Published on Mar 6, 1997
Back in 1991, when Van Halen released their ninth album
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, many long-time fans like
myself were surprised at two things. First, that Sammy Hagar seemed
to have put the shadow of David Lee Roth behind him. Second, that
Van Halen had gotten away with, in a sense, putting the word “fuck”
on their album cover (the word is derived from the album’s
title).
Six years after its release (and departure/firing of Hagar as
lead throat), one thing is painfully clear: the music, like the
album cover innuendo, gets old real quick.
The first sign of trouble is in the opening seconds of the first
song, “Poundcake.” Eddie Van Halen opens the album playing his
guitar with an electric drill – too bad Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big was
the first to do this. The song has a good melody, but the lyrical
content is standard hard rock throughfare about wanting to get
laid. (In case you need a clue, Hagar ain’t singin’ about dessert.)
If you don’t get the message with this song, then just wait a few
minutes until “Spanked” comes on – c’mon, can’t we get an original
idea?
The times that Van Halen gets creative, the ideas don’t jell.
“Judgment Day” is an ambitious track, but it falls short of the
mark – lyrically, it is not one of the band’s better tracks.
The same can’t be said for “Runaround,” easily the best song on
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The melody is immediately
catchy, and the song itself is well written. Hagar has rarely
sounded as good, and Eddie Van Halen’s guitar work is
outstanding.
The ambition returns with the song “Pleasure Dome,” a mistake
from the beginning. The idea of cryptically speaking verses with an
orgasmic pounding of the drums from Alex Van Halen just doesn’t
work for a band of Van Halen’s style.
The second side of the album has the song that will probably
always be the symbol of the Hagar era: “Right Now.” This is an
excellent song, one of the few ambitious cuts that works. The use
of piano works perfectly with the crunching guitars and solid
backbeat from bassist Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen. There’s a
reason why this song and accompanying video are so popular.
If only the rest of the side were this strong. “Man On A
Mission” is another failure, while yet another cock-rock song “In
‘N’ Out” is an improvement. “Standing On Top Of The World” sounds
like a re-hash of older hits like “Jump,” and is a painful sign
that the band may have started to run low on the old creative
juices.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge when it came out. But with the
ability to look back at it and the band’s history, it’s clear that
Hagar never seemed to make the band his own like Roth did when he
manned the microphone. Whose fault this was is now a moot point –
though I would tend to blame Eddie.
Fans of Van Halen, relax – there’s still enough solid material
on this one to make
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge worth a few listens. But in
time, you’ll realize that you got…
Whew – I stopped myself just in time.