Van Halen, Van Halen, 1978, :35
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Every since Eddie Van Halen died on October 6, I've been seeing tributes from not only celebrities but the musicians I know, making me rethink my stance on this band. I have always utterly rejected Van Halen on the basis of their flashy presence and buffoonish front man. So I figure I was missing something and chose to really listen to their debut, an album released before I came of music listening age. My thought was that before all the flash and spandex and mugging in the tacky wrong-side-of-Spinal-Tap videos, the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge juvenilia and the "Just a Gigolo" desecration, I could hear a more grounded, hungry Van at their prime. I dunno. It's just not for me, I guess. All I hear is some hard rock guitar noodling and a singer whooping alpha male lyrics. I'm sure that the guitar virtuosity is very impressive, but it's not something that interests me. The otherwise quite good "Running With the Devil" is marred by Roth's idiotic yowls and whoops. Their "You Really Got Me" rocks harder than, but isn't an improvement over, the original. "Atomic Punk" is affirmatively terrible. The whole is all a bit polished and there's always some oaf whooping throughout the songs. Favorite tracks: "Jamie's Cryin'," "Little Dreamer" is a pleasant surprise, and I always liked the playful "Ice Cream Man."
