It would be fun if Dave ever did something with these guys - they are monster musicians - but I'd prefer to see him with VH. I think VH's song catalogue is better, as is their sense of groove.

I did see Dave twice on the "Skyscraper" tour with this band. It was a chops fest!!

It would be cool to see Dave and these guys do a one off of this era/line up. I saw both the Eat Em And Smile and Skyscraper tours and they were good.

I think when DLR left VH he kept that style of big hard party rock music going with his band, but took a turn with Skyscraper that kind of killed it for him in some ways. Just my thoughts.

Van Halen with Roth and with Hagar are almost two separate bands in my view. I like both,just different.

VH at their best had a groove and looseness that I don't think Dave's solo efforts captured as well. Eddie Van Halen is a terrific riff writer and rhythm player, and that was really Van Halen's secret weapon. Obviously his lead guitar chops got the headlines, but songs like "So This Is Love" or "Ice Cream Man" or "Beautiful Girls" really grooved and got heads bobbing while the music still had some teeth to it. A lot of hair metal was too tinny or stiff or plastic. It had been run through a big glossy production machine. It sounded formulaic. Van Halen's stuff sounded "live in the studio."

I think Dave's solo band did not swing as much and did not have as good a sense of an unforced, loose groove. Songs like "Ladies Night in Buffalo" and "The Bottom Line" came close, as did "Sensible Shoes" off his 3rd or 4th album, though Dave started to sound like he was trying too hard. "Going Crazy" sounds incredibly forced.

I don't know a person avoids that, though. "Stay Frosty" off the last VH album sounds like it was written by a band that knew that "Ice Cream Man" was amazing and wanted to recapture that but was too self-conscious in doing so.

I like "Skyscraper." I think "Hina" is a great song but has an unwieldy title; I thought "Good Times" should have been a big hit too. "The Bottom Line" is a logical follow-up to ragers like "Hang Em High" or "Hot For Teacher."

I agree with you that Roth's VH and Hagar's VH were different beasts. I was never a Hagar fan. While his voice is clearly superior to Roth's, I have always found him to be a generic personality, a beer commercial voice, like Joe Lynn Turner. Van Hagar did have some good songs. Because I never bought any of their albums once Dave left, I am sure I missed some good stuff; all I know are the hits, some of which ("Love Comes Walking In") were really schlocky.