Van Halen!

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

Trouble with Never is bad stripper rock, let me put it that way. too generic 'lol-80s'.

stuff like Chinatown will have my ear tho

I am getting closer and closer to buying this album day of release. If Best Buy has it for $9.99 (or less), I'm sold.

wouldn't be surprised if they stock racks and racks and sell it for 7.99 the first week.

Yeah, now that I've heard 90 seconds of The Trouble With Never vs the 30 seconds I heard the other day, it's kinda dire. I may appreciate it more in the context of the album, though...who knows. I already like Tattoo more than I originally did.

Beats Workin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIq9CYP2JEQ

Big River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFu5oZtGLI

Outta Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ZyoKbPOMw

As Is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JKk0EfR0RM

"Outta Space" makes a reference to a "facebook page" smh

"Big River" is the first song preview that makes me want to hear the whole thing.

Big River is one of pre-debut demos, isn't it?

Just heard a :30 snippet of You and Your Blues too...great opening riff.

Ah, here's a :90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu7CXhBBywE

Apparently "Big River" is a rework of "Big Trouble". No wonder I like it! Thought it sounded familiar.

Hate to say it, but listening to it now and the demo is better. Michael Anthony and DLR's higher register both sorely missed.

Honeybabysweetiedoll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Gz88ziwTw

Bullethead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOZzoBS1eEw

I think that's it now...90-second previews of every track are out there now. Of course, that's no way to judge an album properly, but so far I'm definitely giving it a B+ (The Trouble With Never and Tattoo being the only songs I'm not enthusiastic about).

Have you seen a listing anywhere of which ones are old demos reconsidered? Because "Beats Working" is "Put Out The Lights" (I'm skimming through the demos to compare, but I'm sure someone's already done the mall).

I haven't, but I'm sure one will pop up somewhere soon.

Full version of a few songs out there:

Blood And Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt0QEHenIxY

The Trouble With Never
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7BT-aFUPEU

This made me laugh.

Michael Anthony Looks Forward To New Van Halen Record

I somehow missed the snippet of "The Trouble With Never". Not so hot.

"Blood And Fire" sounds like a Skyscraper outtake.

Haha.

Also, that means that the album will have leaked by Feb 2, right? Why they don't release it the same time in every region nowadays is beyond me.

I don't know either, but the constant snippets and leaks are making us talk about an album we probably won't remember come March.

I will. I've been waiting for this since 1996 (when the two DLR tracks showed up on the best of).

I'll just listen to the album worth of demos from when they were good, thank you very much.

okay, so it's all oout there and pretty much "okay" so far. "Blood and Fire" is terrible though.

Dave being, well, full-on Dave here

Even so, he has chosen once again to hitch himself to the Van Halen wagon. Is it possible he and Eddie Van Halen – for all the very public acrimony between them – need each other to create anything resembling their best work? For the first time, Roth pauses – there are 30 seconds before he speaks. Then, finally: "Clearly. Very astute. Clearly." Apart, they're footnotes; together, they're a novel. "We went to school together. Literally. We took theory and orchestration together. We both have almost identical backgrounds in how we learnt. We learnt at the back of the hand from eastern-European teachers. Unfriendly eastern-European teachers." And for a long time, they shared the same aims: "I always thought of it as part of a group. I never thought in terms of Rod Stewart, I thought in terms of the Rolling Stones or the Sex Pistols. I think Edward thought in the same vein."

And does knowing you need each other make the tensions between you all the worse? And we're off on one of those long, rambling, glorious answers. "Jesus, let's go back to the 1600s again. People didn't understand psychology, right? You showed them emotional content and made somebody cry and they thought it was demons. One of the best reviews you can get in my estimation is from the villagers if they killed all the actors and buried them at the cross so their ghosts couldn't haunt the village – because everyone left the play crying and laughing and they couldn't understand why. Today we give them an Oscar for that kind of emotional ride. Being human has caused so much of that. Let's really back into some theory here. What is art? Simple, I think – something that forces and compels you to think, and that can be a mint condition copy of Raging Bull or it can be the Kardashians. The same questions will be asked and you will be forced to confront yourself, and you will be forced to triangulate where you stand on everything from racist politics to haircuts. And are they really different? Do you follow? You're going to ask the same questions and that … shit … is … art. And it has caused you to question more than that goddam soup can Warhol sold us. Or tried to. Bring that one up. You follow? You are compelled into argument. Consequently, arguing about our band and our rock'n'roll - you can do that certainly for longer than actually listening to it." Then he laughs long and loud, and offers the perspective that comes with being 56, happy, and aware that there's more to life than telling the world that it might as well jump. "Van Halen music is whisky in a paper cup! Short doses and not every night, PLEASE!"

Eddie Van Halen I get, but David Lee Roth knows theory and orchestration?

why not?

"Van Halen music is whisky in a paper cup! Short doses and not every night, PLEASE!"

OK, that is brilliant.

That was the most enjoyable interview I've ever done. Only 31 mins, by phone, but every word was marvellous. If not usually relevant.

Love the caption in the piece's supporting photo: Van Halen on rollerskates. Just in case anyone was wondering what was on their feet.

i highly reccomend Dave's autobio Crazy From The Heat to anyone that hasn't read it

heard a song from this on the radio this morning that made me go WOAH what is THAT

Crazy from the heat is great, would love to get roth and rollins in an interview about the writing of that book

yeah that book is awesome

Crazy from the Heat is still "Used from $42.00" on Amazon. Anyone know where a pdf might exist?

yeah it's pricey, it's been out of print for years

xp Maybe try your local library? That's why they're there.

Like as if I didn't do that.

new album up on spotify!

HELLLOOOO what I'm listening to all day tomorrow

^^^ (night tonight)

ok, this is fucking incredible

"As Is" is my favorite so far

Sort of surprised (maybe I shouldn't be?) by the amount of evil-sounding chromatic riffs in this

I actually think this album starts a bit weak and ends up absolutely smokin