Van Halen - OU812 released 30 years ago today.

Played at many a campfire Kegger.
I still visit it occasionally

 

If you didn't have the CD version of this album, you may not have heard their cover of A Apolitical Blues. It was, I believe, a CD-only bonus track when it came out.

 

Love this record so much. When the first one came out i thought it was pure pop. This one is as good as either Hagar or Van Halen can do. Love this record all the way through. The other Hagar Halen stuff i don't like at all. Kind of weird really. I can't say exactly why. Love this don't the other Hagar Halen stuff.

 

I can still remember the one word review given to "OU812" in Stereo Review: Alloyed

I love the album; it's one of those albums that I can listen from start to end without skipping. Sound quality-wise.....could be better. I was able to purchase the Japan "Forever Young" pressing of the CD off of cdjapan.co.jp recently. Need to open it and listen....

 

Well get gett'n!
The lp has no advantage either. Sounds like my old compact disc

 

It has always been my opinion that if Diamond Dave stayed on with Van Halen, the band would've ended sooner. Sammy's vocal capabilities allowed VH to evolve with the times.

 

That 2005 Forever Young version is by far, to my ears anyway, the best available version of this album in any format.

 

Weird I was going to start a thread on this!

I woke up this morning with Black And Blue in my head which made me think that Ou812 was released 30 years this month as I remember buying the cassette when it first came out. I had no idea it actually came out 30 years today! I even brought it to work to listen to it today.

Anyways, I like this album. It is my third favorite Hagar album. The reason it is third is that 40% of the album is filler and forgettable. The other half is A grade material- Mine All Mine, Black And Blue, Cabo Wabo, Feels So Good, Finish What You Started, and When It's Love.

 

It's funny i've realized from reading about VH that Eddie was more of the pop bend in the original band. Kind of trippy. So when Sammy joins him it can cut both ways for me. Sammy can be too poppy and generic and Eddie wants to go that way. Like When it's love, that is pure pop. But the rest of this record is the good stuff of what they can do. Finish What ya Started is awesome. Love to hear Eddie chicken pick. Little Feats A political Blues is just the best. Love this record.

 

I greatly preferred OU812 to 5150 despite the very poor first single, Black & Blue. They had some really nice up-tempo boogies, the pop tunes had nice melodies. Mine All Mine veered toward prog, and this suited Hagar well. And Finish What Ya Started is a truly classic song.

The keyboard tracks, When It's Love and Feels So Good, had some really strong vocal melodies, but they were pretty tame compared to stuff like Jump or I'll Wait. I still enjoy them, but I don't listen to them very much. Really liked Cabo Wabo at the time, but I get a bit bored by it now. Sammy's "party more than all the rest" attitude doesn't wear well given all that Ed went through.

 

Saw them at the Akron Rubber Bowl for The Monsters of Rock tour in 1988. OU812 was their new album, of course. Great show...and Eddie played "Eruption" 10 feet in front of me, while kneeling on the stage.
As a 15-going-on-16 year old, it was a dream come true!! Wish it were that simple these days...

 

That's my experience as well. I liked Van Hagar as they happened - from 86 to 96 I bought all the albums and liked them.

But they haven't stood the test of time as albums the way the Roth records have. I cherry-pick a song or two off each one regularly but rarely if ever listen to the whole albums. In contrast, i blast the Roth records start to finish all the time.

 

Exactly the same here.

 

I never had an issue with the Hagar version of VH......for me it was a completely different band....and I never could get my head around the constant comparisons.

OU812......The best Van Hagar album by a long shot!!

I remember buying this on the day it was released....I was on a school trip to Edinburgh (no idea why....just knew that in a big city I had a chance to buy it though)

5150 was a decent rock album. OU812 was and is a great album....a great mixture of songs, Alex sounds great on this, Eddies playings much looser ....like a band having fun!!

 

I like all the Van Halen albums, some better than others of course, I even like parts of VH III. This album was a good one, I love "Mine all Mine", one of my favorite VH songs. What gets me laughing all the time is the debate on which singer is better, yada yada... but I find it
interesting that the fans of the David Lee Roth era use the term "Van Hagar" when referring to the "other" singer. YOU do realize you are actually slandering Eddie and Alex.... (and I suppose now Wolfgang).... right? The band was named after the two bothers -- regardless - of
who the singer is or was or might be. I'm curious, do you guys also use the term "Van Cherone"? haha. It's Van Halen. It's always been Van Halen and even DLR and Sammy respect that.

 

Definitely my 2nd favorite Van Hagar album - 5150 being my favorite. I love AFU Naturally Wired & Cabo Wabo. I saw them in Charlotte on this tour.

 

Listening to Sucker In A Three Piece right now. If there ever was a song that sounds like it belongs on a Hagar solo album, it is this one. Generic rocker that could be a B-side on one of his solo albums.

 

My ranking-
Unlawful
5150

Ou812

Balance

 

I guess sammy was right. Only time will tell...

 

I thought I'd point out a fact about the title of the album that was obvious to me but a lot of my friends didn't pick up on. The was a lot of fighting back and forth in the press between David Lee Roth and Van Halen at the time over the split between them. Dave's first solo album was called Eat Em And Smile and this was Oh You Ate One Too.

 

Ahhhh. My 18th birthday present... what a summer. This was the soundtrack.

 

I remember that, quite funny actually. Kinda what I figured the record player spindle implied-Eat a big fat...

 

This was my first CD purchase when I got a CD player.

 

I feel pretty much the same about all the Hagar led albums, overall solid but outside of a few tracks not usually what I'm going to be pulling off the shelf. That said I think this one may be my favorite overall-and the original LP is great.

 

I don't like it as much as 5150, but Feels So Good is a great track.