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

Beautiful Girls is just a fun little rock song. Nothing too fancy about it, just catchy guitar melodies and catchy vocals, harmonies and all. A damn fine ending on a worthy successor to that tremendous debut.

 

Nothing fancy? Did you listen to the iso guitar track posted yesterday?

 

If "Beautiful Girls" isn't quintessential Van Halen, I don't know what is.

 

-beautiful girls-side II and the album ends with a bang. this song shows everything DLR era VH was about. a great groove and guitar work. dirty lyrics. the music its sounds sleazy

 

Beautiful Girls:
Man, we are at the end. That sucks, cause this album has been nothing short of outstanding.
The song is kicked off by Eddie doing this kind of playful sound of riff, and I love how Mike and Al respond with this bouncy rhythm, and then Dave comes in at :18 with his Devil-may-care attitude, and Mike and Eddie come in with their harmony as a counterpoint to Dave. This song is so catchy, fun, great structure and hooks, but still with teeth to it, and flavor. We of course must mention Eddie's solo at 1:58, kind of flashy but in a quirky yet structured fashion, and Mike's bass underneath is great. Wait, I thought Mike just played plodding eighth notes.
This song is awesome, one of the best on an already exceptional album.

Overall Thoughts and Rankings
While maybe not as groundbreaking as the first album, this is no Sequelitis people, this more than lives up to its predecessor, great hooks, rocks hard, more of Eddie's awesomeness, Diamond Dave's awesomeness, Al and Mike's overshadowed awesomeness. If I had to rank these songs, damn, everything is a 5 in my book, so f--- ranking songs

 

Looking forward to 1984! Hint hint....

 

I think @Huntigula said he wanted to do 1984, and I'm busy with The Yes Album, Chinese Democracy, and the Iron Maiden thread, and once the Yes thread finishes I'm gonna do Overkill by Motörhead in honor of Fast Eddie

 

Man you guys are busy. Guess I will just sit here and drink.

 

Beautiful Girls

I love that isolated EVH guitar track. It shows how much skill goes into a seemingly simple song. I'm guessing this song is what makes people think of this as a "beach album". I wish I could feel my toes in the sand right now (it's cold around here).

There's a nice variety to this album. The songs are short and sweet, in classic VH fashion.

@Musicman1998 Thanks for a fun thread.

 

@GodShifter ran this one, I'm merely riding his coattails

 

We all rode his coattails on this one and it was a good one. In my case I rode his coattails while downing cocktails.

 

I'm jazzed that the VH fans here identify "Beautiful Girls" as a song that showcases everything VH does well, because, listening to it for the first time in a while due to this thread, that was my thought too. It's fitting that it's the last track on II.

 

D'oh!

Sorry @GodShifter, my bad. Nice work.

 

because the writers believe they don't...some endings can be quite frustrating for the viewer. : )

 

Great EVH pic I just came across on tumblr.

 

That's actually the WACF tour but he is playing the VH II guitar.

 

Cool picture. Looks like that one fan is giving him the middle finger.

 

That's for How Many Say I

 

Oh you mean that......huh?

 

Damn. I don't want it to be over. Can we start over and do it again? (He said, having very little contributed to the thread, but enjoyed reading though it.)

 

I have some serious catching up to do, as I pretty much did "You're No Good" and ran off.

"Dance the Night Away"
This one was on the compilation that I listened to as a kid, the only one from II. Really poppy tune, but I've always liked it. The chorus is really catchy.

"Somebody Get Me a Doctor"
This is just a blistering, white hot track with a heavy metal punch. I'll continue to beat the dead horse by saying this should've been the opener (again).

"Bottoms Up"
I like how it starts pretty subtly and then kicks into a cracking mid-tempo rocker. It's got a cool funky beat to it.

"Outta Love Again"
Interesting vocal delivery by Dave. Another great tune overall, short and sweet. (Or sour, I suppose based on the lyrics).

"Light Up the Sky"
The ascending guitar riff is a heck of a way to begin Side 2, and then rips into a flaming heavy metal riff with great lyrics to boot. The OP Godshifter said this would've been better as an opener, and while I do think it's a better choice than "YNG", I think this works better as the Side 2 opener. The explosion of "SGMaD" works better to open, IMO. Anyway, fantastic song.

"Spanish Fly"
My jaw hit the floor the first time I heard this, as a 16-ish year old.

"Dead Or Alive"
Another personal favorite (Although I guess they all are), the menacing metallic riff always stuck with me and fit perfectly with the desperate lyrics from DLR.

"Women in Love"
I always thought the LGBTQ thing was a rumor, in part because around the time I was first listening to this I wasn't much for listening to the actual words. I suppose it is about that, so that's pretty cool. That intro tho! It's one of those pieces of music where I drop what I'm doing and just focus on the greatness of it. The rest of the song is really good too, it has a nice melodic tone. And like Godshifter, I also always thought DLR said "Marge, you're breaking my heart", which in turn made me think of the Simpsons because that's the only Marge I've ever heard of. Lol

"Beautiful Girls"
Great way to cap this fantastic record, with a neat rocking track. This one definitely makes me think of summer, of course because of the words. Great backup vocals by EVH and MA, as always.

This is a fantastic album, which destroys the sophomore slump stigma. I love the first album, but I really don't know which one I like more. This is one of the albums I have hanging up on my wall, since I replaced that copy because it was a bit beat up. Normally I'd say a cover with just the logo is a bit boring, but the logo is so cool and the colors mesh well with each other that's awesome.

 

Now I'm hearing Homer singing Women In Love.
It would be a killer Be-Sharps tune, that's for sure

 

I'm in the twilight zone at the moment! I do not know how this post got into this thread? WTF is going on? HAHAHHHAH...I can see your confusion!

 

A few have mentioned this line. There is a reason. This is a big reason why I connected with these guys. Growing up, this could be anyone of us , chasing a beautiful girl- and striking out!