Cassettes
This item is graded Excellent
DOUBLE ALBUM CASSETTE
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST: By Van Halen's third release, 1980's Women and Children First, the group was a bona fide arena headliner; hence, meaty guitar riffs and a huge, fat sound are featured throughout. While Van Halen II was closely rooted both compositionally and sonically to their self-titled debut, Women and Children First signaled the band's first (successful) attempt to branch out. The tracks may not have been as immediate as such previous favorites as "Runnin' With the Devil" or "Dance the Night Away," but they were much more ambitious from a songwriting standpoint, resulting in perhaps Van Halen's most underrated record. The anthemic album opener, "And the Cradle Will Rock...," was the first Van Halen track to ever feature keyboards (processed through a guitar amplifier for a heavy sound), while the massive yet spacious sound of such heavy hitters as "Everybody Wants Some!," "Fools," "Romeo Delight," and "Loss of Control" is simply awe-inspiring. Both the intro to "Take Your Whiskey Home" and "Could This Be Magic?" find the band in a loose and fun bluesy mode, while the album-closing epic ballad, "In a Simple Rhyme," is one of Van Halen's all-time best and deserved to be a hit. An oft-overlooked hard rock classic. // FAIR WARNING: Although Van Halen were enjoying an enormous amount of commercial success by 1981, not all was happy in the VH camp. While the public believed that the euphoric, party-hearty antics of their live show spilled into their personal lives, this proved not to be case. Eddie Van Halen was feeling frustrated due to the group's unwillingness to branch out musically as much as he desired, resulting in the group's darkest album, Fair Warning. Unlike Van Halen's other David Lee Roth-era albums, not a single party anthem was included -- in its place was an unmistakable feeling of strife and friction, both lyrically and musically. The album opener, "Mean Street," contains a furious guitar intro by Eddie before leading into one of VH's funkiest grooves. While the mood is eased from time to time throughout ("Dirty Movies," "Hear About It Later," "Push Comes to Shove"), the album is simply an unapologetic ass-kicker -- "Sinner's Swing!," "Unchained," "So This Is Love?," and "One Foot Out the Door" capture the band at its red-hot fiercest. Along with their self-titled debut and 1984, Fair Warning is an undisputed Van Halen masterpiece.
All Music Guide
|
USA
1980
Warner Bros Records
|
