The Van Halen debut album song by song thread

Definitely. People don't seem to get how important Groove and rhythm is to Van Halen. Even beyond Dave's background, which is in Soul, jazz, funk, and big band, the Van Halens were big on pocket and synergy

 

It's instructive to play them back to back, to really get a feel for what VH added to this song to make it theirs. It starts with Eddie's opening chords, where he adds that little extra tikka sound which gives it more energy. Then you have Eddie's little fills between the verses. Then after the solo, the guys do their "woo" sounds. Compared to the original, it takes a moment to start the verse again.

 

Clueless. These kinds of lazy, politics-driven pro-punk agendas among many critics are the single thing that put me off punk and new wave for many years (missing some pretty good music buried in there as a result). Continue to detest Robert Christgau's work to this day.

 

RE: You Really Got Me - it's my favorite version but perhaps just because Van Halen was the THE band in my formative years. On later listenings, I can hear that their version isn't so different enough in structure to really "better" the already-great original. I will say that I prefer Edward's guitar sound on those powerful chords, and I prefer the little rhythmic tikka-tikka things that he adds. It just feels a bit more "musical" or at least more natural than Dave Davies' playing .

 

My go to version of the album is Steve's DCC. The Hi Rez download from a few years ago is pretty good as well.

 

Oh, don't get me started on that prick.

 

Great video. Why does Michael Anthony remind me of Radar O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff) so much in that? Poor Mike never really had “the look” did he

Another great example of Eddie’s rhythm prowess and using his pick on muted strings: “D.O.A” from II near the end.

 

I’ve never read a word of Christgau’s work. I do remember having a book of Dave Marsh reviews. Never clued in on many of the “noted” critics of the 70’s; just not that interested. Bangs, Linda Robinson, etc; they all just seemed full of crap.

 

I remember reading the Rolling Stone review of VH I. I thought it was off base to say the least. Regardless of some bad reviews, I played the album to death.

 

Ian Gillan clone? In what universe? Even if you're not a Roth fan, how in the ever living **** is he an Ian Gillan clone?

 

I agree. Some reviews you wonder if the critic listened more than once to the album.

 

1978, the 2nd of four Summer Celebration concerts in Bay City. Opened with Detroit bands Salem Witchcraft and Brownsville Station. Then Van Halen took the stage.

I'd heard their cover of You Really Got Me on the radio. But they started their show with Runnin' With the Devil. That monster riff caused a huge roar from the crowd that continued through their entire performance.

Bob Seger was the headliner and he gave an equally well-received show.

 

Young also wrote a big feature/Q&A on Van Halen for Musician magazine in 1984. I no longer have a copy (as far as I know), but I loved it back then. He was one of my favourite critics. He had a lengthy digression about Roth (along with Bugs Bunny!) being much like the mythical figure of the trickster.

 

I remember first hearing this song in '78. Wow, that slowed down car horn intro was/is just so clever and brilliant. What a great way to open up the album! Still sounds as good as ever.

 

cool thread. was hoping a hagar album was done next. anyways playing catch up

-runnin with the devil- one of the greatest debut albums kicks off with a nice slow groover. the build up for the intro adds a bit of suspense as to what you are about to hear. this is bluesy and a nice vocal delivery from DLR. I like when he sings like this and isn't trying to over sing

-eruption- a piece that inspired probably thousands of kids to play guitar. EVH announced his arrival here

-you really got me- a good cover. I'm a huge kinks fan so I enjoy them spotlighting the kinks. I will say however they didn't change the song up enough and make it very different from the original. to me it sounds like VH just running through a kinks cover to warm up

 

It made me consider giving up!
Glad I kept trying though.

 

Call me crazy, but I vote for 5150.

 

Mine too!

 

as long as it isn't OU812 I'm ok

 

You Really Got Me
A great cover of a great song. The opening chords set the tone... literally.
5/5

 

{no lyrics to quote}

Is it fair to say “Eruption” is one of the most important recorded pieces of rock music, of all time?

Unratable - this is a timeless piece of art

 

The videos from this album are so great. I wonder where they were shown if anywhere. I can't recall ever seeing them on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or anything like that. Of course they mostly showed live stuff but I think they had these types of promo videos too. I used to watch that show a lot but of course I didn't watch every episode. so maybe they were shown and I just missed it.

In any case, I didn't see these until sometime in the late 90s or something like that when I bought a VH bootleg comp on VHS. I couldn't believe they even existed when I saw them. Even thought they're just lip syncing it's so great to have visual document of that period.

 

Interesting to hear how simple changes can make a song work better...the slower tempo on VH makes it burn better, singing the RWTD chorus in a major key keeps it from sounding too earnest and waiting to get to the Chorus adds a nice tension.

 

You Really Got Me

The Kinks were always a favorite, especially of the Big Four British groups. So, how does one remake a song that already kicked a$$? Ask Van Halen.

They took that song and didn't quite make it their own, but they definitely updated it. It's still respectful of the original while bringing it into not only the current age of rock, but the next decade of rock. Dave had once mentioned buying a Kinks K-Tel collection during their bar days for "research purposes". Of the two Kinks covers, WHATGTG is a lot more straight laced.

Someone upthread mentioned a rival act recording it, too. Eddie had played drummer Barry Brandt from Angel the cover version, while Angel was working on their own version. Van Halen and team rush released the single into stores first, while Angel had to settle for "Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore".

The funny thing is, in my generation of music (born in '85), a lead single/introduction being a cover is generally a kiss of death. You're only known as the band that had a hit with someone else's hit. Van Halen had nine other songs (Eruption not withstanding) that could have introduced them to the world. Yet they chose a rock standard to lead with. And I'm glad it worked.