Published on Aug 14, 1998
In a previous review, I made a comment on the many lives of one
group of artists. Well, here’s someone who has been on the rock ‘n’
roll roller coaster for more years than many people have been
alive. David Lee Roth has been a rock singer, a rock legend, a god,
a casualty, a joke, and a has-been. Now, he is trying to return to
his first position by going back to the roots of himself – the rock
‘n’ roll.
Therefore, enters:
The DLR Band. Well, there’s more than a few members to the
band. Let’s see there’s the man himself, guitarist John Lowery,
Terry Kilgore and Mike Hartman, bassists B’urboun Bob, Tom Lilly
and Lowery again and drummer Ray Luzier. The most well-known out of
this bunch are Lowery (who left Rob Halford’s Two and just joined
Marilyn Manson’s traveling circus) and Luzier (who was the drummer
for Cinderella). I mean, if you’re going to storm the gates of
Babylon, you would never send in a small group–you want an army.
That’s what Dave’s got.
Now let’s be clear of something: If you are looking to this CD
for serious insight on the plight of man, on the injustices of the
world, on the carnage that man commits against its fellow turkeys,
well, you may want to put this album back. This is vintage DLR.
That means that guitar tricks will be flying, yelps and yells will
come and go at an alarming rate and it will make you want to go out
kill something, grill it and drive a very big, noisy car looking
for women that are willing to do anything.
The album starts off with “Slam Dunk!” (which has already become
a hit on rock radio). While the song might sound dumb at first,
notice the double entendre–Dave uses basketball metaphorically to
mean sex. There’s also “Counter-Blast” where Dave deals with the
very serious problem that every person who is online has –
CYBERSEX! Well, lyrics like “My engine’s searching like a
harpoon/Like a monsoon/In your chat room” are not the deep,
meaningful, ones that one searches for–but they are what they
are.
David Lee goes from giving props to his band (“Tight”) to giving
props to his gun (“Little Texas”) to giving props to himself
(“Weekend With The Babysitter,” “King Of The Hill”). And while he
does so in a manner that he perfected while with the Van Halen
boys, he comes off as entirely authoritative and his own self.
Perchance all of the life he has lived from his split with Van
Halen on has led him to look at what has happened. In “WaWaZat,” he
sings, “By the time your dreams come true/You’ve turned into
someone else.” Then, he switches around and sings about “a red-hot
pink humvee full of party girls with damaged lives and tangled
destinies” in “Indeedido.” The album closes on the more pensive
“Black Sand.” Hey! A DLR song not dealing on how great he is or on
women! Seriously, the song is a good way of closing the album.
Actually, while we’re mentioning Van Halen, DLR does take a shot
or two at his former/current/former band. In “Tight” he sings, “And
all those rock ‘n’ rollers/That I used to want to meet/Now they’re
pushing strollers/And wanna be like me.” Gee, I wonder who he’s
referring to???
Let’s face it. This album will probably not win awards, but I
think that if it wins fans, then Diamond Dave will be happy. It’s
not original, but then again, it’s not meant to be. With Diamond
Dave, it’s all about attitude. If you want true rock n’ roll take
DLR and forget about all of the “sensitive guy pop” bands. Trust
me, they wish they were DLR.