New Van Halen Live LP w/ Roth - March 31st, 2015

[chrisom]

VH News Desk. It's the Tokyo Dome show. Unfortunately, it's completely unretouched on vocals. Ugly cover art again. That's the "big surprise" they had in store for us? They don't seem to know what their fans want anymore, just more another peice of so-so VH merchandise to push on us... Hope I am wrong...

[chrisom]

VH News Desk: KEEPING IT REAL: This is a VERY authentic live recording. Every bit of the concert is in here, including Dave speaking Japanese to the enthusiastic crowd, full guitar and drum solos, etc. Note there are absolutely NO touchups on the lead vocals, unlike most live albums. They considered using different songs from different shows, but thought it would be better to simply release one stellar performance. They want this one to be authentic!

Sorry to flame it, but: Really? This sounds like a big mistake in this case. I love DLR with VH, but you can hear the vocals on the YouTube posts from this show by kitakosi659 and almost everyone in the comments section notes how bad the vocals are... In this instance, studio-enriched vocals are not only excused, but called for...

[Strat78]

Whats with the hackneyed boat image and the painfully amateur layout for the cover.

[chrisom]

I guess it works from a standpoint of new influx of retirement account cash with very little additional new work output... I would be thrilled to be proven wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this...

[chrisom]

They should hole-up at 5150, relax, take their time, have fun, and write, record, mix, and master their next studio LP independently, release it thru WalMart only like another megastar recently did, and they and WalMart would make a ton of $$$ while VH retains artistic control of the music. Another "Rock" LP for the fans. We deserve better than what we are currently getting... They proved on the last LP that DLR still sounds great in the studio... And when those vocals are overlaid onto Ed's guitars, it's magic. C'mon guys... Do it for the fans...

[dirtycooter]

Record sales is a joke for income these days.
1 copy sold = 1 million copies floating in cyber space.

But I will take what I can get. Would love a live album to sift through for cool parts. I like Live Right Here Right Now. I think that was awesome even though a different era. These guys could be in the studio right now though.
Anybody drove over to 5150 to see whats happening lately?

[chrisom]

I thought the live albums/DVD's w/Sammy Hagar were excellent. Not a fan of DLR's live vocals though... Is there a DVD video of the upcoming Tokyo LP? At least we can watch Eddie play...

[Tone_Chaser]

They are releasing the first two albums that have been remastered. I hope these will sound good. A lot of the CDs from albums made in the 70s and 80s don't sound that good. If they do sound good I would buy the old DLR CDs again.

[hammered]

I thought the live albums/DVD's w/Sammy Hagar were excellent. Not a fan of DLR's live vocals though... Is there a DVD video of the upcoming Tokyo LP? At least we can watch Eddie play...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMh5zx3YJ7g

[chrisom]

Thanks Hammered. I watched the entire concert footage you linked to, streamed via ROKU onto my 50" LED HDTV. Same show, but it was way better than the posts I was previously watching. I could see the guys with the video cameras by the stage, so I guess there'll probably be a DVD to acompany the live LP. I do have to admit, it was fun to watch them enjoying playing all those those old songs again, and with the professional video camera shots, editing and separate microphones the DVD should be even better than what is on YouTube...

I will say though, "The good old days are sure over..." No more cool guitars and acrobatics, no more Brown sound or Eventide ambience- just shrillness, the vocals are sub-par (I guess Sammy & Mike spoiled me more than I cared to admit), the pitch on the lead-in to "Tattoo" doesn't even match the pitch the band is playing in, and they all look terrible... But I guess I'm looking terrible these days too compared to 1984, so what the hell..." But my tone is getting better, not worse...

I do have to say, Alex's new drum solo was pretty cool though, and I know VH can move into the future if they want to (like Rush did). I haven't given up on new VH studio LP hopes... I know they've still got the goods to crank out many a good string of LP's if they want to...

[matttornado]

Aftre seeing this, I think Van Halen Jumped the shark.

If it was a CD/DVD of a concert from the early years (1984 or earlier) then I would have been excited. I have absolutely no desire to listen to that live concert. I saw them in Philly & I'm content. Plus there's YouTube for that.

The remasters: I'm very happy with the CDs I already have. I seriously doubt that a re-master is sound all that much different.

[FL6]

My only hope is that some action is better than no action, as in more will be coming...when who knows.