VAN HALEN - A Different Kind Of Truth (Release: Feb. 7, Interescope)

And at last... here it is the latest by Van Halen. Before anything, some history... it all starts with Link Wray, the guy that distorted the sound of electric guitar and created the power chord in  the 50's. Some years after that was the second change done by Jimmy Page, this guy made the transition from Rock & Roll style of playing to Hard Rock style, just listen to the riff and solo in Blow-Up with The Yardbirds back in '66. Page led the way to Jimi Hendrix, Michael Monarch, Dave Davies and many more... and then came the third and last change incarnated in Eddie Van Halen who introduced tapping, taking it from Paganini violin techniques in the XVIII Century, "Cathedral" volume and envolving many elements of Rock equipments.
In my personal opinion Eddie Van Halen is the most influential and virtuoso Rock guitar of all times, as this can be noticed in each every record by Van Halen and this new album couldn't be least.
First of all is to say that the CEO that decided that Tattoo should be the first single from this album should be fired right now, this song doesn't represent the vibe of this album that is full of fast tunes with pure Heavy Metal taste, raw sounds and no commercial tracks.
Second important thing is for those, like me, who believes that Van Halen's best era was with Sammy Hagar, this cd is far away for those albums. There's no doubt that while Hagar is an astonishing singer, Roth is a great showman but he is far away from Hagar's abilities to sing and that is noticed soon in this album. Roth can't reach higher tones and sometimes you won't even know if he's singing or talking.
Said that, this is a good Hard Rock album with Van Halen returning to their roots while Eddie is at his best. A Different Kind Of Truth opens with Tattoo, the initial single and the most commercial tune of the album. I don't actually know if this song is some kind of joke or what 'cause it really sucks, the melody is empty and the lyrics are stupid, the only interesting thing with this track is the fantastic guitar solo. She's A Woman starts to show what this album actually is, this track is cool with an amazing guitar riff and catchy chorus while Alex play some funny cymbals. You And Your Blues has Van Halen's sign, with nice bridge and guitar ala-F.U.C.K. but chorus is weak. China Town is build on crazy rythm, pure Heavy Metal for a fast tune while Blood And Fire comes with one of the more amazing solos of the whole album and sees Alex Van Halen shining specially.
The rest of the album keeps the same fast and raw vibe with special attention to Big River that comes with an epic riff and two amazing solos while chorus is real catching.
In summary, good album specially because of the delight of listening Eddie Van Halen playing but we deserve a better album by this band.
The weakest part are Dave Lee Roth vocals and the weakness of some tunes while the curious thing is, in my opinion, that this album could have been recorded without the bass of Wolfgang Van Halen, you won't notice... we miss Michael Anthony.

Tattoo (official video)

Sound bites:








Best tracks (in order of preference):

She's A Woman

Big River

Blood And Fire

You And Your Blues

This album is worth or 4 out of 5 ROCKS!!!

JOE COCKER - COCKER (Released: 1986, EMI)

Joe Cocker is not among my favorite artist but in the 80's he released some cool tunes featuring some of the best musicians and songwriters at that time. This album comes from '86 and brings some nice AOR tracks thanks to an amazing team of producers consisting of Richie Zito-Ron Nevison and some amazing musicians like Neal Schon, Dan Huff or Michael Baird.
The most recognizable tune from this album is the cover of Randy Newman's You Can Leave Your Hat On, also featured in the O.S.T. of the film  9½ Weeks, but the absolute highlight is Don't You Love Me Anymore. Written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond this song has one of the most sentimental melodies that i've ever listened accompained by precious lyrics and some monster keys turning this track into an absolute gem... top 5 song of my live.


The rest of the album brings some other good moments like the first single released Shelter Me USA # 91, A to Z or Living Without Your Love.
 The most AOR side of Joe Cocker.

Don't You Love Me Anymore (official video)

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NEW ENGLAND - S/T (Released: 1979, Infinity Records)

This Boston band released their debut album under production by Paul Stanley and Mike Stone back in '79. New England embraced some success with their first single Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya reaching Hot 100 # 40 while the album climbed to Billboard Top 200 # 50. The second single from this album Hello, Hello, Hello reached the Hot 100 too climbing to # 69.
The band released a couple of albums more, Explorer Suite and Walking Wild, but both were unnoticed so band decided to split.
This debut album by New England is a milestone that define what in the 80's became the pure AOR based on Keyboards, polished production with some sound effects and magnificent choruses.





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Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya (official video):

DOUCETTE - Mama Let Him Play (Released: 1977, Mushroom Records)

The band Doucette took its name from his founder Jerry Doucette. After playing with many bands like Reefers, Tribe, Homestead and others, this canadian guy founded his own band and signed with Mushroom Records for his debut album entitled Mama Let Him Play that went platinum in Canada though it only reached a dissapointing USA # 159. Despite poor sales in USA the band went on tour opening for acts like Eddie Money and Meat Loaf between others.
The band released another 4 albums but none of them enjoyed much success.
If you like bands such Boston, The Doobie Brothers, The Knack... don't miss this one.






Sound bites: