Post by Erik Rupp on Sept 10, 2009 23:43:44 GMT -5
Van Halen - Zero (1976)
It's not a zero on the 1 to 5 scale (and certainly not on the 1 to 10 scale, either).
What the, "Zero," refers to is the fact that this material came before their first album in 1978 and Van Halen II in 1979 (Van Halen 1 & 2, more or less). Interestingly enough, this collection of demo recordings, produced by KISS' Gene Simmons, actually holds it's own with those two legendary albums.
Reportedly recorded in 1976, these demos were recorded mostly in Los Angeles, with some touch up work done in New York City. The production values are actually quite good for demos recorded in the mid 70's (better than KISS' own demo recorded by the well respected producer/engineer Eddie Kramer). The guitar tone, while not what Eddie would be known for just a few years later, is pretty darned good, as is the bass tone. The drums, particularly the snare drum, is the recording's one glaring weakness, and it's still halfway decent sounding.
Actually, these recordings sound a bit like the KISS' Love Gun production style (dry), only better (with the exception of the drums). The other significant difference in the Simmons production technique versus Ted Templeman and Donn Landee is that Gene didn't go for the hard panning of guitars on the left and bass on the right. Here he's layered two rhythm guitar parts - one right ane one left, and centered the bass. This makes for a fuller, heavier sound that suits many of the songs well.
But that's all academic if the songs aren't good, and performed well. So are they?
In a word, yes. An emphatic yes.
Some of these songs would end up on later albums (some of those with some minor changes, one with major changes), and parts of one or two more found their way into other songs later on.
"On Fire," sounds a lot like the album version, except for the part where the first chorus would be on the first album. Here we find an instrumental break with a simple lead instead. For those who have heard the album version for decades that can be a bit off putting at first, but by the third or fourth listen it's actually pretty cool. The performance of the song is energetic and a little more spontaneous than the album version. If you go by the version of this demo making the rounds this is a nice opening track.
Taking the pace down a little on several songs, the Simmons demos feature several upper mid tempo songs, such as, "Woman In Love," a rather effective song with some nice riffing from future guitar legend Eddie Van Halen, some catchy vocal melodies and a solid performance from singer David Lee Roth, and a great backing vocal (and bass) performance from Michael Anthony.
In fact, Zero features Anthony's best bass playing in the entire Van Halen catalog. He would tone down his bass playing to let Eddie shine once the Warner Brothers contract arrived (a change possibly urged by producer Ted Templeman), but listening to Anthony play bass on these demos is nothing short of a revelation. The man can actually play - and play very well.
One song that retained only the title and main riff when it finally made a Van Halen album in 1984 is, "House of Pain." This version is arguably stronger, if less polished than the rewritten album version. Drummer Alex Van Halen is pouding away with a solid mid tempo double-bass beat as Michael Anthony's backround vocals soar over what may be one of Van Halen's heaviest song ever. It's nice to have two completely different versions of this song as both are excellent (although this version does have one glaring flaw - Roth's Cookie Monster-esque pronunciation of the word, "Pain"). One other note - this song features the slowing car horn sound used as the intro for the album version of, "Runnin' With the Devil," and it uses it multiple times.
Speaking of, "Runnin' With the Devil," it's here on full display in an almost identical version to what would show up on Van Halen in 1978. It has dryer production, and the first solo section is played twice in a row (rather than the one time that you hear on the album version), but other than that (and a couple minor lyric tweaks) it's the same song.
Another song that never found it's way to a proper Van Halen album release is the mammoth, "She's the Woman." Well, it didn't make it's way to an album in this form, but parts of it showed up later on. It was morphed into at least two different songs (both "Outta Love Again," from Van Halen II, which has a slightly altered version of the verse riff from this song, and "Mean Street," which also altered this verse riff and then took the bridge in it's entirety). Despite it's simiarities to both of those songs, "She's the Woman," still stands on it's own as a different song altogether. And a darned good one at that.
Arguably the best song of this set never made it to any Van Halen album in any form, and that's a shame because when David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony sing, "Let's Get Rockin," that's exactly what the listener is inclined to do. This uptempo burst of energy features one of Eddie's stronger riffs and some fantastic bass playing from Anthony. The chorus hook is as infectiously catchy as the main riff is as this song truly is a lost classic and deserves a proper CD release.
Another song unique to this set of demos is, "Big Trouble," a funky mid-tempo song with some nice drumming from Alex and more classic Van Halen harmony vocals from Michael. The song is, again, catchy and fun. The band sounds confident and older than their years. This is the sound of a big time band, and, "Big Trouble," is another song that would have held up very well on any of their first six studio albums.
One song that was a highlight of Van Halen II was, "Somebody Get Me A Doctor," and it's a highlight here as well. The intro is different, and the arrangement is not the same as the album version, but the core of the song is the same, although lyrically this is a much more overt drug song (some of the lyrics were toned down for the album version). The solo is exactly the same as what would show up later as Eddie Van Halen's playing was almost fully developed by this point (it would be refined just a little more by the time they recorded their debut album).
The last two songs (that are available if you look hard enough, although there are rumors of another 5 songs recorded with Simmons, but they are not readily available - nor is their existence confirmed for that matter) are two more songs unique to this collection, "Babe Dont Leave Me Alone," and, "Put Out The Lights." "Babe," is another mid-tempo rocker with flourishes of double bass drumming (as accents) here and there. If this were a proper album release it would be one of those, "Good album cuts," that help make an album great. "Put Out The Lights," on the other hand IS great. Another funky song, this one with varying tempo and feel, "Lights," features some more of Eddie's fantastic riffing and some good vocal melodies from Roth as well as a very memorable chorus hook. This is one heck of a song, and it's hard to believe that it never made it on to any of their albums.
Actually, truth be told, a couple of these songs might have been put to good use on Van Halen's third album, Women and Children First. Women and Children is a solid album, but lacks some of the catchy party songs that the first two VH albums had in spades.
All in all, if released on CD tomorrow this would be considered one of Van Halen's stronger albums, and that says a lot.
Hopefully this will see a proper CD release in the next few years along with some of Van Halen's other demos from the Roth era. Many of their demos are stronger than most band's official album releases.
4.5/5
It's not a zero on the 1 to 5 scale (and certainly not on the 1 to 10 scale, either).
What the, "Zero," refers to is the fact that this material came before their first album in 1978 and Van Halen II in 1979 (Van Halen 1 & 2, more or less). Interestingly enough, this collection of demo recordings, produced by KISS' Gene Simmons, actually holds it's own with those two legendary albums.
Reportedly recorded in 1976, these demos were recorded mostly in Los Angeles, with some touch up work done in New York City. The production values are actually quite good for demos recorded in the mid 70's (better than KISS' own demo recorded by the well respected producer/engineer Eddie Kramer). The guitar tone, while not what Eddie would be known for just a few years later, is pretty darned good, as is the bass tone. The drums, particularly the snare drum, is the recording's one glaring weakness, and it's still halfway decent sounding.
Actually, these recordings sound a bit like the KISS' Love Gun production style (dry), only better (with the exception of the drums). The other significant difference in the Simmons production technique versus Ted Templeman and Donn Landee is that Gene didn't go for the hard panning of guitars on the left and bass on the right. Here he's layered two rhythm guitar parts - one right ane one left, and centered the bass. This makes for a fuller, heavier sound that suits many of the songs well.
But that's all academic if the songs aren't good, and performed well. So are they?
In a word, yes. An emphatic yes.
Some of these songs would end up on later albums (some of those with some minor changes, one with major changes), and parts of one or two more found their way into other songs later on.
"On Fire," sounds a lot like the album version, except for the part where the first chorus would be on the first album. Here we find an instrumental break with a simple lead instead. For those who have heard the album version for decades that can be a bit off putting at first, but by the third or fourth listen it's actually pretty cool. The performance of the song is energetic and a little more spontaneous than the album version. If you go by the version of this demo making the rounds this is a nice opening track.
Taking the pace down a little on several songs, the Simmons demos feature several upper mid tempo songs, such as, "Woman In Love," a rather effective song with some nice riffing from future guitar legend Eddie Van Halen, some catchy vocal melodies and a solid performance from singer David Lee Roth, and a great backing vocal (and bass) performance from Michael Anthony.
In fact, Zero features Anthony's best bass playing in the entire Van Halen catalog. He would tone down his bass playing to let Eddie shine once the Warner Brothers contract arrived (a change possibly urged by producer Ted Templeman), but listening to Anthony play bass on these demos is nothing short of a revelation. The man can actually play - and play very well.
One song that retained only the title and main riff when it finally made a Van Halen album in 1984 is, "House of Pain." This version is arguably stronger, if less polished than the rewritten album version. Drummer Alex Van Halen is pouding away with a solid mid tempo double-bass beat as Michael Anthony's backround vocals soar over what may be one of Van Halen's heaviest song ever. It's nice to have two completely different versions of this song as both are excellent (although this version does have one glaring flaw - Roth's Cookie Monster-esque pronunciation of the word, "Pain"). One other note - this song features the slowing car horn sound used as the intro for the album version of, "Runnin' With the Devil," and it uses it multiple times.
Speaking of, "Runnin' With the Devil," it's here on full display in an almost identical version to what would show up on Van Halen in 1978. It has dryer production, and the first solo section is played twice in a row (rather than the one time that you hear on the album version), but other than that (and a couple minor lyric tweaks) it's the same song.
Another song that never found it's way to a proper Van Halen album release is the mammoth, "She's the Woman." Well, it didn't make it's way to an album in this form, but parts of it showed up later on. It was morphed into at least two different songs (both "Outta Love Again," from Van Halen II, which has a slightly altered version of the verse riff from this song, and "Mean Street," which also altered this verse riff and then took the bridge in it's entirety). Despite it's simiarities to both of those songs, "She's the Woman," still stands on it's own as a different song altogether. And a darned good one at that.
Arguably the best song of this set never made it to any Van Halen album in any form, and that's a shame because when David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony sing, "Let's Get Rockin," that's exactly what the listener is inclined to do. This uptempo burst of energy features one of Eddie's stronger riffs and some fantastic bass playing from Anthony. The chorus hook is as infectiously catchy as the main riff is as this song truly is a lost classic and deserves a proper CD release.
Another song unique to this set of demos is, "Big Trouble," a funky mid-tempo song with some nice drumming from Alex and more classic Van Halen harmony vocals from Michael. The song is, again, catchy and fun. The band sounds confident and older than their years. This is the sound of a big time band, and, "Big Trouble," is another song that would have held up very well on any of their first six studio albums.
One song that was a highlight of Van Halen II was, "Somebody Get Me A Doctor," and it's a highlight here as well. The intro is different, and the arrangement is not the same as the album version, but the core of the song is the same, although lyrically this is a much more overt drug song (some of the lyrics were toned down for the album version). The solo is exactly the same as what would show up later as Eddie Van Halen's playing was almost fully developed by this point (it would be refined just a little more by the time they recorded their debut album).
The last two songs (that are available if you look hard enough, although there are rumors of another 5 songs recorded with Simmons, but they are not readily available - nor is their existence confirmed for that matter) are two more songs unique to this collection, "Babe Dont Leave Me Alone," and, "Put Out The Lights." "Babe," is another mid-tempo rocker with flourishes of double bass drumming (as accents) here and there. If this were a proper album release it would be one of those, "Good album cuts," that help make an album great. "Put Out The Lights," on the other hand IS great. Another funky song, this one with varying tempo and feel, "Lights," features some more of Eddie's fantastic riffing and some good vocal melodies from Roth as well as a very memorable chorus hook. This is one heck of a song, and it's hard to believe that it never made it on to any of their albums.
Actually, truth be told, a couple of these songs might have been put to good use on Van Halen's third album, Women and Children First. Women and Children is a solid album, but lacks some of the catchy party songs that the first two VH albums had in spades.
All in all, if released on CD tomorrow this would be considered one of Van Halen's stronger albums, and that says a lot.
Hopefully this will see a proper CD release in the next few years along with some of Van Halen's other demos from the Roth era. Many of their demos are stronger than most band's official album releases.
4.5/5
