Celebrity Death: Eddie Van Halen

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
I actually listen to more of the Sammy era than the DLR era, but I love both. I'm a sucker for AOR, so the Sammy stuff still does it for me.

5150 though is a tricky listen for me. Love the songs but the production kills me. The keyboard-driven tunes Dreams and Love Walks In sound fine, but the guitar driven stuff sounds somewhat awful to me. Not crazy about Eddie's sound on it, and Alex's drum sound is quite frankly awful. The production hasn't aged well on this album. I'd love to hear a remix/remaster.

Sound-wise OU812 was a nice return to form though the songs aren't as strong as the previous album. Then For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge kind of went to another unappealing guitar sound. That shimmery harsh sound. But the songs are great. Balance is an OK album with sky high production values. Bit of a mix of old and more modern Eddie sound. Probably the album that from a production sound point aged the most gracefully of the Sammy albums but by that time in the 90s every album coming out sounded great.

I'm going to listen to all the Sammy albums today at work cause watching the Amsterdam video above got me in the mood.
I like the production on 5150. Sounds heavy to me.
 

Baby Punisher

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Mar 30, 2012
7,328
1,515
Staten Island, NY
I actually listen to more of the Sammy era than the DLR era, but I love both. I'm a sucker for AOR, so the Sammy stuff still does it for me.

5150 though is a tricky listen for me. Love the songs but the production kills me. The keyboard-driven tunes Dreams and Love Walks In sound fine, but the guitar driven stuff sounds somewhat awful to me. Not crazy about Eddie's sound on it, and Alex's drum sound is quite frankly awful. The production hasn't aged well on this album. I'd love to hear a remix/remaster.

Sound-wise OU812 was a nice return to form though the songs aren't as strong as the previous album. Then For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge kind of went to another unappealing guitar sound. That shimmery harsh sound. But the songs are great. Balance is an OK album with sky high production values. Bit of a mix of old and more modern Eddie sound. Probably the album that from a production sound point aged the most gracefully of the Sammy albums but by that time in the 90s every album coming out sounded great.

I'm going to listen to all the Sammy albums today at work cause watching the Amsterdam video above got me in the mood.
I agree with you about 5150. The studio production doesn't hold up. A few years ago I listened to the album cover to cover and wound up not liking it. Full disclosure, 5150 was my favorite VanHalen album for several decades. I much rather listen to those songs live. They sound 100% better in concert. That last 5150 experience drove me back to the Roth era and gave me a new found appreciation for that sound which was heavier and held up better when I was comparing it to what I was listening at the moment.

Now, a few years have past and I had not listened to much Van Hagar stuff until recently and I forgot how great all of those albums are. F.U.C.K and Balance are really great. Less keyboards and more guitar. Seventh Seal sticks out as a great song that has something for everyone Big guitars, big drums, heavy baseline, and Sammy just killing it on vocals. It's a great song that could open any VH album and you would be blown the eff away.
 
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Fixxer

Registered User
Jul 28, 2016
3,224
1,629
Eddie on a more personal level. How it was for him to come live in America, which is what the video is about. He does show them a few guitar tricks real quick at some point.
 

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