Daniel C.

Interesting note about the low string on "Good Enough" he had the same thing for the Track " I Want Some Action" which didn't make the 5150 album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQMHhlWvmz0&ab_channel=VanHalenVault

This song would later become "Twist the Knife" on the Steve Lukather solo album "Lukather", with EVH on Bass. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT55vXBO2vg&ab_channel=jojoa0

I recall an interview with Lukather where he mentioned that for that recording Ed took Lukes guitar and replaced the low E with a Bass "g" string tuned to "G" (maybe it was tuned to A..? not sure I remember the interview that specifically)) and then tuned the entire guitar Up a whole step. I don't know how much of that is accurate but I am sure Lukather must remember some of it... :)

 

Rob G

IMO OU812 has several classic Van Hagar songs on it. It's a bit ironic (don't you think?) of James Valentine to criticize VH for writing more commercial keyboard based songs, when Maroon 5 (who began as a rock band), pandered to their singer's desire to chase the hip-hop/pop autotune crowd to such an extent, that it resulted in James hardly playing any guitar on the songs and the live instruments being replaced. In his defense he admitted as much during the episode. I do agree that several of the tunes on OU812 could have had much better lyrics, but for me there is still some killer playing by Ed and Al on there. If you haven't watched it recently, revisit the Tokyo Dome show from 1989, the band sounds so good! Sammy's live vocals were amazing then too, they wavered a bit on the subsequent tours.

Charlie  A.

When is OU812 going to be available? Thanks 

Dweezil

Hi Charlie,

I'm working on it. Hoping to get it finished very soon!

Charlie  A.

Thank you!

Rob G

Hi Dweezil, 5150 was the first VH album I heard as a teenager, so it will always be special for me for that reason. Obviously I went back and became a huge fan of the Roth-era too, Fair Warning being my fave of the early albums. This was a really enjoyable episode, you and Mark did a fine job of digging into those cool rhythm parts and arrangements that are all over the album! I take your point about Ed playing what he felt, similar to when he jammed live, but I also think his tone and vocabulary were a natural continuation of where he was at for the 1984 record. For that tour Sammy played the solo on "Love Walks In," as on the "Live Without A Net" concert which I wore out on VHS and now have on DVD. Ed's playing on that concert is incredible, although I read he thought some of the other nights of the tour were better. Thanks for putting the podcast together, I've enjoyed every episode.

Colm M.

Just a comment for the part of the podcast where you talked about the lyrics for the song 5150. The song lyrics for 5150 are actually impressive! - they are a play on the numbers in the name. Either 5150 started off as a working song title, or if Sammy just wanted to use the 5150 as a name, since it is the album title and Eddy’s studio name. Instead of a song about a crazy person (5150 being the police code for a crazy person)– Sammy broke down the numbers 51 and 50. An even split is 50-50 … so this I a song about selfish person wanting more.  51 being one more than 50 – (…always one more, your never satisfied) I was always impressed on the song lyrics for this song .

Dweezil

Thanks! I don't think I ever even looked at the lyrics for the song. The only part I could ever recall was "I'll meet you half the way."