Published on Mar 8, 2001
In all the time we’ve been online here at The Daily Vault, I
honestly can’t believe someone hasn’t tackled
Van Halen II, the follow-up to Eddie Van Halen and crew’s
landmark debut set.
Maybe it’s because only one or two songs get any regular airplay
from this 1979 release. Maybe it’s because people fear hearing an
example of the “sophomore slump,” or they’re afraid this album
won’t live up to the high standards that were set on
Van Halen. Maybe — just maybe — we’ve been so busy we just
haven’t gotten around to it.
Does this disc live up to what David Lee Roth and company laid
out on their first effort? No — and anyone who expected those
kinds of fireworks two times in a row has to be fooling themselves.
This disc comes close to those highs, but the band does fall a
little short. Frankly, with the experimentation they do on this
disc, I’d rather have them fall short and take chances.
What kinds of chances do Van Halen take? For one thing, there’s
the ubiquitous guitar solo “Spanish Fly,” on which Eddie Van Halen
proves he can work magic on any fretboard, electric or acoustic.
(If anything, hearing this made me want to hear Van Halen explore
the world of acoustic guitars a little more.) You also have the
band taking the risk of covering Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good”
— a curious choice to follow up their take on The Kinks’s “You
Really Got Me.”
If all this weren’t enough, Van Halen dares to tackle a slower
— not quite, but close to ballad-like — track on “Women In Love,”
and doing a respectable job on it. There’s also the suggestion that
Van Halen were starting to branch out into commercial hard rock —
“Dance The Night Away” and “Beautiful Girls,” the two songs that
receive any significant airplay, being the prime examples. (Thanks
to
Saturday Night Live, I can’t listen to “Beautiful Girls”
without thinking of the commercial spoof featuring a gay-themed
beer. Proof positive that television is warping the minds of
today’s youth.)
If you’re ready to write
Van Halen II off as a commercial effort, think again. Many
of the songs on this release aren’t necessarily aimed for the
radio, instead challenging the listener to break out of their own
musical tunnel vision. Songs like “Outta Love Again” (with its
stacatto guitar solo), “Light Up The Sky” and “D.O.A.” all push the
envelope for Van Halen.
Does everything work? Honestly, no. “Somebody Get Me A Doctor”
and “Bottoms Up” both fall short of the mark, not living up to the
kind of song people were expecting from Van Halen even this early
in their career. And as much as I like the way Michael Anthony’s
bass solo was featured in its opening, “You’re No Good” just
doesn’t work as a cover selection. (I also would have dropped the
thumping bass in the start — too reminiscent of “Running With The
Devil.”)
But
Van Halen II succeeds because they didn’t follow Van Halen
note-for-note. When a song succeeds, it resonates in the listener’s
memory. When a song fails, it fails triumphantly, having dared to
take a musical chance that the group now felt comfortable with. It
might not be the most recognized of Van Halen’s releases, but
Van Halen II proves to be a worthy follow-up.