listening Post: Van Halen - Balance

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 - Balance - 1995 (buy it)


Hmmm....
This is a weird thing. Lots, I mean LOTS of people hate this album. I don't.
It's a strange piece but it's also terrific in many respects. "Not enough" sounds like the band's "Innuendo". It smells of Queen, it reeks of Swan Song. Then again, there's also, "Can't Stop Loving You" which sounds like the theme to "Beverly Hills, 90210", I shit you not.
This is a thicker album than VH has made. Maybe the thickest since Fair Warning. Wolfgang's dad is reigned in like a budweiser stallion and we are better for it. This is the triumph of "band" over "Van Halen". And there's a lot to love here.
The first Eddie solo, "Strung Out" is the weirdest thing the band has put on record in a while and I would stand it next to Eruption on almost any day. It helps that it was originally recorded in 83 BEFORE the band's super-duper status.
"Amsterdam" rocks with a thump instead of a thud, as so much of VH's offering have in the past. Even if it is all about partying...so what?
Balance is the best thing Van Halen has done since 5150. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's the fact that it's Hagar's last with the album that makes it so. I can see a world where he got comfortable and exerted his influence resulting in this album. The power play would piss of Eddie and Alex (the indignant twins) and they would boot him out.
Sounds right to me.
This isn't a Van Halen record. It's a Montrose record. A Hagar album. And it's good.

Update: I wrote this as the album was closing, as the last track "Feelin'" began. I had to get back in here to mention that this song is the heir apparent to Queen. Forget Paul Rogers and all that new crap. Sammy Hagar go it right in 95 and that song is the shit.
That is all.

Grade A
A Side: Amsterdam & Can't Stop Loving You & Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do
BlindSide: All the Instrumentals. Big Fat Money, Aftershock, Not Enough
DownSide: The cover. I mean, just look at that. Blech!