What a week. Late Tuesday afternoon, I got the news of Eddie Van Halen passing away that morning. That evening, I played my Halen records and saluted the dearly departed with a couple of beers. Been thinking about Eddie all week, listening to his music and to the tributes to him online.
I've never gone very long without spinning a VH record, but the listening has been more frequent and intense lately. There will always be a touch of sadness when I (and everyone else) listen to their albums from now on.
But try to cheer up and celebrate the fun and genius of Eddie. To help out, here's a great old live video of Dance the Night Away:
I find it really hard to pin down what my favourite Van Halen album is... for a long time it was 1984, which spawned all those radio-friendly hits. But then I flipped back in time to their first album, which introduced to the world in '78 these four young lads with such talent and attitude. In recent years, I've gravitated toward Fair Warning (1981) more than anything else, its raw, edgy sound a bit of a departure. But then this past week, prompted by the sad news, I re-discovered the brilliance of their debut record. It's just all SO great.
There was even a long spell when I listened to Van Halen II repeatedly. There were the lighter, catchy tunes like Beautiful Girls and Dance the Night Away, but there were also the searing rockers like Somebody Get Me a Doctor, Bottoms Up!, and Outta Love Again. And then there were the slighter heavier, moodier ones... You're No Good and D.O.A. That darker tone led nicely into the band's third release, Women and Children First, which was a blistering recording of the Halens at their heavy metal peak - absolute guitar mayhem and Roth shrieking on tracks such as Fools, Romeo Delight, and Loss of Control. Not to mention the classic party anthems Everybody Wants Some and Take Your Whiskey Home. And much more.
It's a tough call between Van Halen I and Fair Warning, their rawest and most innovative albums. Eddie, on both discs, pushed boundaries and brought new guitar sounds and techniques to the world. Let's call it a tie for now.
It's far easier for me to nail down my favourite Van Halen songs, even though there are so many excellent ones in their catalogue. Meanstreet (off the Fair Warning album) immediately comes to mind... my absolute fave, and has been for years. But not far behind are Jump, Everybody Wants Some, Beautiful Girls, You Really Got Me, Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love, and Unchained - all so good it would be a task to rank them. And so many more.
You can see my comments in a bit more detail about a couple of those in My Favourite Songs series of posts:
There's also my very first blog post about Van Halen here, if you haven't seen it yet.
Carry on...
No comments:
Post a Comment