listening Post: Van Halen - Van Halen II

When I was about 15 or 16 my best friend in the summer vacation town of Bar Harbor was a guy named Pete. I met him while we were both prep cooks at the town's greasy spoon. Pete was a metal guy all the way. Used to listen to Pantera before anyone knew who they were. He took me to see Ozzy at the Blizzard of Oz tour stop at the Bangor State Fair, (Randy Rhodes was 5 feet from me and a little band named Def Leppard was the opener). Pete also had a pair of pants tailor painted with white stripes to emulate Eddie Van Halen's guitar. While I was immersing myself in Queen, Pete was learning to shred. I never even gave the Pasadena boys a chance.
Let's remedy that now, shall we?



Van Halen - Van Halen II - 1979 (Buy it)

Softer. That's my first sense of this album. A little more sheen. A little more pandering to the sounds of the times. Not as much edge. This is a supergroup that wants to sell more records the second time around.
This is not a bad thing. It just means that it's not full of surprises. It is EXACTLY what the title says.

Number 2.

Just another collection of songs by the rockingest cockrockers from Pasadena, California.

It opens with a sleepy, creepy blues cover of a Clint Ballard tune. Not how I would choose to open the album, but what the hell, doesn't matter.
This is more party rock.
Actually, it's better than that. This is roller rink rock.
There is no change to the formula. It worked the first time, it works the second time around.
Trouble is, after the first album there's really no reason to own this. Together, the two albums are barely over 1 hour in length so, by today's standards it would qualify as one cd.
However, 30 minutes is perfect. It's just right. Albums really shouldn't be much longer than 35 minutes, should they? Is there really anything you can't say in 35 minutes?
There's another Eddie solo piece on this. It's very different from "Eruption". "Spanish Fly" is an acoustic treat.
Eddie Van Halen. Show off. If only he wasn't so fucking good.
God, I can hear future Motley Crue all over this. And Poison. And Ratt and Warrant and all those big haired buggers. Just how influential was VH? Considering that they are really just Zeppelin Lite. But I hear the future of Rock and Roll through this album and it's just around the corner.

Grade A (But you don't need it if you have the first album)
A Side: Dance the Night Away
Blindside: Somebody get me a Doctor & D.O.A. & Beautiful Girls
Downside: You're No Good.