David Lee Roth album by album thread

Time for another retrospective, this time of David Lee Roth's solo work!

Crazy From The Heat (1985)


Now, since I'm familiar with all of DLR's albums, I'll just review them as is (as opposed to Winger where I gave the albums at least 2 listens before reviewing the ones I was unfamiliar with)

1. Easy Street-Obviously this was likely a shock to DLR fans due to the fact that this song (and the whole EP) was as removed from VH as you can get. Still, Dave's charisma does shine through this song.

2. Just a Gigolo/I Aint Got Nobody-This one is even better, Dave is really able to pull this off effectively while still putting his own spin on it. Fav song on the EP

3. California Girls-This is the closest thing to a "rock" song on here. Good cover, but he doesnt really do anything new with it to be honest.

4. Coconut Grove-The one on this album that most people forget about. Much different tone, more serious. Not a fav, but it was cool to hear Dave try something different.

Obviously, this is NOT a rock album, but Dave was able to pull it off, and it was surprisingly a hit. In a few more days I'll get to Dave's first full-length and a real rock album with Eat Em and Smile.

 

starting it up already

 

I really liked this EP. Yes, it left you wanting a rocking Dave album, which we got next. I actually wish he'd held "I'm Easy" and "That's Life," done two more and just had another EP in between the two solo albums with Vai. Instead, he tacked those on where a couple more original tunes or one more original and another great rocking cover would have made it stronger.

But I like this side of Dave, and he was singing well (in the studio) at this time. "Just a Gigolo" really works for him, and the more sensitive "Coconut Grove" definitely pre-saged "Damn Good," "Sensible Shoes," "Sunburn," "Black Sand," and "One Piece Thermo-molded Country Plastic Chair" . . . all of which I like.

 

I love this album. Bought it when I was about 7. It was my 1st album purchase (cassette). His videos and Mtv at the time (to a kid) was pure cheese dynamite. "Just A Gigolo" never left the recesses of my mind and I still play it and sing along every time. I play a CDR from FLAC files. I acquired the LP a few years ago, for nostalgia. The CD is a little more expensive last time I checked. Not sure why.

I still admire Diamond Dave, mostly for his conversational tones than music.

 

huh?

 

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

Next up, Eat Em And Smile (1986):



1. Yankee Rose-Good rocking opener. Love that "talking guitar" intro, and Dave is just full of energy here.

2. Shyboy-Cover of the Talas (Billy Sheehan's previous band) song. Closest thing (along with Elephant Gun) to straight up metal on this album, complete shredder. Fav song here

3. Im Easy-More of a lounge song. Kind of a novelty, but Dave is able to pull off this style of music effectively.

4. Ladies Night In Buffalo-Atmospheric, slower song. Perfect song for late night driving.

5. Goin Crazy-The most commercial song on the album. Still a fun song, and keeps the summertime vibe of the album going.

6. Tobacco Road-Mix of bluesy rock with hard rock guitars, works well actually.

7. Elephant Gun-The other heavy rocker on this album. Really frenetic, but still works.

8. Big Trouble-Kind of a change of pace as this has more of a funk-rock vibe. Pretty cool, and Dave's flow is excellent.

9. Bump N Grind-Love the intro, but this is the only track that doesnt work for me. Maybe it's because the chorus is kind of weak. Good guitar work though.

10. That's Life-Another lounge tune. Better than I'm Easy, with Dave making the song his own. I wonder if he's ever considered doing a whole album of this type of stuff.

Excellent album, definitely one of the best albums of 1986 (possibly of the whole decade). This showed that Dave could be seen as more than just the former Van Halen singer. Up next is Skyscraper.

 

On a side note, Dave also released a version of this album in Spanish:

 

Skyscraper (1988)



1.Knucklebones-Hard rocking opener. Pretty fun, though definitely commercial. Still, my second fav track on the album.

2. Just Like Paradise-Speaking of commercial, there's this song. While I love this song, the album is already a big departure from Eat Em and Smile.

3. The Bottom Line-Only song where Vai and Sheehan get to show off their shredding chops. Decent, but the chorus is annoying.

4. Skyscraper-Almost entirely driven by synthesizers, but this is actually my fav song on the album. Took time to like it (at first it was my least fav song), but there's some seriously good musicianship on this tune. This is an experiment that works for me.

5. Damn Good-Acoustic ballad. Lives up to its name with the nostalgic lyrics. Surprised this rarely gets listed in those "best power ballads of all time" lists. Also surprised there was no video.

6. Hot Dog and a Shake-This is where the album starts going down for me. Dave's delivery is too manic even for him, and I dislike sex-as-food metaphors in the first place.

7. Stand Up-The other synthesizer experiment on here, but this is nowhere near as good as Skyscraper. Dave was definitely aiming for the pop charts with this one.

8. Hina-I can see what they were going for here, but this just doesnt work out for me.

9. Perfect Timing-Meh, filler.

10. Two Fools A Minute-This is pretty much one of those end-of-the-album jam sessions (ie. Bon Jovi's Love For Sale or Van Halen's Inside). I actually like this one, so at least the album ends on a good note.

Pretty disapointing, especially compared to EEAS. Would have been better as an ep, as there just werent enough good songs to carry a full album. Sheehan and Vai would leave Dave's band soon after. Next up will be A Little Aint Enough.

 

A Little Aint Enough (1991)



1. A Little Aint Enough-Good, solid opener, polished but still fun.

2. Shoot It-More of a bluesy rocker with horns. Another fun tune with classic Dave swagger and an earworm of a chorus.

3. Lady Luck-One of the heavier tunes on the album, with some great, crunchy guitars.

4. Hammerhead Shark-Another fun bluesy rocker. This song was tailor-made for Dave. Second fav track on the album.

5. Tell The Truth-Has a smoky blues club vibe. Reminds me of Ladies Night in Buffalo. Well done.

6. Baby's On Fire-More of a typical hair metal sound. Not a bad song, but I kind of expected more coming from Dave.

7. 40 Below-Faster tune, with more classic flow from Dave's vocals

8. Sensible Shoes-Was a hit, but I'm not really feeling this one. Dave does pull it off well, but it just felt dull IMO.

9. Last Call-Kind of sounds like Aerosmith. Cool song, with a slightly heavier feel.

10. The Dogtown Shuffle-Moody, darker tune. Almost reminds me of the darker VH tunes (albiet with a horn section).

11. It's Showtime-Fav song on the album. The fact that Jason Becker was able to shred so much on this song despite being diagnosed with ALS is a true miracle.

12. Drop In The Bucket-Starts off with some acoustic picking before going into another great tune.

Probably my fav DLR album, just a fun listen all around. even Sensible Shoes is still ok. Probably the last DLR solo album to do much on the charts. Next up will be Your Filthy Little Mouth.

 

I was born in July 1971 so I was 12 when 1984 came out. I bought 1984 on vinyl sometime in that summer and I remember the older kids talking about the tour when it came through Edmonton in late April.

But at that point I was mostly into the videos so I don't have a clear memory of there being any difference between Panama, Hot For Teacher, California Girls and Just A Gigolo. Dave was my 'in' to Van Halen so I never felt a culture shock between the hard rock of Van Halen and the pop music of the EP.

Anyway, I'll do the bare minimum here and catch up.

Crazy From The Heat.

I still have my vinyl copy of this from when it was released and I also had it on cassette. Check that, I just went to the Sizzle Vaults (under the stairs) and I not only still have the cassette, I'm listening to it as I type this. I also have it on CD.

Easy Street - even Van Halen fans foolishly defend modern day Dave by saying he was never a great singer. Which is BS, listen to this song. His voice maintains a lot of grit but he's clearly a very capable singer. This is probably my least favorite song on the EP but I like it.

Just A Gigolo (I Ain't Got Nobody) - I like this but honestly I can't really judge it because of the nostalgia that is so tied in with the video. I was that age, I watched these videos and just said "I want to be....HIM!!!!" Somehow I think this would be my least favorite on here if it wasn't for the video.

California Girls - Great song, great take on it. The video, the way it's bookended with characters. This is a moment in time. I distinctly remember watching that video with a friend and us saying we were sure Dave had slept with every one of those women. He really makes this song his own.

Coconut Grove - I don't think I really listened to this song until much later but now I think it's one of the hidden gems of Dave's whole career. Brilliant song, and if you wait long enough this song will turn into......Black Sand. "Heard a story many times and it's one that I believe."

 

Your Filthy Little Mouth (1994)



1. She's My Machine-Heavy, bluesy opener. Kind of a different sound for DLR, of course, when it comes to that, we havent heard anything yet.

2. Everybody's Got The Monkey-Pretty cool pop-metal number. Sounds like something from the previous album actually.

3. Big Train-Has kind of an Aerosmith vibe to it. another fun track, and my second fav track on the album.

4. Experience-After some weird acapella intro, we get into a bluesy song that sounds very much like Tell The Truth. Cool lyrics though.

5. A Little Luck-Horn driven number, but I like this better than I thought I would.

6. Cheatin Heart Cafe-Duet with Travis Tritt. When I first heard this song I disliked country (I've since warmed to it), but even then I still liked the song. It still has the DLR party vibe that he was known for. I wonder if this ever got any airplay on country radio stations.

7. Hey, You Never Know-Another country tune. Not as good as the other one, but still decent.

8. No Big Ting-This Reggae-based song is actually my fav track on the album. Dave's personality shines here, and the song always reminds me of summer.

9. You're Breathin It-Back to the rock songs, this one seems to be darker lyrically. Not bad, but the chorus falls flat for me.

10. Your Filthy Little Mouth-Reminds me of ZZ Top, sadly, this doesnt work for me.

11. Land's Edge-Another blues song, though this one has classic Dave vocals as opposed to his more bluesy tone. Love this tune.

12. Night Life-Willie Nelson cover. Dave really gives his all the vocals here, love the vibe of it.

13. Sunburn-This is a fan favorite, but I just cant get into it, though I do appreciate how different the vocals are, love when Dave tries different things vocally.

14. You're Breathin It-Urban NYC mix-More funk based remix. Not really necessary.

Dave trying something new for the majority of the album, and it actually works, at least IMO. Still, he needed to get back to harder rock, and after two new songs with Van Halen, he put out DLR Band in 1998, which we'll discuss next.

 

She's My Machine had a b-side, Mississippi Power:



This should have been on there instead of the Urban mix of You're Breathin It.

 

Definitely a masterpiece of 4 great musician on a commercial Rock title! Every track nice and memorable!

 

EP - I love the EP but thinking about it now it was a really big mistake...a big mistake if he wanted to stay in VH anyway. All these years later I'm still not exactly sure what he intended at the time. But to put out a solo record just a couple of months after the Hot for Teacher single came out and the video was still in constant rotation...it seems kind of crazy.


Eat 'Em and Smile - Classic. I sometimes think it's a little overrated but still a classic. The best stuff on here...Ladies Night, Tobacco Road, Elephant Gun, Big Trouble...is as good as it gets for post "six pack " music from either side of the split (imo!) but some of the rest doesn't hold up as well. Actually, there's nothing wrong with any of the individual tracks it's just that it doesn't seem like it all fits together that well. Maybe. I don't know.

Skyscraper - This one was a huge disappointment at the time. I like a couple of tracks now but I still don't really care for the album.

After that I don't really know. As much as I love Dave, and as much as I am a "Dave only" guy when it comes to VH, the truth is I've never been a big fan of Dave solo.

 

Eat 'Em And Smile

I very much agree with @vamborules that this is both a classic and also over rated.

As for being a classic, I bought this when it was new and absolutely everything about Dave in this era was over the top and fantastical. He was the coolest human being on earth to me. I consider the Oakland 1981 Unchained drum riser jump to be one of the greatest live moments caught on tape so needless to say the Yankee Rose jump did (and still does) make me smile for days.

One of the great strengths of this album is how short it is. There are songs that aren't really all that great but everything goes by in such a blur that it's easy to let it flow rather than skip tracks.

Also this album redeems the Diver Down concept in that it benefits from having some well chosen, though oddball, cover songs. Although this may just be my reaction to the massive quality drop to Skyscraper and my belief that even though it worked for Eat 'Em And Smile, Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan weren't the right guys to build a band around.

But were they even a 'band'. Dave played up that idea for this one album and then it quickly collapsed. I think Dave was shortsighted in bailing on Van Halen and he was shortsighted in not making this as close to a real democratic band as possible given his higher fame and stature in the music business.

Still reading? Let's move on.

Yankee Rose - this is a tough one to judge because it's linked so closely to the video which was jaw dropping to this kid. Ultimately it's a good song but not really worthy of it's status at the top of the DLR heap. One major problem is it doesn't lend itself to being played live; it's structured more like a studio creation and so it seems a bit out of step with the rest of the album.

Shyboy - I always loved this song. This is such a 'David Lee Roth' type of song that it baffles me that Billy Sheehan has zero other co-writes on this or Skyscraper. It's going to become readily apparent that Steve Vai isn't a riff type guy and his soloing is going to become ear splitting from a tone perspective very soon but here he's kept under wraps. I feel like Dave and Ted Templeman should get a lot of credit for getting great rock and roll playing (and a warmer tone) out of a guitar player who isn't really a great rock and roll guitar player. Vai's wildly talented but he was only the right guy for Dave for one album.

I'm Easy - Love it. Not my kind of song but with Dave delivering it it totally works. Again I'm shocked at what Steve brings to this solo; it's reminds me of Eddie's Ice Cream Man solo which may be my favorite EVH solo.

Ladies Night In Buffalo? - This is a masterpiece, each of the four guys are perfection here. Dave can be so good when he slows down a little bit.

Goin' Crazy! - another song tied to the video. Good song. Vai's tone in both the intro and the solo is a little harsher than it has been so far.

Tobacco Road - I like this but I can't say it's a favorite. I like Dave's howling/singing "get that dynamite..." section. Some good texture.

Elephant Gun - This has never been a favorite. This seems more Vai's thing than Dave's. I guess at the same time I criticize Dave for not making this a true band I have to admit that this seems more like a musicians' song and it doesn't really work for me. Feels like an unfortunate pre-cursor to The Bottom Line from Skyscraper where Dave is trying to cram too many words into too few seconds.

Big Trouble - Masterpiece number two. This swaggers along at a cool pace and again every player is great. How the hell did this Steve Vai turn into the guy on Skyscraper; he's so perfect here. It's a fun lyric that seems interesting but I can never quite catch up to it. Halfway down the interstate and I still can't catch up to it. Must have been two other people.

Bump and Grind - This one sits alongside Elephant Gun as more of a warmup for the band that would have been better left at the side of the road. The melody of the players at 1.42 is really cool, maybe something could have been done with that.

That's Life - I love this, I loved the video because I'm a sucker for montage videos. Dave's influences were never hard rock and that's what makes this song (and I'm Easy and the Crazy From The Heat EP) work. Hell, that's what made Van Halen great.

 

"One Piece Thermo-molded Country Plastic Chair"

Thanks, just heard this and it's incredible. This is the Dave I want a full album of.

Diamond's have a lot of sides!

 

Don't want this to be taken wrong, because I'm definitely a fan of Eat 'Em and Smile, and Skyscraper. But one thing it took me some time to notice, once DLR left VH, was how important the drum sound was to Van Halen. I had always taken Alex VH a bit for granted I suppose, but compared to what we hear on the DLR solo records, Alex's style and maybe even more importantly his attack and his recorded tone are magnificently monstrous. So the DLR solo albums pale in that way a bit for me, for certain. Obviously the sound of EVH's tone and style, on guitar and then on keyboards, really defined the musical side of Van Halen, but it was only when I heard DLR without VH that I noticed that I missed the killer sound of Alex's drums.

 

Give me a bottle of anything and a glazed donut... TO GO!!

 

I just wanted to add that Jason Becker was so very good and paired well with DLR on this album.

This is an interesting listen (Jason Becker playing "Yankee Rose"):

 

Shyboy is a funny one for me because I was actually a Talas fan before Billy joined Dave's band. How or why I became a Talas fan I'm not sure I really remember but I was. But anyway, the point is I already knew and liked that song, and I loved Dave's version at the time...but it just doesn't sound like a good song to me anymore. Tastes change I guess.


I agree that Ladies Night in Buffalo and Big Trouble are the best two songs on the album. Van Halen worthy.

 

Never a big DLR fan, but he is or was entertaining to watch. But saying that Just a Gigolo was well done.

 

"Just A Gigolo"
Always felt Dave listened to this version, before doing his own.

 

DLR Band (1998)



1. Slam Dunk-Fast, energetic opener, probably my fav track on the album.

2.Blacklight-More of a modern sound from the guitars, but a bit too plodding for me.

3. Counter-Blast-Back to the faster songs. Weird hearing Dave talk about internet lingo like "What's your favorite page" or chatrooms though.

4. Lose the Dress,Keep the Shoes-More of a funk rock vibe. It's ok, but I've heard better.

5. Little Texas-Another fun rocker, the closest thing here to the Eat Em and Smile era.

6. King Of The Hill-Probably the heaviest song in Dave's entire catalog, has kind of an Alice In Chains vibe, yet it still works.

7. Going Places-Dave mellows out here with this one. Laid back, acoustic song.

8. Wa Wa Zat-Stupid title, but decent if forgettable.

9. Relentless-Heavy rocker with a killer riff. The lyrics are reportedly about Eddie, but I've never heard a confirmation on that.

10. Indeedio-Another goofy song title, but an ok pop metal tune. Sadly, the weak production means it doesnt have as much punch as it could.

11. Right Tool For the Job-Bluesy tune, but this one doesnt do much for me.

12. Tight-Another good pop metal tune, Dave sings with a lower voice on this one (at least for the verses).

13. Weekend With The Babysitter-Pretty directionless tune, not very good.

14. Black Sand-Second fav tune on the album. A dreamy tune that ends the album on an excellent tune. Definitely not like any other DLR song previous.

Not a bad album, but one that's plagued by filler (would have been better at 10 tracks), and the production value on this album is sadly pretty thin. Still, recommended for what does work (mostly the first half).

 

I was 9 when Crazy From the Heat came out. Dave was all over the MTV and I asked my mom for the album (EP, which was a term I wasn't familiar with at the time). I got it at Caldor. Hadn't played it in ages but actually gave it a spin last month (my original copy with my young fingerprints all over it). "Coconut Grove" has always been my favorite track. Didn't hear the Spoonful version until a long time later. It's a fun record. It brought back good feelings for me to hear it again.