid... or it could be that Roth knows the second he does something outside the band it would piss Eddie off and his meal ticket is gone again.
Either way, there seems to always be something wacky going on in that camp getting the way of us hearing new stuff.
That Roth/John 5 record was done about 4 or 5 years ago. I remember him talking about it on That Metal Show and at that point it was a year or two old.
I think the speculation about if the VH contract might not allow Roth to do anything outside the band could be valid... or it could be that Roth knows the second he does something outside the band it would piss Eddie off and his meal ticket is gone again.
Either way, there seems to always be something wacky going on in that camp getting the way of us hearing new stuff.
Yeah that is wacky, at this stage of the game and the tenure of their careers, who cares if he does anything outside of VH. Oh well, I guess that's EVH. That kinda seems to be the trend these days, being in multiple bands or projects.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Now on the Jimmy Page Front............... 😉
Some news on Jimmy?! 😉
I have kinda grown weary of his talk about something in the works for "next year", always seems to be his quote.
It would be kinda cool if he all of a sudden just drops a new release into the market without anyone knowing or pub up front about it. I know a few artist that have done that.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
I must be odd. I think the cherone album, VHIII, was a great 40-45 minute album that got bogged down in bad production and was about 20 minutes too long. better production and trimming the fat could have helped. a great album would have been
1 new world
2 without you
3 one I want
4 fire in the hole
5 dirty water dog
6 once (trimmed to about 5 minutes instead of almost 8)
7 that's why I love you (dropped from the album at the last second but was a great tune)
8 primary
9 ballot or the bullet
that imo is a great album and the run time is about slightly over 40 minutes.
i actually want to hear the tracks the band recorded for the 2nd cherone album. a bunch of song titles were mentioned by the band as being recorded and finished but nothing was released. supposedly the music for 2 of the new hagar tracks on the best of both worlds compilation are from those cherone sessions.
VH 3 could have been a much better album had they hired a real producer instead of Eddie and Mike Post.
Gary thinks the album would have been better had he toured with the band first, then gone to the studio. I've always liked (not loved) the album, but it sounds like a bunch of songs written for Sammy's voice that Gary adjusted to. I remember reading that "A Year To The Day" was a song Sammy had worked on after Balance calling it potentially their version of Stairway called "Between Us Two". I guess Sammy's version was never finished.
You get a hint of what one of the post VH3 songs might have sounded like on Cherone's Tribe Of Judah album. The song "Left For Dead" appears on it which was one of the titles mentioned when they were giving reports on VH's webpage about the follow up to 3. (You know, back when they used to sometimes update their webpage.
It is one of my favorite VH albums. Especially from EVH as he uses many different tones instead on one for the whole album. Lots of tasty acoustic playing and some solos that skip tapping for a change. Insight into a little different VH.
Drawbacks - at times it sounds like Extreme from the song writing but I think EVH felt the Nuno pressure of competition.
The live shows were great from the setlists but EVH was pretty messed up too.
I definitely would not edit tunes like Once as that is what makes it different than what VH had done a 100 times before. Gives Eddie a chance to stretch out in a different way. That song has tons of great guitar especially the acoustic playing and some nice leads and atmosphere sounds. Perfect example of what I mean by EVH expanding his playing for the first time in 20 years at that point.
[Edited on 12/30/2016 by CanadianMule]
It is one of my favorite VH albums. Especially from EVH as he uses many different tones instead on one for the whole album. Lots of tasty acoustic playing and some solos that skip tapping for a change. Insight into a little different VH.
Drawbacks - at times it sounds like Extreme from the song writing but I think EVH felt the Nuno pressure of competition.
The live shows were great from the setlists but EVH was pretty messed up too.
I definitely would not edit tunes like Once as that is what makes it different than what VH had done a 100 times before. Gives Eddie a chance to stretch out in a different way. That song has tons of great guitar especially the acoustic playing and some nice leads and atmosphere sounds. Perfect example of what I mean by EVH expanding his playing for the first time in 20 years at that point.
[Edited on 12/30/2016 by CanadianMule]
Agreed....I've always enjoyed VH3, despite the horrible production. Mostly because, as you stated, we heard many different facets of the genius that is EVH. I think he's so much more capable than what we hear on a typical Van Halen record.
As happens with many great musicians, they often times become a victim of their own success. Maybe I'm wrong and he simply got lazy, but I suspect it has more to do with the pressure of the business and record companies and fans to some degree wanting the usual formula repeated record after record.
I think "Once" is a brilliant song as is "A Year To the Day." Both have incredible playing and far different song writing styles. As an example of the subpar production of the album, listen to the album version of "A year To the Day" and then the live cut from the MTV "Live at the Ten Spot" clip from a show in Australia. The live version is far better and the song really comes alive compared to the record....Ah what could have been had the fans been more accepting. 🙁
The live shows were great from the setlists but EVH was pretty messed up too.
The setlists were great because it was the first time that I ever got to hear a lot of those songs played as before that I had seen VH three times with Hagar.
I don't recall Eddie being in that bad of shape in 1998, if he was he was still on fire on the stage. 2004 was a different story.
glad to see others liked VHIII
and i agree with others that VHIII showed EVH stretching out
With a different producer and engineer handling VH3, I think it could have been a great album. Eddie is a genius, but even a genius needs an editor and the guy who wrote themes for TV shows isn't the guy to do that.
Not enough Michael Anthony doing background vocals on the album either. I think that's another reason it doesn't sound as VH as other albums. They had Gary do a lot of his own BG vocals.
Cherone catches a lot of grief for this album, but most of the problems with this album have nothing to do with him just the production choices.
Also, drop "How Many Say I" and add "That's Why I Love You" and that fixes another problem.
With a different producer and engineer handling VH3, I think it could have been a great album. Eddie is a genius, but even a genius needs an editor and the guy who wrote themes for TV shows isn't the guy to do that.
Not enough Michael Anthony doing background vocals on the album either. I think that's another reason it doesn't sound as VH as other albums. They had Gary do a lot of his own BG vocals.
Cherone catches a lot of grief for this album, but most of the problems with this album have nothing to do with him just the production choices.
Also, drop "How Many Say I" and add "That's Why I Love You" and that fixes another problem.
cherone should haave told the guys though that the key of the songs were too high
