The sophomore effort from the Van Hagar era, OU812 is a strong follow up that has a more laid back sound than from the pulsing power of 5150, but it still has some very strong moments and is a worthy successor. OU812 features some of VH's best songs like the lyrically deep "Mine All Mine", the radio friendly "When It's Love", the white hot "A.F.U. (Naturally Wired), and also the fun acoustic number "Finish What Ya Started." It also contains some questionable tunes like "Feels So Good" - not a bad song, but is very keyboard heavy and not particularly memorable compared to the rest. There are a few more keyboards present than in other VH albums, but Eddie still shreds as always - no worries there! In a nutshell, this record likely the weakest effort of the Van Hagar era, but with that said, this is still an awesome listen...it is Van Halen after all.

     Don't underestimate OU812's ability to be a strong rock album. It has a great, layered sound. Numerous tracks, especially like that of the aforementioned "Mine All Mine", feature some amazing lyrics penned by Hagar. That song has a much more serious tone than the rest of the songs, but it doesn't sound out of place - if anything, it sets the table for a pretty well balanced record; one that features plenty of fun partyish songs, with some more of the more serious toned, or those of balladry.

     I highly recommend OU812.

TRACK HIGHLIGHTS:

"Mine All Mine"

"When It's Love"

"Finish What Ya Started"

"A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)"

"Cabo Wabo"

-Kurt L.

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     With the release of 5150 in 1986, what began was the great polarization of the Van Halen fan base. To this day, there seems to be a never ending debate, an unanswerable question...who is the better singer and presence in and for Van Halen? Are you a Roth guy? Or a Hagar guy? Van Halen? Or Van Hagar? Personally, I subscribe to the "Van Hagar" camp, however, since this band is one of my favorite bands in history, I love 'em both. In the end, Hagar is a better singer as he has a better vocal range and ability. He is also a more accomplished and professional songwriter with experience dating back to 1973 with Montrose. However, to his own merit, Roth was a terrific frontman!

     So, let's talk about the album, shall we? Well, first things first, you are greeted with an explosive "Hellooo baaaby!" by Hagar, and the action begins. It's a grand entrance, fitting for such a crowd pleasing band. You'll notice the electronic drums right away, but it's just a different touch for the album - and also, Alex Van Halen is really playing them; no pre-recorded drum machines.

     I felt that Hagar and the rest of the Van Halen wanted to establish early and often a certain sense of attitude with the opening track "Good Enough." It's a testerone-adrenaline powerhouse with plenty of muscle to get the point across that Hagar is no joke. The in-your-face rocking is also seen in the super fast "Get Up" and reaches its climax with the satirical and rather interesting, yet undeniable catchy wordy closing song "Inside." One could argue that the band wanted to maintain its fan base, and win over some descenters. It seems possible considering the huge change at the front. In my eyes, Hagar impressed me from the start.

     While Roth was never quite as sophisticated as Hagar in terms of song composition, Roth certainly did have his fair share of brilliantly written songs - take "I'll Wait" and "Little Dreamer" as perfect examples. Hagar was more consistent in his work and it shows here with such catchy classics as "Why Can't This Be Love", "Love Walks In", "Dreams" and "5150." Hagar and his infusion of a pop element never left the band after this point, but they never abanonded their rock roots because Hagar too had already etched himself into rock history with Montrose and a successful solo act, hot off the heels of the single "I Can't Drive 55."

     It's interesting to note that David Lee Roth was booted from the band because he was in the midst of launching of his own solo career on his own terms outside the bands parameters. Yet when Sammy Hagar was hired to replace him, Hagar was still under contractual obligations with Geffen Records to release future albums as a solo act! Hagar subsequently released solo material while devoting most of his time to Van Halen. Seems paradoxical, does it not? For Hagar's 1987 release, I Never Said Goodbye, Eddie Van Halen appears as a bass player on some songs!

     With all that said, 5150 was a great way to kick off the so-called "Van Hagar" era for the band. They would continue to maintain their profound success for at least another decade with Hagar at the helm. And why not? 5150 is a great record.

TRACK HIGHLIGHTS:

"Good Enough"

"Dreams"

"Love Walks In"

"5150"

"Why Can't This Be Love"

"Get Up"

"Summer Nights"

-Kurt L.

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     Not many rock bands have much success after changing lead singers, as they are generally closely linked with the identity of the entire group. However, with Van Halen, it was a different story because they were arguably as, or more, successful when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth as the front man in 1985. They were producing more number one hits and hot selling records throughout the 1980s and well into the 1990s, but the big blow came in 1996. Eddie Van Halen, the legendary guitarist, notoriously known for a rather flippant and disgruntled demeanor, reared his ugly side when hiring back “Diamond Dave” [Roth] in ’96, while Hagar was still a member of the band. It led to disaster as Hagar left in a huff and Roth’s second tenure was short-lived as he and Eddie nearly got into a fist fight back stage at the MTV Music Awards that year. Following this mess, they were singer-less. They went having two of the more popular and beloved rock vocalists of the past 35 years to having no one. Where would they go from here?

        In 1998, the band had already recruited Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme fame (does the song “More Than Words” ring a bell?), as their newest lead singer, and finally they released their only album together entitled Van Halen III. It is my belief that the “III” here stands for the third incarnation of the group – first with Roth, then with Hagar, and now Cherone. You could also interpret the “III” as meaning this a third-rate album - saying that this album infers, “three is a crowd,” would be apt as well. Cherone, doing his best to impersonate Sammy Hagar, has some decent chops as a singer, but for the most part sounds misguided, misused, and totally out of place here. Alex Van Halens’ drums sound epic, but too bad the songs are uninspired. And as always, Eddie’s guitar work remains wildly impressive, but there is no anchoring songwriter to showcase it properly.

        This album is garbage. While it may have some few redeeming qualities, and there are very few, to the albums’ merit it features a couple of good songs. “From Afar” is definitely the best song on this album, and it is legitimately a great song – as is “Fire In The Hole.” I suppose one way to sum up this album is that it is ultimately frustrating. It has some brilliant moments, for instance, the pair of great songs, and the production sounds good too, but, the utter lack of focus and consistency is very disappointing. Many of the tracks run way, way too long: “Without You” is two to three minutes too long, “What I Want” is a bad song, and wears out its welcome very quickly. Also, there are some absurdly long songs like “Once” which clocks in at nearly 8 minutes, and I simply wanted it to end. Often throughout the album I had wondered how much better it could have been if Sammy Hagar were at the helm – this album would have been salvaged I think, because he would have acted as that established songwriter and would have helped trim the longer parts, cleaned up some of the broken ideas and melodies, and would have totally incinerated any source tapes with the recording of “How Many Say I” on them.

        That brings me to my next point, “How Many Say I” is easily one of the worst songs I have ever heard. It is an embarrassment to the band’s legacy. First off, Eddie Van Halen is singing lead on it, and just from that, you can tell it’s a mess. Another is that when Cherone and Eddie harmonize it sounds worse than scratching your nails against a chalkboard – it is horrendous! It is definitely hard for one song to bring down an entire album because you can simply skip over it and move on to the next track, but “How Many Say I” epitomizes the very spirit, or rather, the lack of heart that surrounded the recording of this album. It’s no wonder why in 2004, when Van Halen reunited with Hagar, and released the greatest hits compilation - The Best of Both Worlds, there were no tracks included from Van Halen III on it. Also, to further distance themselves from this disgraceful record, Van Halen didn’t even include it on their discography in the liner notes of that greatest hits package.

        Van Halen III was the very last full length studio album released by Van Halen to date. It is for this fact that with each passing year, I become more repulsed by it because it was indeed their last effort as a band. Sure, they released a few new songs with Hagar in 2004 that were quite good, but it was only a tease as there were only three of them. You can tell when an album is bad when the very band itself who made it tries to completely ignore its existence. That is a shame. Avoid Van Halen III at all costs.

        Abysmal.

TRACK HIGHLIGHTS:

"From Afar"

"Fire In The Hole"

-Kurt L.

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