03. Van Halen Van Halen 1978 (Warner Bros.)
Heavy Metal
Spandex, leather flares and guitar wankery at its finest!
Overview
As said earlier on the Judas Priest entry, Van Halen were a band that were filling in all the aspects of metal that Judas Priest had failed to cover and quite simply the differences between the two bands were in focus rather than in execution. Judas Priest were a band that had metal in their veins, whereas Van Halen were a glamorous metal band made for Hollywood. Judas Priest had the twin team of K.K Downing and Glenn Tipton, whereas Van Halen just had a certain Eddie Van Halen. But what they both had in common were two flamboyant frontmen with the vocal chops to match and both bands would be pivotal in towing the future ‘pop metal’ line of the 1980s. Now the birth of Van Halen had occurred when brothers Eddie Van Halen and elder brother Alex Van Halen, had decided to put a band together using the name of Mammoth and they operated largely as a covers band in the LA area, before adopting their surname Van Halen as the band name! Interestingly Eddie had started as a drummer and Alex as a guitarist before finally swapping over their instruments. Added to this retinue was blond-maned metal god David Lee Roth on vocals and Michael Anthony on bass. The band would be spotted by producer Ted Templeman, whose polished assemblage of work included the Doobie Brothers and Carly Simon, but of course he had been able to rough his hands up with the likes of Montrose as well. It was therefore probably no accident, that both Ted Templeman and Montrose would be a a huge influence on Van Halen, who would of course go onto garner the huge worldwide success that had been denied to Ronnie Montrose and his band. Van Halen as a band would be groundbreaking, in the fact that they ushered in a polished sounding metal which was firmly built around the fundamentals of the genre, but their version had a strong eye on commercialism, which largely came with the visual appeal that was applied by frontman David Lee Roth. The band were literally stars in the making and their debut album simply titled
Van Halen, would take the heavy rock world by storm. This was an amazing achievement at the time, considering that punk, new-wave and AOR ruled the airwaves! Also for what was largely a covers band, they were able to put out an album that contained around 80% original material and limited their covers to just two songs. So to have a contemporary metal collection at the time, the listener truly needed both Judas Priest and Van Halen to get the whole picture of what was going on, and this picture was largely two different tales depending on which side of the pond you were sat!
David Lee Roth- Vocals
Eddie Van Halen- Guitar
Michael Anthony- Bass
Alex Van Halen- Drums
Production- Ted Templeman
Album
Runnin’ with the Devil- From the word go we are introduced to the potent Van Halen sound and this album opener is a steady and heavy track, that has some slick guitar work provided by Eddie Van Halen.
Eruption- A guitar solo instrumental worthy of any metal guitar god, which would go onto influence any number of future metal guitarists over the ensuing years.
You Really Got Me- Commercial choice par-excellence here, as the cover of the famous Kinks song, was surely guaranteed to tick all the right commercial boxes and of course it was released as a single. Quite often the original Kinks version of the song, is regarded in some quarters as being the first ever ‘heavy metal’ track laid down. This is something that I don’t overly agree with, but I guess Van Halen covering this song surely adds weight to the debate.
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love- One of the most famous songs composed by the band and a song surely built for the vocals of David Lee Roth, as here he is able to sing some of his coolest sounding lyrics and then combine them with his cool spoken drawl in places.
I’m the One- It’s one of the fastest songs on the album to close the first side of the album.
Jamie’s Cryin- A typically paced Van Halen track, with its heavy and punchy sound, and it’s often regarded as one of the signature tracks on the album.
Atomic Punk- A crunching album track and despite the name, the song is metallic in feel and not punky at all, and Eddie Van Halen makes it one of the album's highlights.
Feel Your Love Tonight- Despite not being released as a single, the song is fairly typical Van Halen melodic single fare.
Little Dreamer- This is one of my favourite tracks on the album and a track that really sums up the quality of the album overall.
Ice Cream Man- A cover of the blues track, that was originally performed by Chicago bluesman John Brim and shows David Lee Roth at his quaintest.
On Fire- One of the most vibrant songs on the album is left till last and a song that is the antithesis of the band’s commercial side and a song that is metal in every aspect.
Verdict
The first thing to notice here, is just how clear and potent the band sound from the moment “Runnin’ with the Devil” starts the album and this is surely down to Ted Templeman’s slick sounding production which of course dominates the album. We are then led into the guitar wankery of “Eruption” a track that few guitarists could do as well as Eddie and despite how innovative this sub-two minute track is, it would go on to influence countless future guitarists into similar fret sounding wankery over the years. This perfectly leads us into “You Really Got Me” a cover of the famous Kinks song, which probably sees Van Halen at their punchiest and the song was always a guaranteed crowd pleaser at the time. Tracks like “I’m Not the One” and “Atomic Punk” are some of the fastest tracks on the album and the former demonstrates the band’s love of traditional rock ‘n’ roll, an area that they would explore over the coming albums. Tracks like “Jamie’s Cryin” and “Little Dreamer” are the complete opposite of the above two, with their plodding sound and melody, something that the band would always do to a great level. One thing was also very obvious with Van Halen and that was whatever the speed of the song, the band were totally unfazed by such things and were able to perform without blinking an eye. The star track on this album though, is without doubt the legendary “Ain’t Talkin’ bout Love” which is probably the band’s finest ever moment and would basically serve as a blueprint for the band’s trademark sound at its very best. The basis of this track would accompany the band right through to their sixth album the pivotal
1984, which of course would see the end of the band’s first phase. Overall David Lee Roth is the dominant force on this album, but it’s surely Eddie Van Halen that is the real star here with his mastery of the guitar and like Jimi Hendrix before him, here was a guitarist that literally used his instrument like a second lead vocalist in the band a la Jimmy Page. The Van Halen debut is an album of visceral force, that even the band themselves would find hard to match again song for song. Like Aerosmith before them, Van Halen on this debut set, literally set-up a template for much of the metal scene in the USA in the 1980s. Even today the album still sounds as fresh as it did right back then some thirty plus years ago!