|
Not to mention, original Van Halen material as well, making for a good, solid record. There's a couple cover songs on this record, but done the Van Halen way. Screaming guitars, and all.
Van Halen was arguably awful at covering songs and made them significantly worse than their original versions, though at least the songs covered on Diver Down are a *tad* better than usual. Not that I was ever a fan of his guitar playing anyway.
He should have taken advantage of his guitar playing while his inventive style was still new and refreshing in the early 80's, but he didn't. At least he was apparently responsible for inventing a radically different and innovative guitar technique.
I know it's cool nowadays to reflect on Diver Down, because at one time it wasn't considered a very good album, and nowadays people apparently like it for whatever reason. Oh it's there, sometimes, but it's never featured enough to satisfy anyone.
Just not one of Van Halen's best albums. The abundance of cover songs is the biggest distraction.
The cover songs on the first two albums are quite awful though.Where's Eddie's amazing guitar technique.
no originality there. the sound tired and worn out. just boring. hearing all these rave reviews. isn't a band supposed to grow.
Its kind of nostalgic with western & vaudeville flavors mixed with good rockers that I think all work well together and make for a fun album for all ages. The first 4 albums rock hard from start to finish but this one has more peaks & valleys (covers, instrumentals & rockers). Fair Warning starts to sound more modern, funky & colorful. VH1 & VHII are both very similar to one another but the first albums sound is more edgy & aggressive (party band).
Its hard for me to pick my favorite VH album. 1984 would continue in the progression using more keyboards to update their sound. Now we have Diver Down that is more of a step sideways rather than a step-up (not a bad thing just different). Clearly the first six albums are the best & Diver Down is no exception.
Woman & children first still rocks hard but sounds more mature, meaningful & has more changes in tempo. The band seemed to be at their peak during 1984, but Diver Down is still a vital VH album with a cool cover and is beautifully remastered to sound fresh. Its fun, diverse and of course it features great guitar work. It seems that there was progression starting with their first album.
On the softer, more AOR-radio friendly side, we've got "Secrets" and "Little Guitars", two underrated and understated tunes you will never - ever - hear on contemporary radio. Eddie Van Halen once referred to DIVER DOWN as his "least favorite album." Pointing to the profusion of cover songs and the fact that the mini-Moog riff that opens "Dancing In The Streets" was meant for an original VH tune he was writing, EVH noted, "I'd rather bomb with my own stuff than score with somebody else's." In that vein, I once read a review of this LP that said, "This is the product of an exhausted, bored band at a creative lowpoint."True, true. It is merely mediocre by the standards of the Old (1979 - 1985) Van Halen.
All in all, DIVER DOWN is decent three-star album from a great band playing with one hand occupied by beer, or possibly a groupie's bra. It has most of the things you'd associate with DLR-era Van Halen, the main difference being the lighthearted, almost disposable nature of the songs, which lack the hard, gritty resonance of earlier albums or of side 2 of "1984." It' a quirky, very distinctive, upbeat type of Big Rock with just enough edge to prevent it from straying into sugar-pop-rock territory. This song rocks full-bore and will get you a speeding ticket if you listen to it while driving. In addition, "The Full Bug" features an exuberant harmonica solo.
First of all, the three main cover tunes ("Dancing", "Where Have All The Good Times Gone." and "Pretty Woman") are well done, although "Pretty Woman" is technically way off, the result of the band playing it in the studio from memory rather than actually doing their homework (just like high school, Dave). His next outing was the key-solo on "Jump", and we all know how that one ended up.DIVER DOWN has a vaguely spaghetti-Western type of theme (I guess Dave was watching a lot of Sergio Leone in 1982)., most particularly on the oddly compelling song "Hang `em High", which is arguably the best track on the record. Yet DIVER DOWN is not a terrible or even a bad album. And the good old VH trademark of an instrumental song ("Cathedral") marks the first real foray by Ed into keyboards and is really a beautiful and evocative track.
In keeping with old VH traditions, there are also two gag-reel songs, "Big Bad Bill" and "Happy Trails", which are as ridiculous as you'd expect them to be. And considering that band gave us ridiculously brilliant albums like VAN HALEN I and 1984, that's a sliding scale. In fact, I like all of these songs better than their originals - VH truly made them their own.
|
