Hey! Why didn't anybody tell me that Van Halen was back?!? Yes, I knew that Diamond David Lee Roth came back to front the band in 2006 and that Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang was playing bass. And yes, I knew that they pumped out a new album in 2012. (Correct, I still call them albums). But where was the press on this massive rock renaissance? My Halen buddies Mashman and Thunder should have text, tweeted, called or sent me word by carrier pigeon that the new Halen sounds like the good ol' Halen.There I was last week in an F.Y.E record store. (CD store). Your brow is probably knitted in confusion but it is true; L.A. still has a slight sprinkling of brick and mortar music stores. And this left-over platinum-haired, nostalgic o'l skool cat can occasionally be seen strolling their aisles. I was innocently heading toward the heavy metal section to peek in on Megadeth--the bone crushing band fronted by Dave Mustaine that causes my wife to karate kick me in the ribs every time she hears them. While on route I glanced at Van Halen's column. Hmm? I thought. I hadn't bought a Van Halen record since 1984 (Album title). I hefted the latest album; A Different Kind of Truth and found the only functioning listening station (of about 20) and gave her a listen. It took fifteen seconds each of the first 5 songs and 'boom', I was sold!
The Album
In a word this album is; awesome! Diamond David Lee Roth sounds great. Sadly his signature screams of yesteryear have all but disappeared but he gets a pass as the guy is 59 years old (according to Wikipedia). Take it from me; a guy who's been imitating Dave's screams as well as rockin' my own it aint easy to bring the consistent scream...and I'm barely knocking on 50's door. But Dave's control and pitch is better than ever. I'd bet there's been a vocal lesson or two in recent times for Mr. Roth. And why not he's the frontman all dude's used to want to be and the singer all hot chicks wanted to be with--a guy's gotta maintain. Furthermore, his signature tongue and cheek lyrics rich with innuendo and double meaning are back with a hard rock vengeance.
Eddie's guitar playing is just how we all remember it from his hey day back when we'd pause while dancing with rocker-chicks on the dance floor to assume the pose and shred on our air guitars. And can you believe we thought we were cool? Over a handful of years Eddie's battled cancer, alcohol and perhaps a few other substances in the rock and roll party bin. Today his licks, riffs, trills, hammers, pulls, squawks, taps, sweeps, crunch and more are right on the hard rock money and the currency is not bitcoin but shredcoin! His brother Alex on drums continues to give it to us the way we want it. Check out his double handed 16th note hi hat groove on "She's The Woman" it is phat with a capital PH! It's a groove forged at the intersection of metronome precision and trashed-hotel-room-dirty-swamp-slop.
A Different Kind Of Truth has 13 tracks and I'm delighted to say that of the 13 songs I crank up 11 of them with a sly grin and one eyebrow cocked. Being an expert on all things that rock I recommend that kids today should buy this album--the whole album and listen to what rock and roll with melody and crunch is meant to sound like. I further recommend that left-over rockers of my vintage get out there, grab this album and roll your volume dial to the far right. It will make you feel like jumping through a plate glass window, doing a shoulder roll and coming up shouting, "that didn't hurt a bit. What else ya got?"
Note: This blogger does not recommend that you actually jump through the plate glass window...
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