New Van Halen!!!

[Hotwire]

Well, they're back! This is their new song, and they have a new album coming in a month or so. I'm on the fence a bit, but what do you guys think??

 

[Dark Sentinel]

I think it's awesome. The world needs more Van Halen to remind it that there are better things than Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Drake, Bieber, etc...

 

[obin_gam]

kinda bland, but its Van Halen so I'l let it slip \m/

 

[Superman]

Sounds OK, Nothing special but it's good to hear some new VH.

I'm still kinda pissed about how they treated Michael Anthony though, I can understand Ed wanting to work with his son Wolfgang, But they should have handled the Michael situation better. They did Michael wrong.

As for Dave, He's a good singer but I'll always be a Sammy fan. Dave just seems to be too much of a jackass for me.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

You can definitely hear Michael Anthony's absence; his backing vocals are legendary. Oh well, I've still got Chickenfoot.

 

[VampElvis]

Very meh. Stale you might say. If it came on the radio I might not change the station - but not something I'll be standing in line to buy..... especially since the song is over 30 years old according blabbermouth over at roadrunnerrecords

 

[bullets]

I don't really care for this one. I hoe the rest of the album sounds better and also can't wait to see these guys on tour.

 

[HULKFish]

A solid Okay for me... But I second what Dark Sentinel said! I wanna rock!

 

[Axl Van Sixx]

Already said this in the Metal thread, but I just noticed this one now.

While pleasantly surprised to find out that Van Halen would be releasing a new album with David Lee Roth next month, the song "Tattoo" isn't that strong IMO. It certainly doesn't hold a candle to the two gems from their last reunion with Roth in 1996, "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic".

 

[Papa G]

I love VH, but this stuff is pretty subpar. I think they were pretty much garbage after 1984, and I don't think Diamond Dave sounds that great here.

 

[Axl Van Sixx]

I think they were pretty much garbage after 1984

This is a popular opinion, but I disagree. Hagar was a better singer than Roth (if not necessarily a better frontman). 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance were all top-notch albums and contain some of my favourite Van Halen songs. I know old school fans might choke at the cheese of "Dreams", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now" and so on, but I love 'em.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

This is a popular opinion, but I disagree. Hagar was a better singer than Roth (if not necessarily a better frontman). 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance were all top-notch albums and contain some of my favourite Van Halen songs. I know old school fans might choke at the cheese of "Dreams", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now" and so on, but I love 'em.

Agreed. Poundcake is one of my favorite Van Halen songs.

 

[Krumm]

This is a popular opinion, but I disagree. Hagar was a better singer than Roth (if not necessarily a better frontman). 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance were all top-notch albums and contain some of my favourite Van Halen songs. I know old school fans might choke at the cheese of "Dreams", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now" and so on, but I love 'em.

I disagree with the idea that Hagar is a better singer. He might have the rock scream singing down and more suited for the arena but Dave is far more versatile. Just look at the bluesy/traditional songs like Big Bad Bill, Happy Trails, Could This Be Love? This is all while rocking your face off on the more classic VH jams.

 

[Man in the Suit]

The song and video are just embarrassing.

 

[Krumm]

Yeah, I've resorted to simply listening to the video. I don't think the song is amazing but it's not terrible either. It think it shows promise but let's be honest, we really just want the tour don't we?

 

[Hotwire]

This is a popular opinion, but I disagree. Hagar was a better singer than Roth (if not necessarily a better frontman). 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance were all top-notch albums and contain some of my favourite Van Halen songs. I know old school fans might choke at the cheese of "Dreams", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now" and so on, but I love 'em.

I like some of Dave's stuff, I like some of Sammy's stuff. Being 35, I'm more familiar with Sammy's run, though. With Tattoo, I'm still kind of, meh. I'd like to hear the rest, but Tattoo doesn't impress me. I was hoping they would come back with something more like Panama, or Unchained. Something a little more rocking.

 

[ChickenScratch]

It's good to have EVH back out there. It's not great, but can't be worse than VH3.

Still, I'm all about Chickenfoot.

 

[Axl Van Sixx]

I disagree with the idea that Hagar is a better singer. He might have the rock scream singing down and more suited for the arena but Dave is far more versatile. Just look at the bluesy/traditional songs like Big Bad Bill, Happy Trails, Could This Be Love? This is all while rocking your face off on the more classic VH jams.

Maybe I just prefer the rock scream style. I thought Brian Johnson, for example, was miles better than Bon Scott in AC/DC.

Roth is entertaining no doubt, but I don't think singing is his strong suit, certainly not anymore. As much as I hate to say this, when it came to DLR's original appeal, it was about the whole package: the leg splits, the shrieking falsettos, the long blonde rock god locks, the over-the-top persona. Unfortunately, a lot of that has declined with age. He cut his hair, his voice isn't anywhere near as strong as it used to be, and I don't think he could do the splits without breaking a hip. I honestly feel at this point, David Lee Roth would make a better game show host than the frontman for a famous rock band.

Sammy's strength was always that he was a better singer and had more range vocally. Today, when Van Halen are no longer hot young trendsetters, but established veterans playing to a middle-aged audience, their image is less important than ever before - and as a result, they're well-suited to a talented frontman who still exhibits great vocal power, like Hagar. Roth, on the other hand, was just as much about image in his heyday as actual vocal prowess. Now that they're all old, I find Sammy's sheer musical talent works better than Roth's showboating and his singing, which is merely adequate.

 

[ChickenScratch]

Exactly man. As a guitar player I geek out about stuff like this. In VH's early records Ed had to tune down a whole step to more accommodate Dave's smaller range. Many of the songs back on the first few records were in Drop D tuning, or tuned a whole step down across all stings. While when Sammy joined the band they started using standard tuning again. Heck, look at the 4 octave vocal swing Sammy does in "Higher." Try having Dave do that, heck couldnt even sing the high parts in the harmonies, that was Michael Anthony (always found it funny the more epic vocal stuff was not being done by the singer)

As a metal fan I love VH with Dave, as a musician, I love Sammy with VH.

 

[Hotwire]

Just finding it funny that Gary has not been mentioned.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I mentioned VH3 in my initial post in here. That counts as a Gary mention.

 

[Axl Van Sixx]

Just finding it funny that Gary has not been mentioned.

Nor will he be when you're having a conversation about people's favourite Van Halen singers.

Gary Cherone is to Van Halen what George Lazenby was to James Bond and Brandon Routh was to Superman. You can debate his merits in the role, but clearly there wasn't any huge demand to bring him back for an encore.

 

[Hotwire]

I mentioned VH3 in my initial post in here. That counts as a Gary mention.

Missed it.

 

[Krumm]

Exactly man. As a guitar player I geek out about stuff like this. In VH's early records Ed had to tune down a whole step to more accommodate Dave's smaller range. Many of the songs back on the first few records were in Drop D tuning, or tuned a whole step down across all stings. While when Sammy joined the band they started using standard tuning again. Heck, look at the 4 octave vocal swing Sammy does in "Higher." Try having Dave do that, heck couldnt even sing the high parts in the harmonies, that was Michael Anthony (always found it funny the more epic vocal stuff was not being done by the singer)

As a metal fan I love VH with Dave, as a musician, I love Sammy with VH.

That's funny. I find that they are far more interesting and unique musically with Roth as the lead because his tone is much richer than Hagar's. Like with the more traditional songs I've mentioned, they would sing completely or partially acapella and their harmonies were much stronger and prominent on all songs. It's only when Hagar joined that I feel they ended up being more generic and mostly relegated to soft rock stations.

And, by the way, I'm totally stoked for my floor seats to see VH at MSG!

 

[Papa G]

This is a popular opinion, but I disagree. Hagar was a better singer than Roth (if not necessarily a better frontman). 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance were all top-notch albums and contain some of my favourite Van Halen songs. I know old school fans might choke at the cheese of "Dreams", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now" and so on, but I love 'em.

Yeah, I do like "Right Now", but I don't think Hagar was as dynamic a frontman at all. In general, I just think all of Hagar's work is cheesy and compromising, and I personally like Diamond Dave just because he was more audacious.