Worst Van Halen studio album

Cherone was an awful fit for VH and those songs had no melody to them. It was just bad.
I like when artists throw me a good curve but this was not good.

 

Seems to be a popular choice. Can we fix the poll to have a "Any Sammy" option?

 

But, with most bands, it is not crazy to expect some thread of familiarity. Eddie and Alex thought just like with Hagar replacing Roth, they could throw just about anyone in that space and it would work. I grew up in Boston and have been a huge Extreme fan since their first album first came out, but this just did not work. I have several friends that are fans of both bands, but seem to be afraid to admit that VH3 is not a good album.

I boycotted this record when it came out, but after Gary got the boot, I decided to at least give it a fair shot and bought a used copy. It was WORSE than I expected.

 

it's been getting worse and worse.

 

For me they turned into a Journey type band when Hagar joined. No offence Journey fans.

 

A friend said he once interviewed ex-Journey drummer, Steve Smith and supposedly Steve told him that Eddie confided in him many years ago that he always wished he could write songs like Journey. Not sure if this has ever been documented anywhere though. I think this might have been back in the Roth days. Not sure.

 

I think VHIII is really an Eddie solo album. I don't think Gary challenged Eddie as creatively as Sammy and Dave did. Eddie wanted someone he could control who had no ego and who was laid back, i.e., Gary. Also, the choice of producer was dubious - Mike Post??

I know the guy has done numerous TV themes and movie scores (Law & Order, Hill Street Blues, etc), but I had no idea he'd ever been involved in rock. And from what I'd heard, he hadn't produced in years, aside from his own music.

Maybe with a better producer like the late Bruce Fairbairn (Balance), we would have heard something more cohesive and more commercial in the traditional VH vein. They did begin work on a second album with Danny Kortchmar producing, but abandoned it when Gary fled the coop in November, 1999.

Who knows? We may see a new VH album next year - I just hope that Glen Ballard isn't producing this time.

 

A curve can do one of two things. Hit the outside corner and leave the batter staring or hang and get smacked out of the yard. This one hung so bad it was hit out HARD...Willie McCovey hard!!!! It's an awful album. Worst production I have ever heard. Flat and dull and lifeless. The songs have NO riffs to be found, and they meander aimlessly. Sorry, but that's my impression of it.

 

Even worse in my opinion is "For Unlawful Carnal Knowlege". Most seventh grade boys would be embarrassed to say they came up with something that childish. I still can't believe that a group of grown men would use that title. I guess when you're drunk, everything is funny. Harry Nilsson thought so.

 

I couldn't agree more. These guys have forgetten that Eddie's anthem type riffs are one of the things that made this band great. There are no more "Runnin' With the Devil" or "Unchained" type riffs.

 

All Hagar records sound like crap!!!

 

I agree simply on a production standpoint. I thought OU812 was the rawest sounding Van Hagar record. Eddie started using way too many effects on 5150 and that has carried up until present day. You can hear minor flourished where he was experimenting on a few things back in the Roth days (Drop Dead Legs for example, has some slight effects on it, which would be overdone on 5150).

He needs to throw away his stupid chorus pedal and just plug into a damn Marshall and rip it up.

 

Have we both been listening to the same records, Claus?? Balance is a great record, both from an artistic and sonic standpoint, with first-class production by the late Bruce Fairbairn.

To each his own, I guess...