My becoming a rock n roll fan just happened to coincide with the release of Van Halen’s fabulous debut album. For once, I was not behind the curve on that one and got on the band wagon immediately. We lived and died with Van Halen, they were our band! We loved lead singer David Lee Roth… believe it or not he used to be cool, not the shell of a human we see these days. Eddie Van Halen was our generation’s Hendrix. Eddie’s brother Alex was on drums and Michael Anthony manned the bass. They were our Zeppelin. We waited with baited breath for each new album. I first saw them on the Fair Warning tour and saw them on each successive tour until 1995’s Balance.

When David Lee Roth split the band – or was fired – we mourned. I had seen them twice on the tour for 1984, once in Wichita and once in Kansas City. It was hard to believe that a rock band – an actual rock band not a pop star like Michael Jackson or Madonna – had captured the music world and then… broke up? We’d heard there was friction between Roth and Eddie but a lot of bands have friction – Mick and Keith; the Who never really got along; Aerosmith’s Joe Perry & Steven Tyler, just to name a few. However, as quick as Roth was gone, Sammy Hagar entered the picture. We dug solo Sammy – Standing Hampton was a sensational record – but nobody was sure how this new “Van Hagar” was going to work out.

When 5150 dropped, it took some getting used to but we generally really dug it. It was still Eddie Van Halen on guitar after all and anything with Eddie is going to rock. Even the critics were generous. It was a bit of a surprise that VH had infused a little more pop into their rock n roll sound. The synth that made a few key cameo’s on 1984 (notably “Jump” and my personal fav “I’ll Wait”), became more present on 5150. I did used to have a buddy who said, “Roth does kung fu on stage and Sammy does aerobics,” with great disgust. I guess not everyone got on the bandwagon… I saw them from the front barricade, smashed in by the GA crowd up-front, and it appeared they were a very happy band. I’ll admit, I embraced Van Hagar at that point but I think I always knew that it was a different animal than the original Van Halen.

With each successive album the sound got a little harder, which was fine with me. But the bloom was off the rose and the critics were a little harsher with each new Van Hagar album. As I said, I’m on record as a Van Hagar fan, I’ve even posted a playlist of favorite Van Hagar songs. Time, like the critics, has not been kind to the Hagar era. The Rock Chick, who used to like the stray Van Hagar track has now completely turned against them. Say what you want about Van Hagar, when 1991’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge – a rather unfortunate and juvenile title – came out everybody was quickly on the bandwagon. It birthed four big singles and perhaps more importantly at the time, videos and debuted at number 1. Although I was surprised to see that It only went 3x platinum, compared with 4x platinum on OU812. Hell, the substandard Balance went 3x platinum. I was surprised, but in a good way, to see that VH have released an Expanded Edition of the record this month.

By ’91 I was back in Kansas City and I remember hearing “Poundcake” for the first time. It was the first single and I actually have always loved the riff. Admittedly, the video was ridiculous… a girl next door peeking into the “girls locker room” at a Van Halen video shoot. Sammy showed up in pajamas…

But there was just something about Eddie employing an electric drill to play the slide that just… grabbed me. But “Poundcake” was just the beginning of the VH assault. “Top Of The World” was another knockout, rocking single. “Right Now,” which took Eddie’s keyboard experiments in a whole new direction was a huge single. That piano entry used to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I think “Runaround” was also a single, if not I heard it a lot on the radio.

Beyond the four big songs that got all the radio play and drove this thing to number 1, I thought this was one of the better collection of deeper album cuts than most of the albums with Hagar. Eddie was letting it rip on guitar. My buddy Stormin’ always loved “In ‘N’ Out,” not named for the burger joint, and it’s ferocious riff. “Man On A Mission” rocks but has some swing to it as well, kudos to Alex and Michael Anthony. “Judgement Day” is another killer rock song. The critics have decried the guitar work as over complicated, but hey man, it’s Eddie. “316” is a lovely acoustic guitar thing, but I’m always a sucker for Eddie’s guitar instrumentals. “The Dream Is Over” is another hard hitting rock song. I think it made my Dreams Playlist… I defy you to play any of those tracks while driving on the highway and keep it at the speed limit…

There were, to my ears, really only two “clunkers” on this album. “Spanked,” musically is actually a great little change of pace song. The lyrics are just beyond stupid.  Sammy decided to use this great music to sing about masturbation… sigh. Worse than that was “Pleasure Dome.” The track weighs in at almost 7 minutes and borders on prog rock. Not that there’s anything wrong with prog rock if it’s in the hands of say, Rush. I remember seeing them on this tour and “Pleasure Dome” was my bathroom break song.

This Expanded Edition comes with a second disc that contains some outtakes and a concert from the West End in Dallas, Texas. As long time readers know, the bonus material is where I judge these things and I’ll admit the outtakes don’t do anything for me. There are two versions of “Right Now,” one called the “Organ Version” that proves Eddie knew how to edit, and one described as a “Guitar Version” which proves they knew which version was the right one to release. There’s an instrumental version of “The Dream Is Over” that is for completists only.

There’s also a concert the band put on in Dallas included and I have to admit I like this show. I think there’s a BluRay as well but I’m only here to talk music. There’s a bit of a background story to this concert in Dallas’ bar and entertainment center, the West End. Van Halen played Dallas on the F.U.C.K. tour but Hagar’s voice was shot. I knew people in Dallas and somebody told me the story. Hagar, embarrassed by his crap vocals apologized to the crowd and said they were going to come back and put on a free concert for Dallas. Apparently Eddie’s head snapped around in shock… VH didn’t do “free” concerts. But as you hear Sammy say during the show, “It’s great to keep a promise.” This is probably the perfect concert to include on an Expanded Edition as it was short. A few months later, the band played in Shreveport, LA and they stopped in on Dallas and  played an abbreviated free show in the West End the next afternoon.

I like this concert a lot better than the live album that the tour spawned, Right Here Right Now. This one is a little more raw sounding. I’m not sure that Hagar’s voice was that much better than the original Dallas show, it’s pretty “on-tour” ragged but I kind of dig that. As I said, it’s an abbreviated show, so on the good side you don’t get the drum or bass solo but on the bad side, no Eddie solo either. It’s just a joy to listen to unpolished Eddie Van Halen live guitar. That will always drive the interest for me. They do a nice F.U.C.K-heavy set of Van Hagar tunes but also highlight a few tracks from both 5150 and 0U812. I particularly liked “Best Of Both Worlds” and “Why Can’t This Be Love” from the former LP and “Finish What You Started” from the latter… well except for Sammy screaming, “I need some p*ssy” at the end. We kinda already got that gist, Sam.

There’s a solid version of Little Feat’s “Apolitical Blues,” which was only a bonus track if you bought the OU812 CD version. There’s a couple nice Hagar tunes, “I Can’t Drive 55,” and “There’s Only One Way To Rock.” Sammy puts his spin on Roth-era VH favorites “Jump” and “Panama.” It’s an abbreviated snapshot of what VH was like on that tour and jibes with my memory. It was an enjoyable hard rock show with guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen.

If you haven’t picked this album up originally, this is a nice version to pick up because of the concert. You can skip the outtakes. It’s a raw take on a great rock n roll band that was arguably at a peak here. Admittedly, it was after this album that Eddie and Alex started to battle with Sammy which never made sense to me. It seems a shame we only got one more Van Hagar album, but them’s the breaks.

Crank this one up and pour something strong to help get you on your way during your hot and sticky summer weekend!

Cheers!