Worst Van Halen studio album

The thread gets more excrement on it. All I ever liked was the B-side Atomic Punk to their abomination cover of the Kinks. Never could get past a couple trax on any of their albums(Roth or Hagar) though countless keg parties during my college years had me suffering through Eddie Van Halen's guitargod excesses. An all of them button would certainly be my choice.

 

I'm putting my vote in for Balance too

 

This is a joke, right? Balance has probably some of the best production values and best playing, and the best thing of all, no DLR.

 

Balance the worst VH studio album?? Okay, what are you people smoking??

Seriously, it's one of the better albums from the Van Hagar era. Now, if you want to pick a bad album from that time, it's easily For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, which had a few good tracks, but overall is pretty tepid and limp.

Balance is a great album and anybody who voted it the worst needs to re-listen to it a few times.

 

OHHHHHH! I FORGOT that one! Gorts, can you fix the poll?

I got rid of it when I got rid of Balance, but I recall it was not much better.

Damn!

 

My favorite though, is "Women And Children First". It's the best blues album they ever did.

 

Not much of a fan of any of the Hagar stuff--well, I must admit liking Unlawful Carnal when it came out. On balance, its gotta be Balance for the worst.

 

While this is not an attack, I think "Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do" and "Can't Stop Loving You" is just generic schlock from a band worthy and capable of much better.

The funniest thing is that Balance is the least "balanced" record in the VH catalog. It sounds like it was slapped together. One track has no vocals and was passed off as an instrumental, while another is a drum solo and yet another is the cutting of piano stings if I remember correctly.

VH with Dave is my all-time favorite band. While I do like all 6 DLR-era records, I can see why some may not like Diver Down or Women and Children first. But I must admit, if I never hear Jump again for the rest of my life it will be too soon. At least Dave left on a high note with "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher"!

 

Did someone say "thread crap"?

 

I have it on right now. I like it.

 

IMO, Balance is actually a decent album. It's a tad generic, yeah, but it's okay. Now, if you really want generic filler material, look no further than OU812's A.F.U. Naturally Wired, Sucker In A Three Piece, and Source Of Infection. On their own, those songs are okay sometimes, but next to good material.... whoa.

As for Diver Down, it does have Where Have All The Good Times Gone, Hang 'Em High, Cathedral, Secrets, (Oh) Pretty Woman, Little Guitars Intro/Little Guitars, Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now), The Full Bug, and Happy Trails. That last one may not be the best VH song ever, but it's good fun. IMO, that album is very underrated.

 

I voted for Diver Down.

I dislike every post-DLR album even more, but I don't regard them as Van Halen albums!

 

For some reason, people really don't like that album, but I do. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure if too many people noticed it or not, but there are similar parallels between "Hot For Teacher" and "Source of Infection" (or I've just listened to VH records way too much). The arrangements are very similar with an Eddie intro, breakdowns in the verses with talking, then the regular verses, then chorus etc.

I agree this was an underated album. This was a record that was not "business as usual" for them and that's what makes it a fun record. Plus, as with most VH records, it's so short, it seems like it flies by when you listen to it.

 

Oh, for sure. From memory (and I haven't heard it in a while), "Source" is also a double bass shuffle, just like HFT. At the very least, the pattern Alex does on the ride is very similar. It IS similar to HFT, but IMO it is barely worthy of shining HFT's shoes

I'm merely curious here, but what is it in particular that you like about that album? See, I've tried, but I can never quite get into it. Just curious to see what you dig about it... hey, maybe it'll help me get into it a little more...

 

I thought Eddie over did it on the effects on 5150 and in some ways, I felt he want back to his old sound a bit on that record.

In all honestly, if "When It's Love" and "Feels So Good" disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't miss it. Although it is a well written song, it really showed what VH had become. If most of the Hagar-era records were straight up rock records instead of half-rock, half-ballads, they would be much more respected these days. Even without Dave.

 

I don't like "Balance", but the dislike for it on this forum is unbelievable! I NEVER would have imagined!

 

I voted for Diver Down because at the time it was kinda a let down. You know, Fair Warning was gritty and rough and Diver Down seemed like a hodgepodge of songs thrown together. But, I like most of the VH catalog, so this album was the lesser of all the catalog.

 

Yes, but the good news is that it's dropping percentage-wise. Still at over 50 percent, but dropping nevertheless.

 

It's been so long since I've heard a VH album, I can't even remember which songs are on which. My vote for worst is 1984 mainly because the switch from guitars to keys never seemed right to me. With all the cheesy synth sounds, they weren't the hard-hitting VH anymore.

 

Never heard a whole Van Hagar album, but how many original songs are on Diver Down? The album is like 30 minutes long and must be half covers. I smell rip-off. Little Guitars is a good song though.

 

Another Thumbs Down for Diver Down!

 

Diver Down is their 2nd worst after Balance IMHO.

VH3 might be the worst album ever by an artist that I like.

 

Originals:
Hang 'Em High
Cathedral
Secrets
Little Guitars (Intro, too)
The Full Bug
Intruder is also an original, but I don't know if it really counts...

Covers:
Where Have All The Good Times Gone
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Dancing In The Streets
Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)
Happy Trails (does this one really count?)

So, yep, about half covers, but they're all pretty good ones (Dancing In The Streets isn't so great, but the others are cool). The originals are underrated, though.

 

A lot of people have said this. VH3 is just different, a different concept and approach. Amazing how people seem to like their music predictable and familiar. I like it when a band throws you a curve and does something new and different.