Best Van Halen Album

He's the root of my conspiracy, actually. So, Diver Down had the guys totally out of ideas, and they were so drunk/drugged out. Then blam, here comes 1984, which showcases a band at the peak of its powers, pop or otherwise. Totally tight. Yet the initial run did not credit Michael M for "I'll Wait," which makes me think there were other ringers involved too, who either didn't sue/question or were dealt with more quietly.

Can he play well with others?

This is a pretty interesting/sad interview with Eddie (and Steve Morse and Albert Lee) on an occasion when he had a little trouble sitting in:
http://www.stevemorse.info/interviews/199105musician.html

(VH's manager subsequently left an angry message on Musician magazine's answering machine, calling the interviewer "a k*ke.")

new live album and another round of remasters in the offing.

well as long as they don't include 23 songs, spanning all seven of the band’s albums with Roth, that'll be fine.

First I've heard.

Josh, no offense intended, but you really should try to keep up with these things

Did you hear the news?

Poor EZ Snappin, has a hard time sitting in with others.

I found a press release, too:

LOS ANGELES – Van Halen will release its first-ever live album to feature original singer David Lee Roth. Recorded on June 21, 2013 at the famed Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT includes 23 songs, spanning all seven of the band’s albums with Roth. It will be released as a double CD; four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl; and digitally beginning March 31, 2015. ...
The band recently went back to the original analog tapes and remastered both of these landmark albums – Van Halen and 1984 – which are now also set for release on March 31, 2015 through Warner Bros. Records with pre-orders through Amazon available now. Mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums for Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA, was enlisted for these new versions. In order to produce the original sound the band intended, Bellman cut straight from the quarter-inch tapes for CD; for 180-gram vinyl; and for the digital version. Newly mastered versions of Diver Down, Women and Children First, Van Halen II and Fair Warning are also being cut for each format and will be available soon.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, March 3, 2015 8:37 AM (3 hours ago)

now we're snappin at eddie's tempo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5781HJqnhBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krsai3plmKw

Like the Edge and U2, if I was forming a Van Halen tribute band, there is no guitarist I'd rather have than Eddie Van Halen.

brings a tear to the eye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvSjJyQ6Pto

btw, this is what I see on my browser at work:

http://i.imgur.com/O6yxiqV.png

Went home last night, saw this page on a different screen, and MM looked fine. Some of you probably thought I was nuts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkaqpNsZKwE

These clips are horrible. I didn't expect much form a live record cut on the last tour, but ugh.

they had me on my knees, just begging for that last chorus of Panama

if you change your guitar's low E string, you know it's not ready for prime time until you can play the chorus of Panama and stay in tune

Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight.

I can barely see the thread from the heat comin' off of it.

Ah, you place your mouse pointer between the 'g' and 'P', ease the seat back.

She's flag postin'. I'm flag postin'.

listening to 1984 it's such an odd blockbuster pop metal album....opens with a 1:30 Vangelis song then there's not a guitar til about halfway thru "Jump"...

obv it's got hits but there's also so many "prog in miniature" moments, little odd breakdowns or places where Eddie plays fancy 9th chords or some shit, weird touches that don't have to be there and make the song less commercial if anything but Eddie makes it work....or just having a hit with the ominous synths of "I'll Wait" they could really do it all

also like he's so much more fluid than every other pop metal guitar hero, he sounds like liquid mercury

also Alex and Ted Templeman never went for the big "Phil Collins" gated snare and huge cannon toms thing so the recording actually sounds a lot less dated than a lot of 80s stuff

like first 30 seconds of Top Jimmy is a good example, the weird little harmonic pattern is gorgeous but what other band of their era would start a song like that (that wasn't at least cod prog like Triumph or something?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8lFZdGpYhQ

Hard to believe 5150 is the followup - talk about two records light years apart on so many levels.

3,166 levels to be exact.

xpost I'm not sure there was enough sonic room for a big, booming gated snare. I think it was Jimmy Page who opined that you can either mix up the drums or mix up the guitar, but you can't do both. LZ obvious mixes the drums high, Phil Collins/Genesis was sort of radical for pushing the drums super high in the mix, but those 80s Genesis songs have virtually no guitar, let alone big guitars. VH goes for the guitar, which is also taking up a ton of sonic real estate. A big poosh-y snare in VH would detract from the guitar.

The toms and cymbals of "I'll Wait" comes as close to Collins, i suppose, but some fine trap-work and production on that track, fer sure.

These days, i go back to Women and Children First, moreso than any other of their albums.

xpost And not a coincidence, the guitar plays second fiddle on that track, at least until the solo.

Listening to the Gary Cherone album Balance right now (don't judge me motherfucker)

but anyway, like I swear to god his Hagar impersonation is uncanny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYMcSHzHqxA