Van Halen!

new song is much better if you close your eyes while the video is playing

This is actually true. But it also brings to the forefront DLR's limitations in his higher register these days.

for toes back in the water it's just fine.

Yes, because it is absolutely tepid.

I was most bummed by the lack of harmonies.

Kool and the Gang is opening for them at MSG.

yeah I kind of love "Tattoo," to my great surprise - avoided listening to it when it was first posted to this thread because I figured if it sucked why did I wanna hear it. But Roth's gift for turning a phrase has always gone underpraised and this song's full of really clever little moments - the merits of "mousewife to momshell" are questionable (I think it's cute enough) but that it's followed by "in the time it took to get that new tattoo" gets a solid A from me, that's a smart little bit of narrative work imo. + EVH standing in to do (or fake) harmonies when the chorus comes in...I don't know. It's sweet. I always thought the Hagar move was lame & that Roth handily won round 1 of the post-breakup albums but was too nuts for the long game. I think for a "mature" Van Halen, this is really good. It certainly beats the shit out of the Hagar era, that dude is fucking dire.

The solo is a B- for EVH but it's all right, probably suffers from how easy it is to comp solos now.

also "mousewife to momshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo" is basically a Craig Finn lyric

haha otm

Also, Alex' snare sound. I honestly can't think of any other band, in any genre, where the snare drum is so consistently and perfectly recorded over so many decades.

"mousewife to momshell" is not a Roth original.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/momshell_power_cRT3VL9mngyCmpHRp8UGrK

Also, Alex' snare sound. I honestly can't think of any other band, in any genre, where the snare drum is so consistently and perfectly recorded over so many decades.

― Let A Man Come In And Do The Cop Porn (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, January 13, 2012 11:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is OTM, i was actually just marveling this the other day when a radio station was playing an ad for their upcoming concert here with a little montage of Roth era hits, and "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" and "Panama" sounded so consistent side by side, like they were from the same album and not recorded 6 years apart. rock production changed SO much between 1978 and 1984 that it's hard to imagine that's true of many other bands, especially mainstream ones, if any, and the fact that that sound has been pretty unchanged through the Hagar era up to the present is even more amazing.

man, i had no intent of liking this song and what do you know, it's actually really good

yeah I listened to it late last night and when I woke up it's still running around my head. for DLR VH to have a decent record out in 2012 is about the weirdest fucking thing

I will admit that it easier on the ears when not watching the video.

i'm sure this is covered within the thread but at least a few of the songs are drawing from older VH songs cut as demos? That explains a lot to me

oh yeah, i just watched the video. don't watch the video.

do watch through the first chorus because when evh does the "I'm not mic'd but I sing the chorus anyway" bit there's something sort of tremendous & melancholy about it

rock production changed SO much between 1978 and 1984 that it's hard to imagine that's true of many other bands, especially mainstream ones, if any, and the fact that that sound has been pretty unchanged through the Hagar era up to the present is even more amazing.

Definitely. They didn't even do the gated snare thing in the late-80s, when it was pretty much the law.

If you look at Templeman's track record, dude knows what he's doing. Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison ... not the most fashionable producer, but a master of meat and potatoes. Ironically (or not) he produced the first Montrose record.

He also did a good job on Captain Beefheart's Clear Spot. Tix on sale today for much of the tour. I'd like to go, but only selling to people with American Express today. This kind of b.s. plus the $90 - $180 prices make me just say fuckit and stick with the less known bands in small rooms.

I've loved VH since I was 10 years old and I've never seen them with DLR and I've always wanted to, but not for $100. Maybe that makes me sound cheap...okay, yes it does make me sound cheap, but even that isn't worth $100.

Might have been worth the dough a couple of years back, when there was no threat of new material. I mean, they were awesome in '08. Played everything I'd hoped they play, more or less.

ok, this song isn't even as good as "Me Wise Magic"

^^^OTFM

This is....good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY7ZqN8Ksdg

This is... a 1984 instrumental with new lyrics!

but it is way better than "Tattoo"

If they wanna raid the vaults for stuff like this, it's fine with me.

i think at least half the record is going to be vault cleaning.

misread that as "vacuum cleaning", lol

half an album of vacuum cleaning would still make it better than the record they made with Gary Cherone.

agreed

Now that sounds like Van Halen.

I love how the band was still cribbing from the vaults as late as "1984." Cheap Trick should have known better than to blow its backlog wad so early ...

YES! The boogie is back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyuXCfKzfko

I like "Tattoo," much better than expected too -- sorry.

Man, that part where it kicks in at 1:10 on Stay Frosty and the acoustic guitar is in this weird time signature relative to the full-band punches is KILL-ER!

Snippet of "The Trouble With Never" at Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0071GGIPC/ref=dm_dp_trk2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327529944&sr=8-1

YES!!!!!!!!!!! Van Halen is back, jack!!

I saw those club clips and was stoked, I liked the new song they played at that gig, but got leary when I heard Tattoo, although that fucking song gets stuck in my head rigght away when I hear it, but hearing these snippits I'm stoked again... Van Fuckin Halen, motherfuckers!!

This stuff is...okay. But "Stay Frosty" in particular is really missing Michael Anthony when the full band kicks in.

Get over it... Michael Anthony is not coming back.. this is the closest its gonna be to the real Van Halen.. And Wolfy, well if I can't have Michael Anthony, I'd rather have another Van Halen in the band. Missing his high pitched backups, although great, is a small price to pay to have Alex throughing down those HUGE back beats, Dave, one of the best frontmen of all time, and Eddie doing the most head chopping shit he can! I'll fucking take it!!

i would never have imagined that 2012 was the year i'd get back into halen

Man, Michael Anthony blows. I guess I miss his vox, but not his plodding bass playing, and Wolfy does fine with both of those things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ewsHwVOyyE

UM HOLY SHIT Y'ALL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FZCwTsoQMs

honestly totally shocked at the quality of this new stuff

I'm happy to say these further leaks are less embarrassing then I expected or that "Tattoo" lead me to fear. However, I'm not digging the obvious vocal cut and pasting in both "Stay Frosty" and "China Town". Dave can't fit the lines in and still breathe, and the word crunch of that effect really bothers me.

Crazytr...I mean Chinatown sounds great!

I really do not like "The Trouble with Never". sounds like stripper rock with a forgettable chorus.

Chinatown, on the other hand....is sweet.

Tattoo is boring.

Stay Frosty is fan-fucking-tastic.

VH practically invented "stripper rock" so that doesn't work as an insult