Before we get started, let me answer some preliminary questions for you.
1. Yes, this will be another Van Halen post.
2. No, I will never be "over" Eddie's death.
All set? Okay, settle in, because what follows is a carefully thought-out retraction of my opinion toward what would serve as Van Halen's final studio record, 2012's A Different Kind of Truth.
I bought this album like anyone else would, as an excited fan ready to hear the latest offering from The Mighty Van Halen, recently reunited with Diamond Dave himself. The only drawback that I could see, was that this new evolution of Van Halen would be moving forward without longtime (and original) bassist Michael Anthony. I won't go into deep detail as to how much this hurt me personally, for that you can refer to an earlier post where I compare and contrast the 3 singers of Van Halen. For this version of VH, they would have Eddie's son Wolfgang filling in Mikey's shoes.
When I bought this album in 2012, I listened to it eagerly for the first time, and after it ended, I put it back in its case, and it sat on my shelf for the next 8 years. Admittedly, the only songs I listened to semi-regularly after that were "Tattoo," and "She's The Woman," two of every other Van Halen fans' least favorite tracks from the record. The song I hated the most? "Stay Frosty." A song that many absolutely cherish. And I cannot for the LIFE of me understand why. They tried to recreate the debut's "Ice Cream Man" with an older Dave, whose voice aged like milk, and without the bass/backing vocal harmony expertise of Michael Anthony. If anything, I take this song as an insult to their catalogue. And it personally offended me when I saw them in 2015 and they literally interrupted "Ice Cream Man" after every verse with verses of "Stay Frosty." I can forgive Diamond Dave for many of his faults, but this is not one of them.
It took the death of the legendary rock guitar icon Edward Van Halen for me to revisit this album. Many of these songs I have not heard in 8 years. So how has my opinion changed? Let's take a look.
"Tattoo" is the opening track, and albeit a catchy and jammy LP-opening tune, it certainly is not Van Halen's best. It's poppy, it's rocky, it's almost reminiscent of their 1984 brand of pop-rock. Though it just about misses with Dave's weak lyrics. Eddie certainly makes up for it with his face-melting guitar work as he always does, but the harmonies are completely missing. What was my favorite song from this record once upon a time, now falls short of the mark.
My opinion of "She's the Woman" has not changed much in 8 years. Catchy, all around decently strong Van Halen tune, probably not anyone's favorite, certainly not anyones least favorite either. However, once you hear them say "She's the Wombat," you can't un-hear it.
"You and Your Blues" gives me very similar feelings to that of "She's the Woman." Fun, strong, no real points to make here.
"Chinatown" I will put right up there along with "Tattoo." An early favorite from 2012, falls short of the mark in 2020.
"Blood and Fire," "Bullethead," and "Honeybabysweetiedoll" I will lump together and say these are some of Dave's worst vocal performances. His sound is also exceptionally weak on "The Trouble With Never," but I can at least forgive this one because it is among one of the more classic VH era sounding tunes. The sudden somber, low-toned bridge is a little unsettling, and I think the song would improve greatly if it were omitted completely. So while I forgive the song for Dave's performance, I will never stop second guessing it.
"As Is" is an unexpected favorite from this record. It was a regular skip for me back in 2012, but something about it shines in 2020. I'm not sure what it is, but Dave's lyric and vocal work are some of his best here out of the entire 13-track LP.
"Outta Space" quickly ruins that. Another epic riff from EVH and hard driving rhythm work from the uncle and nephew combo of Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen tarnished by feral cat David Lee Roth.
"Stay Frosty" was an immediate least favorite in 2012, and here we are 8 years later and nothing has changed. I know I touched upon this track earlier in this post, but I have to revisit it. I don't think I made it quite clear enough how much I hate it. Dave's vocals are astoundingly bad here, his acoustic guitar is damn near in top form, as is Eddie, Alex and Wolfie's track work, however the song feels like such a strange and unnecessary amalgamation of unfinished pieces slapped together with a weird anecdote that Dave came up with when he awoke one night in a cold sweat. Sonically it comes across as a phony Van Halen track with multiple personality disorder and it just can't decide what it wants to be. Needless to say, this is easily among my least favorite Van Halen tracks of all time. It sits down there with "How Many Say I" and maaaaaybe even "Jamie's Cryin'".... But don't tell anyone I said that.
"Big River" and "Beats Workin'" complete the downward slope of this record. Heartbreaking as it is to say, Van Halen did not go out on a strong note. This album was a once-listen twice shy, ridden hard and put away wet collection of songs. I was hungry for more Van Halen, and in a way that's what I got, with one key member well past his sell-by date. I would love to keep talking about why these songs are so bad, but how much shitting on Dave can I really do in one post?
But a lot has changed in 8 years. We got no new music, we got 2 reunion tours with Dave and Wolf, with Sam, Gary, and Mikey not even mentioned or referenced in the setlist. Finally, the king has left us. Eddie died, forever closing the door on the future of the band. So what we have now, is what we will ever get (unless Alex and Wolf go through the 5150 archives and release some secret stuff someday... dare to dream, right?)
That said, revisiting this album now I have forgiven a lot of its weaknesses. Eddie and Alex are still in their prime on this recording, and I have to appreciate it for that. We got plenty of hard rocking riffs and driving percussion from the two brothers here, maybe the last that we will ever hear. Knowing that, I can listen past the weak performances from Dave and maybe even enjoy this album now. Except of course for one song in particular... fuck "Stay Frosty."
A Different Kind of Truth - Van Halen
2 - 7 - 2012
1. Tattoo
2. She's The Woman
3. You and Your Blues
4. Chinatown
5. Blood and Fire
6. Bullethead
7. As Is
8. Honeybabysweetiedoll
9. The Trouble With Never
10. Outta Space
11. Stay Frosty
12. Big River
13. Beats Workin'
Favorite Track: As Is
Least Favorite Track: Stay Frosty....duh?
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