Yesterday Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth was released to the delight of their legions of fans. As a fan of Roth, I have been waiting patiently for the past couple of years to hear some concrete information on the new album with Diamond Dave. Most of the rumors and false starts were reported and frustrated the crap out of myself and many other fans. It’s been 15 years since VH created new music with David Lee Roth and I was curious to hear their next evolution.
The first single “Tattoo,” had all the right elements. It was perhaps not as hard rocking as I would’ve liked, but still evoked the light hearted old school VH antics. Pre-ordering on iTunes was a no-brainer for me. Finally, on February 7th, 2012 the brand new VH songs downloaded into my account.
My favorites after one thorough listen of the album this morning are “Stay Frosty,” the sequel to “Ice Cream Man,” which the L.A Times referred to as a “clunker” (they clearly aren’t fans of VH), and “Big River.” I’ve also gathered from reading various reviews that some of the tracks from the album were reworked from early demos of the band in order to grab that classic VH sound. There’s definitely a few tracks that are as succinct or as fleshed out as they could’ve been. Evidence is clear: there’s a song called “As Is.”
I’m not an audio expert, but I noticed that Roth’s vocals should’ve been more prominent in the mix on a couple of the tracks. Occasionally, his voice seemed drowned out compared to the literally MIGHTY rhythm section. Truth is definitely a heavier album in terms of the instrumental side of the music, but Dave sounds damn good.
Regardless of the minor gripes, I’m just happy to have a new VH album with Diamond Dave. Is it only a matter of time before they explode into ridiculous in-fighting amongst the band? Should I fear that the March 24th, 2012 VH concert at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City will be cancelled because of another Roth/Eddie blowout? I hope not!