Van Halen
This is a direct excerpt from UNCLE JOE'S RECORD GUIDE - HARD ROCK, Copyright (c) 1995 by J. Benson Unlimited. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Van Halen's remarkable story tracks a good-time cover band playing parties in backyards around Pasadena, California, evolving into one of the most successful and influential American hard rock bands ever. Eddie and Alex Van Halen emigrated from Holland in 1968. They first met up with David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony in the early Seventies as they competed in local bands. Getting together in 1974 as a power trio with a lead vocalist (the same format as Led Zeppelin and the Who), they began by covering songs of first generation hard rockers, especially Aerosmith and ZZ Top. At Roth's urging, they switched their name from Mammoth to Van Halen. By December 1975, they were playing complete sets of original material. They also became adept at setting up and promoting their own successful gigs at large halls like the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Van Halen worked the Southern California bar, club, school dance and party circuit for almost three years before they were signed by a major record label in May 1977. From that point, they rarely faltered in the pursuit of their muse.
Van Halen's unique sound emerged in a way that emphasized less their virtuosity and more the image of four guys having a good time. In time, each band member would develop his musical talents to new limits. Every Van Halen album sold at least two millions copies and, after their debut, each charted in the Top 10 - an accomplishment that put them in the same rarefied league as Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. Even though they achieved that heady level of success early, the boys in Van Halen never avoided an interview or a chance to have fun.
When Van Halen changed lead vocalists - a move that killed almost every other band that tried it - the resulting music became their most artistically and commercially successful! With each successive album, their musicality and lyrical sophistication grew, but never at the expense of Van Halen and their fans having more fun than any one! With album sales in excess of 65 million and a concert show that improves with each tour, Van Halen is one of the most successful and influential American hard rock bands ever. Their story is that of every young musician's dreams.
Van Halen Birth Dates
Michael Anthony - June 20, 1954
Sammy Hagar - October 13, 1948
David Lee Roth - October 10, 1953
Alex Van Halen - May 8, 1953
Eddie Van Halen - January 26, 1955
Van Halen
Balance(CD, 31-22)(Cassette, 26-27)
11th LP, released 1/24/95 - three-and-a-half years after their last studio album. Following their twice-extended For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge world tour and the release of their first live album, Van Halen's four members scheduled some time off to relax and enjoy themselves. By the time vocalist Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony rejoined drummer Alex Van Halen and guitarist Eddie Van Halen in early 1994, several events, including death and heartbreak, had affected their personal lives. While discussing the direction their music would take, the group chose Bruce Fairbairn to handle the production job. Fairbairn proved crucial to Van Halen's continued growth. Bruce, who had worked extensively with Aerosmith since their Permanent Vacation album, had also worked wonders producing AC/DC and Motley Crue. A former musician himself, Fairbairn brought a renewed sense of musicality and discipline to the Van Halen sessions.
The serious writing and recording sessions at Eddie's 5150 studios began in late May 1994. The band had demoed 20 songs in their initial rehearsals. As the recording sessions proceeded, 14 arrangements were completed. The final vocals were recorded at Fairbairn's Vancouver studios in late August, and the final mixing took place at the Record Plant in Los Angeles in September 1994. The result was Van Halen's most guitar-oriented music in several years, some of Sammy's finest vocal performances ever, and the band's most rhythmically complex work to date. The songs also marked a continuation of the more mature lyrical direction of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The songs on Balance were not so much one-dimensional reflections on real life, as good, kick-ass Nineties hard rock that touched on a few, very personal themes. Lyrically, Van Halen surpassed Aerosmith and entered a territory where only Rush had tread before: an amazing transformation that the group carried into their live shows without the least bit of trouble.
The title of this album, as well as the content of some of its lyrics, underwent an interesting evolution. Before beginning work on this project, their longtime friend and manager, Ed Leffler, succumbed to cancer. In his memory, Van Halen's first working title for this album was The Club, which is how the band referred to Ed's house (Le Club Leffluer). As the album approached completion, they began using the working title The Seventh Seal, taken from the album's opening song. During the final mixing, Van Halen decided to use a title that harkened back to the OU812 sessions; they felt Balance was a better indication of their frame of mind and a more accurate reflection of their music and their lives.
Balance immediately charted at #1 upon its release and became Van Halen's 11th consecutive multi-million selling release. The sold out Balance world tour began in March 1995 and was scheduled to run for over a year.
** Special Notes: For the first time ever, a Van Halen song was completed during the recording sessions, but left off the album. Van Halen's first-ever, non-album B-side was first released on the Japanese "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)" single, then on the worldwide release of "Can't Stop Loving You."
Also for the first time, the band decided to sequence their songs differently on the cassette version than on the compact disc version of the album.
- "The Seventh Seal" was a working title track for this album before the final mixing was finished. The lyrics were inspired, in part, by Ingmar Bergman's film of the same name, which told of a knight playing chess with Death, and by a passage in the Book Of Revelations in the Old Testament. Vocalist Sammy Hagar described this song as a prayer to avoid Armageddon. The opening featured digitally sampled prayer chants of the Buddhist monks of Gyuto Tantric University. Eddie Van Halen created his monster guitar sound without any major effects devices - and he also refrained from playing a solo.
- "Can't Stop Loving You" was one of the last songs the group recorded for this album. In an unusual twist, Sammy wrote the lyrics from the perspective of his ex-wife. Partially because of the passion involved, this performance stands as one of Sammy's finest vocals ever. The second song released from this album, "Can't Stop Loving You" was the only Van Halen single to ever feature a non-album B-side.
B-1: "Crossing Over" began as a demo titled "David's Tune" that Eddie wrote and recorded in 1983 for a friend who had committed suicide. Upon joining the band and hearing the demo, Sammy wanted to finish the song, but Ed declined. Years later, following the death of Ed Leffler and Sammy's father in 1993, Sammy wrote lyrics to further explore the theme of crossing over from one life into the next. Eddie finally gave his OK, and "Crossing Over" was finished. Still, some of the band felt the song was too personal, so it was kept off the album and appeared destined to become the only finished Van Halen outtake ever. Instead, the group was convinced to use the song as Van Halen's first-ever, non-album B-side - first on the Japanese single release of "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)," and later as the B-side of the worldwide release of "Can't Stop Loving You." - "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)," the first song released from the album, was recorded live in the studio under the working title "What Love Can Do." The only overdub on this cruncher was a second guitar part in the chorus.
- "Amsterdam" referred to real places and situations in that wild Dutch city. The Van Halen brothers, who were born in The Netherlands, were at first a little surprised by Sammy's lyrical take on their "hometown."
- "Big Fat Money" opens with a bit of in-studio chatter and ends with the sound of a coin dropped on the 5150 control board.
- "Strung Out" was based on a 10-year-old tape of Eddie torturing Marvin Hamlish's grand piano with knives, spoons and forks. (Ed had rented Marvin's beach house and ended up spending a lot of money to have Marvin's prized piano refinished.)
- (on the CD): "Not Enough" was one of Van Halen's finest love songs ever. Sammy wrote the lyrics and melody for the verses. Later, he called Eddie and described what he had written. Eddie sat down and spontaneously played the piano part. As the band worked up the song, the piano was recorded inside Eddie and Valerie Bertinelli's home. For a unique tone, Eddie played his guitar through a rotating Leslie organ speaker - a technique first pioneered by the Beatles 28 years earlier. This song also featured Michael Anthony's first recorded workout on a fretless bass and some of Sammy's finest vocals.
Due to time constraints on the cassette version of this album, "Not Enough" was moved from the end of the first side to the second spot on this side. The balance of the tracks remained sequenced the same as on the compact disc.
- "Aftershock," a great rocker, was written about a shaky relationship - not earthquakes.
- (on the cassette only): "Not Enough"
"Doin' Time" was Alex Van Halen's workout. (When asked, he denied it was a solo, saying "It was just that no one else was playing with me.") Up until the last moment, the working title was "Drum Thing."
- "Baluchitherium" was named after the biggest mammal ever to walk the earth - a rhinoceros-like beast from the Oligocene and Miocene epics. The name was chosen because of the "hugeness" of Edward's guitar sound. He had begun work on the riff during the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge sessions. Early in the Balance sessions, and after working up variations of the song - including one that had vocals - the band recorded this under the working title "Heavy Groove." This song featured Michael Anthony playing a five-string bass and a rare vocal contribution from Eddie's dog Sherman.
- "Take Me Back (Deja Vu)" was recorded under the working title "Deja Vu." Lyrically, it was a follow up to "Swept Away" on Sammy's VOA solo album. In addition to some tasty acoustic guitar work and excellent vocals, this song featured the first extended use of a harmonica in a Van Halen song. Shortly after the Balance album was released, the band returned to the studio and remixed "Take Me Back (Deja Vu)." All subsequent versions of the album contained the remix.
- One of the longest songs Van Halen ever recorded, "Feelin'" featured some excellent lyrics, singing and musical changes. This song became a powerful, uplifting workout in concert.
