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

I’ve been saying this for years!! There should be a thread with some of best lines.

 

Oh
Yea, we're all fast breakers comin' outta the gates
Takin' chances we're the crash an' burn
Yea, there is a way with beauty but you never gave a love
Cross the line where none return
Oh, I watch my television
Almost lost my mind
It said, open your eyes leave it all behind
I heard the wind a whisperin'
Strong magic comin' on
They comin' out for sure
Come see your children, yea
They're lightin' up the skies
Won't recognize them anymore
Wolves at my door, wised up quick
Turned here an' gone, from on the go
Seems the old folks who come up short
Were the pretty little kids who didn't want it, no
I had some crazy vision
One I can't deny it
It said, open your eyes leave it all behind
I heard the wind a whisperin'
Strong magic comin' on
They comin' out for sure
Come see your children, yea
They're lightin' up the skies
You won't, recognize them anymore
Oh, mama, see the firelights
Oh, we're comin' out tonight
Oh, mama, see the firelights
Oh, lightin' up the sky
Light 'em up
Lightin' up the sky
Lightin' up the sky
Lightin' up the sky
Lightin' up the sky
Light 'em up

 

Great post.

In “Women In Love...” we’ll delve more into Edward’s early piano background and how that influenced his technique.

 

-spanish fly-great follow up to eruption. this time an acoustic piece. nice intro to DOA too

 

Spanish Fly

This is why the "album" concept is so cool (versus just throwing out singles). It allows for a great little interlude like this to flavor the album.

 

For the style of music VH played, Roth's lyrics were usually pretty good, but calling him a good, or even great, lyricist seems pretty nutty to me.

As for Spanish Fly, nice little number. I dig it.

 

Spanish Fly:
Anyway, this is a really cool little piece that sits nicely on this album.

 

He is awesome for sure

 

He's a witty lyricist, and fit perfectly with the vibe of the music. Compare to Hagar, who's lyrics are totally generic.

 

Hagar isn't a good lyricist either. I mean, who actually listens to Van Halen for the lyrics?

 

What is there to say about Spanish Fly...well its just nuts in its precision and feel. There are some jazzy flourishes on top of the Spanish type modal stuff. No sense to go thru it in technical detail because it will be boring since a lot of it is basically etude stuff. However it is one of the most amazing solo pieces for it technical prowess and demands on both the right and left hand.

 

I looked for an isolated guitar clip of Spanish Fly but could not find one. If anyone has one please post it.

 

Live in '79 - just audio unfortunately. Actually, I think video of this does exist. But I haven't seen it so I could be wrong.

 

I have the Fresno '79 boot. Serrande Arena.

 

Is there video of the whole thing? Because there's this one youtube, but it doesn't have the first part.

 

He's playing the crazy dragon guitar there. How cool is that?

 

I remember back in '79 hearing that the local radio station in upstate NY (95X) was going to be playing the new album from Van Halen in its entirety. It was gonna be commercial free and they'd only be pausing briefly to flip the record over. Well I was kinda new to FM radio and certainly new to this band. In fact I recall distinctly mistakenly referring to them as "Van Hanlen." That didn't stop me from popping an old cassette in the stereo and recording the entire thing. That album, of course, was Van Halen II.

Back in those days my musical taste was still developing and extremely malleable. I think because of that VH II has remained my favorite VH record. I did buy the record a few weeks after taping it (and years later the CD) but I listened to that old tape a TON. Those were the days, man. Remember when radio was good?

 

Does anyone in the thread have any clue as to why the band doesn't release live material from the initial run with Dave? If I had even a straight soundboard quality version of some of the boots I have, my mind would be blown.

Another question for the Van Halen brain trust here: Is Van Halen Rising by Noel Monk any good? What are the good Van Halen books? And by good, I mean substantiated (not b.s.) and reasonably well-written.

 

Greg Renoff wrote Rising, and yes, an AWESOME book

 

Oh, OK, I was just at the Van Halen merch. site and I must have jumbled titles and authors.

 

It's okay. Also, Dave's book is a good read

 

First question I really don't know the answer to, but it seems like Eddie really doesn't care about archival stuff. I don't know but that's what it seems like. Just not interested.

Van Halen Rising is great. By far the best book on the band. Unfortunately it doesn't really deal with the fame years and the books that do aren't so good.

Monk's book is worth reading but it was kind of disappointing. Some people seemed to like it more than I did though so maybe that's just me.

And 'Everybody Wants Some' is pretty much worthless. I would avoid that one.

 

Yeah, that's a bummer. I don't get Eddie on that. But, like you said, it's probably not his interest. Clearly he likes his EVH designed/licensed guitars.

 

Somebody Get Me A Doctor. VH rock this one. Bottoms Up! I like the short bursting solo and mixed opposite the other guitar track. Those 2 songs go well together. I like AVH's playing on Outta Love Again. Roth is great on it and then there's that crazy solo by EVH The song fits well with the previous 2 too. Light Up The Sky is another well-placed tune. It seems for a second like it will fade out but with a title and energy like that how could it. Spanish Fly is sick in an awesome way.