Van Halen - Van Halen II (1979) - Song by Song

Bottoms Up! is another one of those songs that is fine within the context of the record, but I literally never listen to on its own. Solid tune, but nothing more.

 

I can't tell you how many songs I misheard the lyrics when it comes to DLR. A biggie is still to come on this thread.

 

This is the shed behind Eddie and Alex's parents' house. This is where they would jam and where Eddie would do all of his tinkering and building.

I thought this was interesting since we were talking about the Bumblebee and of course the Frankenstein. This is where those guitars were born.

 

Note the scuba "diver down" flag sticker on back of the guitar.

 

"Doctor"

The control in Ed's rhythm part is again something that set him apart from his peers. The solo breakdown is what may get the most comments, but the rhythm guitar riff sets the foundation for the whole song. This was the first time I heard them that I truly realized how much of a key to their sound was Michael Anthony's voice. He's spectacular here.

 

Always thought Bottoms Up was the weakest track (except You're No Good), but I wouldn't skip it. They take a pretty basic boogie and pretty it up with a superb solo, some cool Michael Anthony vocals, and a whole lot of Dave's personality. It's a filler tune on this album, but it's a pretty good one. I feel similarly about The Full Bug on Diver Down.

 

OUTTA LOVE AGAIN 1979 (E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony, Roth) (2:54)

“Outta Love Again” is an old Van Halen song, dating as far back as before Michael Anthony Sobolewski joined. The band used to play it a lot in the backyard party days, but the song was shelved after the 1979 II tour until it made a few appearances in 2012.

According to Edward, the song was included on II because it highlighted Alex’s drumming to a big degree. The guitarist states he was kind of “pissed off” that the drums weren’t as up in the mix as he would have liked on the first album so he wanted a song that put this brother’s playing in the spotlight and, to a lesser degree, the bass guitar playing of Michael Anthony.

Edward states the song was inspired by Tower of Power’s “What Is Hip?” as it’s funky and groovy while the lyrics, provided by David Lee Roth, touch on a familiar theme of falling in and out of love.

“Outta of Love Again” is a very short song. It’s less than three minutes on the album, but even that running time is a cheat as the first 15 seconds of the song is really feedback with Edward noodling on his guitar into his Marshall amps until Anthony comes in with eighth notes on the bass and Alex joins in at 0:21.

Really, Alex plays his ass off on “Outta Love Again”. He throws in a ton of fills, supplies a great shuffle beat, and is just on top of everything here (for some reason I get a bit of a Bill Ward of Black Sabbath from what he’s doing on this tune).

For those out there that don’t think Alex is a good drummer, I always point to this song as an early example of his brilliance. I know I probably gush over Alex to the degree of it being nauseating, but I just really love his playing and I’m not a drummer! I guess being a bass player and playing with many different time keepers over the course of my musical career has really made me appreciate truly good ones and Alex is that and more. Way more. I've said it many times and I'll say it again: Alex is just as good as his brother on his chosen instrument. I absolutely believe that. End of sermon - for today (so, yeah, be prepared to hear me blab about him a bunch more before this thread is over).

Okay, so away from Alex a minute, we’ll concentrate on Diamond Dave who is doing some great stuff on here as well. I’m not quite sure where Roth’s vocal inspiration comes from (most have stated he was more of a soul/funk guy so maybe that’s it), but he has to be one of the most unique singers in hard rock history. Not a great singer, in a technical sense, but just so charismatic and perfect in terms of his lyrics and the way he’d add little emphases in his voice in just the right places; as mentioned, great phrasing.

Solo wise, we have Edward and Alex almost battling it out here at 1:51 with Michael laying down the simple groove and not getting in the way (some of his playing on this one reminds me of Ward’s counterpart in Sabbath, Geezer Butler, but maybe that’s me).

For some reason, "Outta Love Again" has always seemed like a much longer song than it is. As mentioned, it's less than three minutes, but it's still great.

 

For fun, here's Tower of Power's "What Is Hip?" which is, reportedly, the inspiration for the riff in "Outta Love Again".

 

The live version from 1979 (again, the audio and video quality is rather poor).

 

A crummy sounding version from Montreal in 2012. Alex's drumming is absolutely buried here.

 

A better live version from Louisville, Kentucky on the same 2012 tour.

 

Love this song. The bridge and chorus always reminded me of late-Rollins era Black Flag, and I would have loved to hear that band cover this tune. This and DOA on the album make me wonder how much SoCal punk Van Halen was listening to at the time.

 

This is one of my favorite Van Halen songs. I think the the solo is one of Eddie's best. It's a very different solo then the one in Bottom's Up, but like I was saying about that one, this is an example of Eddie pushing and developing his playing on this album. There is nothing that sounds quite like it on the first record. The tone and everything...it's just totally different. I mean it's not totally different...but it still kind of is. And the drums are amazing of course, and vocals and just the whole thing. A top ten VH song easily.

 

I've usually heard "moved me with her style and ease". ... Man, hearing all these songs again (the 1st album thread, too) makes me really annoyed we don't have some sort of mega-box of the first six albums with demos and alternate versions, etc. ... It's a machine that prints money, Eddie! All you gotta do is plug it in!!!

 

"Outta Love Again" - Several fun moments in this one:
1:07 - Eddie's squawking.
1:50 - The band comes to a full stop, then a ping, and a bomp, and the solo. Just great timing.
2:35 - Dave's yowling of the title.
2:45 - "aga-aga-aga-again!"

 

Yes. I don't know how I forgot to mention that. That's one of my favorite things on any record.. VH or otherwise. Just one ding on the ride and one hit of the bass drum. And then that incredible solo. It's just the best thing ever.

 

Bottoms Up
Excellent idea to come in with that soft intro after the cataclismic previous track, then it's back into a neat heavy boogie riff and general VH mayem.
Love that belching last note. Fun track.

Outta Love
Love that funky intro from Eddie baby. Great little chunky rocker with super solos and drums.

I like the fact that these tight songs are limited to 2.5 to 3 minutes.

 

“Outta Love Again” is pretty classic, probably my favorite track on II. Van Halen’s flirtations with punk always deliver the goods.

 

Funny, I don’t think there’s one bad song on this album. Not a single one I dislike, but when I was younger I thought “Outta Love Again” was kind of spare. It just seemed like the weakest track to me. Now, it’s just a sum of the greater whole.

 

Minimalist for sure, but it has the spook as Neil Young would say

 

The very beginning of this one makes me think of Hendrix until it isn't Jimi, and the rhythm line sounds like Billy Gibbons, but of course this ain't no ZZ Top. I do have a boot where they cover "Tush" however.

 

Outta Love Again is just a tremendous slab of hard rock. A great sister tune to Doctor, and combined with Light Up and DOA makes the middle of this record one seriously intense ride. The little turnarounds that wind up toward the chorus are wonderful and unique compared to what most other hard rock bands were doing in that (or any other) era. Also amazing is how Dave and the band found a way to pull melodies out of this music. I'm not sure a more conventionally melodic singer (like Sammy Hagar) would have worked as well on this stuff.

 

Funny that I always heard it as "fooled me with astounding ease . . . "

 

I’d like to make a formal request that no more recent tour clips be posted. Van Halen should be embalmed in an 80s time capsule. The music is just not meant to be performed by doddering old men. It’s embarrassing and, worst of all, it makes me feel old to see it. Let Van Halen remain forever young in my memory please

(Yeah, that was tongue in cheek in case it’s not clear when reading, but I actually do mean it )

 

Request granted.

No more recent tour clips will be posted. They make me sad due to how bad/dumb Dave is and watching Wolfgang play bass instead of MA just feels wrong.

Whatever Edward’s reasoning for booting MA for his son is bunk. Want to do something with your boy? Start another project. That said, it’s his band and can do whatever he wants, but I don’t have to like it.