I want to love this album. I really do. It's not a bad album, and I, like you, am thrilled that David Lee Roth is back with Van Halen. But something's not quite right. It took me a couple of listens, but I think I've finally got it figured out...
Chunky riffs and flashy solos by Ed? Check. Vocal harmonies? Check. Random squawking and humorous asides courtesy of Diamond Dave? Check. The ingredients all seem to be in place for a monster album, and while it is a solid effort, here's what I'm missing:
- Hooks - remember when every Van Halen release had a couple of songs that would just knock you over? Remember "Dance The Night Away," "Jump," "Panama," and "Runnin' With the Devil"? Even the Hagar years had "Dreams" and "Top Of The World." I want at least one anthem. A song that literally forces me to crank the volume to ear splitting levels and sing at the top of my lungs, regardless of what the old lady in the next car over thinks of me.
- Swagger - one of the main differences between Van Halen and Van Hagar was swagger. Sure, Van Hagar was a more mature band, but we loved the original Van Halen lineup for their grinning, strutting, reckless, drunken (sorry, Ed) delusions of invincibility. Those songs made us feel invincible, too, if only for a moment. I'm glad that Eddie is sober and I'm glad that Van Halen can still make good music without being in a chemically-altered state, but it's different now, and listening to this album I am continually reminded that the old days are not coming back.
All that said, the highlights of this release are, in my opinion, "Beats Workin'," "The Trouble With Never" and "You And Your Blues." These three songs get the closest to vintage Van Halen-ness, with great grooves, guitar work and a healthy dose of vocal harmony. There are a few too many filler tracks for my taste, including "She's The Woman" which sounds like a song that wasn't good enough to make it onto an early Van Halen album, and "Honeybabysweetiedoll" which just plain doesn't work.
And at the end of all this I'm in a quandry, because the young, brash, never-gonna-die version of Van Halen is gone forever in spite of the fact that Dave's back... and Van Hagar, the "mature" version of VH, was pretty damn good in its own right. Dare I say that, at this point in their careers, VH would be better off with Sammy?
It remains to be seen if Dave and the boys usher in a new chapter of VH that measures up to the glory years. I hope that they can.