I don't know if you will read this, but I just want to say Confessions is one of the greatest records ever. I must have listened to it 5000 times. I recently sat down and figured out a bunch of the songs and it made me love it even more. It's mind blowing you + Nuno were so young when you made that album. We are around the same age and that one has been with me ever since it came out. Please consider doing a vinyl release someday.
Also, Purple Guitar has some of the best guitar tone ever. Did you play that on a mini guitar, by any chance? Something seems slightly "off" when I try to figure it out.
Thanks for everything through the years. God bless you and everyone in this comment section.
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the Confessions album. I'm sorry to say that I doubt I'll have the chance to revisit it or make it into a vinyl release.
As for Purple Guitar, yes it was played on a small scale guitar tuned up to F#.
Lian, totally agree with you about Confessions. Amazing album! Would have been really cool to hear Dweezil and Nuno do an episode about the album. Maybe after all the VH podcasts are done. I'm sure they have a ton of entertaining stories to share. I realize it's a ton of work, so it's probably not gonna happen.
Hey Daroka, that would be absolutely epic. I hope Dweezil sees your post and considers it. I would pay $50 for a conversation between him and Nuno. Maybe I am crazy, but goodness gracious, I love that record. One of these days I will get around to learning all the songs on there. Maybe even post some lessons somewhere...
Thanks guys! It would be fun to do something like one of these days. I did do a few recent video interviews with Shawn Ratches which go song by song for each of my records. They will be on the site soon as free video content. Maybe there will be some fun stories for you in the episode about Confessions. Best, DZ
Just letting you know that I haven't forgotten about all of you in this community. I've struggled with the Joe Satriani edit because of audio anomalies. I'm finally in the home stretch on the episode. So much has happened as of late as well. Mostly very good things! The one not good thing is that my dog has been very ill for the last week and finally has started to improve. Happy Halloween, by the way!
There is a version of Ain't Talkin Bout Love on the first pressing of Best Of . . Volume 1 where the arrangement has been chopped and placed out of sequence. It's been awhile since I heard it bit I think the bride, solo and second verse are mixed up. Does anyone remember this and/or why this happened?
Dweezil, thank you for putting this podcast together. I get totally immersed with each episode and it's a bummer when they're over. On the latest podcast when you and James Valentine talk about OU812, not much is mentioned of the time between 5150 and OU812. The band toured the 5150 album and then Eddie worked with Sammy on his solo album. And, I read an interview with Michael Anthony where he said Eddie was playing more keyboards than guitar around this time. I really enjoyed Sammy's solo album from 1987, I Never Said Goodbye, which I believe got it's title from an MTV contest. Ed plays some very cool, slippery, funky bass and unlike OU812, you can hear bass in the mix. And, Eddie's guitar playing on the last track is icing on the cake. When OU812 came out in May, 1988, I played that album over and over that entire summer. It was a Van Halen album . . EVERY Van Halen should be played over and over. But, as the podcast revealed, it wasn't a huge leap forward on the lyrical side and a few of the guitar parts were conservative compared to earlier recordings. Could this album have benefitted from more writing time? Did they have a time restraint getting the album out in time for the Monsters Of Rock tour?
I have been re-listening to the episodes because enough time has passed and in the Paul Gilbert episode Paul was asking you what the "familiar disco bass line" (around 22:10 in) and I think the song Paul's looking for is "Shining Star" by Earth Wind and Fire.
Hey Dweezil! With all of the great content you've worked on for this series, any thoughts on ( maybe ) interviewing Brad Tolinski/Chris Gill for their newest book on EVH? Maybe a live episode/video talkback on EVH gear through the years?
Not that you don't have enough to do ( no doubt your hands are already full ). But, having read the book, there is a ton of great gear info that may be of use ( or not ).
Hope all is well with everyone ( you to dweez). All the podcasts have been insanely entertaining and enlightening. A true testament to Eddie and even your relationship and insight into his overall musicianship.
Dwwez came across this thought you might get a kick out of ( I remember thinking you were so cool when this album came out ,, you only have a few years onme lol). Thanks again for the great stuff and this is a killer album btw
Dweezil, when you were talking with James Valentine about when he saw Sammy Hagar perform at Cabo Wabo, you mentioned how it was probably with The Circle since it wasn't with Van Halen. For some deep reason, I got the immediate feeling it was Sammy Hagar and The Waboritas which was his long standing band BEFORE The Circle.
Also, with VH's song, SOURCE OF INFECTION, my take away from the lyrics is that Sammy is going all in with a lady sensually and sexually and he's falling deep in LOVE and that his source of infection is her when it comes to that L-O-V-E. He's been infected with LOVE and she's the source of that infection. Matter of fact, the lady's actual name that Sammy is having a blast with is probably literally "LOVE". Pretty ingenious and fun lyrics.
I thought I’d share a couple of very low-tech iPhone videos I made yesterday and today where I try to explain Eddie’s use of tuning offsets throughout the catalog and live. I also go through how to download these offsets straight to any Peterson Strobo HD series strobe tuner and how to tune to any individual Van Halen recording that I’ve notated and shared a tuning offset for on the Peterson website.
Please excuse my totally inept videos…hopefully they can be of some help in some way to anyone that’s interested in learning more about how Eddie tuned his guitars!
Hello! New member and I'm enjoying the episodes very much. I have a question and I don't see any way to search the forum, so... can anyone tell me how to access the Axe-FX presets referred to in the "marketing" material? Thanks,
How do I get the presets for Kemper and Helix? I purchased the 5150 bundle and I cant seem to locate them.
LOVE this, BTW. Such a fantastic place, with great interviews and insight to the most influential rock guitarist ever. Thank you, Dweezil for bringing these stories and artist perspectives to the world!
The next episode is with Joe Satriani and it's still in production. Sorry, it's taking so long, the audio for Joe's voice has issues and the fixes are time-consuming. I'm trying to get it done asap for everyone. Best, DZ
Dweezil, in your interview with James Valentine, you guys make reference to more women/girlfriends liking Van Halen because of love ballads like Love Walks In and When It's Love,which may be true. It was equally true that for Van Halen fans like me who were in our post adolescent years, those songs were as important as all the rockers, cherished parts of a life soundtrack reminding me of my first girlfriend, and several romantic crushes. Those times when I was in love for the first time and enjoyed hearing (and also playing on both guitar and keyboard) Van Halen's love songs.
Dweezil, in your interview with Mark Lettieri and the breakdown of the 5150 album, near the end, you talked about unreleased bits that exist and you even played one. Well, that exact so called unreleased bit was used and released on the very first Steve Lukather album called Lukather. It's the first song on the album called TWIST THE KNIFE and it's credited to Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather. The credits on it read that Lukather plays the guitar bit you played from Eddie and that Eddie played bass on Lukather's version. It's on YouTube but NOT on streaming as the album was import only.
Yep, the main riff was written by Eddie during the recording of 5150 called “I Want Action” on the bootleg of the demos for the album. It was later re-worked probably most effectively as “Stompin’ 8H” for Eddie’s appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Kudos on getting James Valentine. The diversity of guests has been a highlight. I think there is a lot to unpack in OU812. I like the way Valentine referred to the lyrics as “earnest” probably the most apt description of a well written Sam song. Unfortunately for my tastes the Sam era has too many songs where the lyrics are “too on the nose”. But Mine All Mine, When it’s Love, Feels So Good are well done both lyrically and musically. One last thing…I really enjoy Feels So Good. This is going to sound sappy…but I think it’s the only truly happy VH song. There is no underlying tension, no dark riffs lurking around a corner…all of which I love…but it’s just a refreshing shift of gears. Always brings a smile to my face. Keep up the great work.
All of the episodes are separated by bundle. Each bundle has a player which allows you to stream the episodes or download them. You can only listen or download from the corresponding player for the bundle you purchased. If you bought the 5150 bundle then you will need to go the 5150 player to listen. All of the episodes are there. 5150 player
I'm having kind of the same issue. The latest episode I can see is the James Valentine session (which I really liked, btw). I'm definitely accessing from the 5150 player. Maybe there are episodes not yet released but I'm really interested in the reverse engineering the Brown Sound content, etc. While I'm here I might as well say how much I love these podcasts I have enjoyed them more than I can adequately express in words.
What I love most with these shows is when like with the Satchel episode, he plays EVH licks from the songs throughout. Hearing the solos and bits just adds to the show and helps break down the mystique into reality.
I'm glad you're enjoying that element of the podcast. I try to get that into as many episodes as I can. Not every player is capable of performing the music. There's a lot of pressure to do it well so that makes people nervous.
So far, so good. Loving the RWTD episodes. I was wondering if there are any episode possibilities with Edward's friends/tech crews, such as Larry DiMarzio or even Brad Tolenski, concerning Edward's tone ( Tolenski has a new EVH book coming out on Oct. 5 ). I know Ed used Marshalls and DiMarzio pickups over the years. But there is so much mystery as to what he used for various recordings and tours ( I have an old EVH tribute magazine where it states, according to Ed's tech Matt Bruck, that the 5150 amps used in 1991 had 50 watt speakers instead of the regular 25 watts--How would that even work in his Peaveys??? ).
These episodes are making me " hungry " as a tone chaser and THAT journey is just as mysterious as was his search for great music.
I don't know if it's the song that Sammy said he borrowed from but Cabo reminds me a lot of "Make It Last" from the first Montrose album...
Yes, that’s the one. Make it Last is the song he said he got Cabo Wabo from.
Hi Dweezil,
I don't know if you will read this, but I just want to say Confessions is one of the greatest records ever. I must have listened to it 5000 times. I recently sat down and figured out a bunch of the songs and it made me love it even more. It's mind blowing you + Nuno were so young when you made that album. We are around the same age and that one has been with me ever since it came out. Please consider doing a vinyl release someday.
Also, Purple Guitar has some of the best guitar tone ever. Did you play that on a mini guitar, by any chance? Something seems slightly "off" when I try to figure it out.
Thanks for everything through the years. God bless you and everyone in this comment section.
-Lian
Hi Lian,
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the Confessions album. I'm sorry to say that I doubt I'll have the chance to revisit it or make it into a vinyl release.
As for Purple Guitar, yes it was played on a small scale guitar tuned up to F#.
Best, DZ
A Big Hug Brother, Jesus Is The Way.
Lian, totally agree with you about Confessions. Amazing album! Would have been really cool to hear Dweezil and Nuno do an episode about the album. Maybe after all the VH podcasts are done. I'm sure they have a ton of entertaining stories to share. I realize it's a ton of work, so it's probably not gonna happen.
Hey Daroka, that would be absolutely epic. I hope Dweezil sees your post and considers it. I would pay $50 for a conversation between him and Nuno. Maybe I am crazy, but goodness gracious, I love that record. One of these days I will get around to learning all the songs on there. Maybe even post some lessons somewhere...
Thanks guys! It would be fun to do something like one of these days. I did do a few recent video interviews with Shawn Ratches which go song by song for each of my records. They will be on the site soon as free video content. Maybe there will be some fun stories for you in the episode about Confessions. Best, DZ
Hi Everyone,
Just letting you know that I haven't forgotten about all of you in this community. I've struggled with the Joe Satriani edit because of audio anomalies. I'm finally in the home stretch on the episode. So much has happened as of late as well. Mostly very good things! The one not good thing is that my dog has been very ill for the last week and finally has started to improve. Happy Halloween, by the way!
Happy Halloween. Glad to hear the pooch is on the mend. Looking forward to what’s to come. Be well.
Dweezil, a great hug, Jesus is the way.
There is a version of Ain't Talkin Bout Love on the first pressing of Best Of . . Volume 1 where the arrangement has been chopped and placed out of sequence. It's been awhile since I heard it bit I think the bride, solo and second verse are mixed up. Does anyone remember this and/or why this happened?
It was Running with the Devil. I still have the CD.I remember hearing it saying to myself, that isn't what I hear on the VH-1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runnin%27_with_the_Devil
The Incorrect version (1.21 mark) has verse, chorus, guitar solo, verse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjWuhPwILXo
The correct version (again, 1.21 mark) has verse, chorus, verse, guitar solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-fJAn6IrRU
Here's the Best of Both World's GH version too. It matches the correct version above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I69lKSHY5pQ
Dweezil, thank you for putting this podcast together. I get totally immersed with each episode and it's a bummer when they're over. On the latest podcast when you and James Valentine talk about OU812, not much is mentioned of the time between 5150 and OU812. The band toured the 5150 album and then Eddie worked with Sammy on his solo album. And, I read an interview with Michael Anthony where he said Eddie was playing more keyboards than guitar around this time. I really enjoyed Sammy's solo album from 1987, I Never Said Goodbye, which I believe got it's title from an MTV contest. Ed plays some very cool, slippery, funky bass and unlike OU812, you can hear bass in the mix. And, Eddie's guitar playing on the last track is icing on the cake. When OU812 came out in May, 1988, I played that album over and over that entire summer. It was a Van Halen album . . EVERY Van Halen should be played over and over. But, as the podcast revealed, it wasn't a huge leap forward on the lyrical side and a few of the guitar parts were conservative compared to earlier recordings. Could this album have benefitted from more writing time? Did they have a time restraint getting the album out in time for the Monsters Of Rock tour?
I have been re-listening to the episodes because enough time has passed and in the Paul Gilbert episode Paul was asking you what the "familiar disco bass line" (around 22:10 in) and I think the song Paul's looking for is "Shining Star" by Earth Wind and Fire.
Hey Dweezil! With all of the great content you've worked on for this series, any thoughts on ( maybe ) interviewing Brad Tolinski/Chris Gill for their newest book on EVH? Maybe a live episode/video talkback on EVH gear through the years?
Not that you don't have enough to do ( no doubt your hands are already full ). But, having read the book, there is a ton of great gear info that may be of use ( or not ).
Looking forward to the newest episode with Joe!
Best to you and the family!
Hope all is well with everyone ( you to dweez). All the podcasts have been insanely entertaining and enlightening. A true testament to Eddie and even your relationship and insight into his overall musicianship.
Thanks Jim! Working on the Joe Satriani episode still. It's got some technical problems with Joe's audio.
Dweezil, when you were talking with James Valentine about when he saw Sammy Hagar perform at Cabo Wabo, you mentioned how it was probably with The Circle since it wasn't with Van Halen. For some deep reason, I got the immediate feeling it was Sammy Hagar and The Waboritas which was his long standing band BEFORE The Circle.
Also, with VH's song, SOURCE OF INFECTION, my take away from the lyrics is that Sammy is going all in with a lady sensually and sexually and he's falling deep in LOVE and that his source of infection is her when it comes to that L-O-V-E. He's been infected with LOVE and she's the source of that infection. Matter of fact, the lady's actual name that Sammy is having a blast with is probably literally "LOVE". Pretty ingenious and fun lyrics.
I thought I’d share a couple of very low-tech iPhone videos I made yesterday and today where I try to explain Eddie’s use of tuning offsets throughout the catalog and live. I also go through how to download these offsets straight to any Peterson Strobo HD series strobe tuner and how to tune to any individual Van Halen recording that I’ve notated and shared a tuning offset for on the Peterson website.
Please excuse my totally inept videos…hopefully they can be of some help in some way to anyone that’s interested in learning more about how Eddie tuned his guitars!
https://youtu.be/M0iCPW3tO_A
https://youtu.be/BfXGV_Tj-2E
Hello! New member and I'm enjoying the episodes very much. I have a question and I don't see any way to search the forum, so... can anyone tell me how to access the Axe-FX presets referred to in the "marketing" material? Thanks,
Karsten
Question:
How do I get the presets for Kemper and Helix? I purchased the 5150 bundle and I cant seem to locate them.
LOVE this, BTW. Such a fantastic place, with great interviews and insight to the most influential rock guitarist ever. Thank you, Dweezil for bringing these stories and artist perspectives to the world!
Hi Guys, how often do new episodes come out? I’ve been stuck on the James Valentine episode for a few weeks now.
Hi Paul,
The next episode is with Joe Satriani and it's still in production. Sorry, it's taking so long, the audio for Joe's voice has issues and the fixes are time-consuming. I'm trying to get it done asap for everyone. Best, DZ
Dweezil, in your interview with James Valentine, you guys make reference to more women/girlfriends liking Van Halen because of love ballads like Love Walks In and When It's Love,which may be true. It was equally true that for Van Halen fans like me who were in our post adolescent years, those songs were as important as all the rockers, cherished parts of a life soundtrack reminding me of my first girlfriend, and several romantic crushes. Those times when I was in love for the first time and enjoyed hearing (and also playing on both guitar and keyboard) Van Halen's love songs.
Dweezil, in your interview with Mark Lettieri and the breakdown of the 5150 album, near the end, you talked about unreleased bits that exist and you even played one. Well, that exact so called unreleased bit was used and released on the very first Steve Lukather album called Lukather. It's the first song on the album called TWIST THE KNIFE and it's credited to Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather. The credits on it read that Lukather plays the guitar bit you played from Eddie and that Eddie played bass on Lukather's version. It's on YouTube but NOT on streaming as the album was import only.
that same riff was later also used by Edward on Dirty Water Dog on VHIII. I believe he even asked Steve's permission for that
Yep, the main riff was written by Eddie during the recording of 5150 called “I Want Action” on the bootleg of the demos for the album. It was later re-worked probably most effectively as “Stompin’ 8H” for Eddie’s appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Hey Dweezil,
Kudos on getting James Valentine. The diversity of guests has been a highlight. I think there is a lot to unpack in OU812. I like the way Valentine referred to the lyrics as “earnest” probably the most apt description of a well written Sam song. Unfortunately for my tastes the Sam era has too many songs where the lyrics are “too on the nose”. But Mine All Mine, When it’s Love, Feels So Good are well done both lyrically and musically. One last thing…I really enjoy Feels So Good. This is going to sound sappy…but I think it’s the only truly happy VH song. There is no underlying tension, no dark riffs lurking around a corner…all of which I love…but it’s just a refreshing shift of gears. Always brings a smile to my face. Keep up the great work.
Thanks…Scott
This is awesome! But I purchased the 5150 bundle. Can anyone tell me why the only episodes I see are for the “early years”?
Hi Corey,
All of the episodes are separated by bundle. Each bundle has a player which allows you to stream the episodes or download them. You can only listen or download from the corresponding player for the bundle you purchased. If you bought the 5150 bundle then you will need to go the 5150 player to listen. All of the episodes are there. 5150 player
I'm having kind of the same issue. The latest episode I can see is the James Valentine session (which I really liked, btw). I'm definitely accessing from the 5150 player. Maybe there are episodes not yet released but I'm really interested in the reverse engineering the Brown Sound content, etc. While I'm here I might as well say how much I love these podcasts I have enjoyed them more than I can adequately express in words.
What I love most with these shows is when like with the Satchel episode, he plays EVH licks from the songs throughout. Hearing the solos and bits just adds to the show and helps break down the mystique into reality.
Hi Myles,
I'm glad you're enjoying that element of the podcast. I try to get that into as many episodes as I can. Not every player is capable of performing the music. There's a lot of pressure to do it well so that makes people nervous.
At the end, do a recap with Blues Saraceno!! You two sound like great friends. I have a few of those, and so much laughter, I just dig it.
Thanks Doug! We will be doing a bit more together.
So far, so good. Loving the RWTD episodes. I was wondering if there are any episode possibilities with Edward's friends/tech crews, such as Larry DiMarzio or even Brad Tolenski, concerning Edward's tone ( Tolenski has a new EVH book coming out on Oct. 5 ). I know Ed used Marshalls and DiMarzio pickups over the years. But there is so much mystery as to what he used for various recordings and tours ( I have an old EVH tribute magazine where it states, according to Ed's tech Matt Bruck, that the 5150 amps used in 1991 had 50 watt speakers instead of the regular 25 watts--How would that even work in his Peaveys??? ).
These episodes are making me " hungry " as a tone chaser and THAT journey is just as mysterious as was his search for great music.
Thanks, DZ.