After spending ten years essentially as the party band for hard rock, Van Halen grew up in 1988.<\/p>\n
Maybe it was due to the death of Jan Van Halen, the father of brothers Eddie and Alex. Maybe it was they had more life under their belts and didn’t necessarily need to be singing about all things hedonistic. Whatever the case, OU812<\/i> was the end result, the second outing with new lead vocalist Sammy Hagar.<\/p>\n
And you know something? It worked. Not always, not perfectly, but it worked.<\/p>\n
Sure, the lead-off single \u201cBlack And Blue\u201d had to do with the ol\u2019 in-and-out\u2014some things never change, and for the bulk of the remainder of Van Halen\u2019s career, it wouldn\u2019t completely go away. But the swaying groove laid down certainly captures the listener\u2019s attention, even if it didn\u2019t set the singles charts on fire as it stalled at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100<\/i>. It\u2019s a guilty pleasure song, and one I still enjoy.<\/p>\n
The centerpiece of the album undoubtedly is \u201cWhen It\u2019s Love,\u201d a surprisingly mature effort from Van Halen all around. Driven mostly by keyboards, it captures the essence of what one feels when Cupid\u2019s arrow hits, and is not confused with lust. Overplayed? These days, perhaps… but it remains one of the best songs ever recorded in Van Halen\u2019s time with Hagar.<\/p>\n
OU812<\/i> is not just an album of rock songs; it challenges the listener to do some thinking on the metaphoric levels. The disc\u2019s opener \u201cMine All Mine\u201d dares to take on the theme of religion and how different belief systems can confuse someone who, in the end, should be looking inward to find the right path to walk. Gotta admit, that\u2019s a deep way to open an album… but matched with a driving beat, it does the job well.<\/i><\/p>\n
Not everything on this one is stellar, but even the missteps aren\u2019t earth-shattering failures. \u201cFeels So Good\u201d has its moments, but ends up being a little too lightweight in terms of musicianship and delivery when held up to other tracks on this one. Similarly, \u201cSucker In A 3 Piece,\u201d the official closer on the vinyl edition, never really knows what its purpose is on this disc, and is the only true time the album falls flat.<\/i><\/p>\n
Fortunately, there are other moments, such as the light-hearted \u201cFinish What Ya Started\u201d (with almost a Ry Cooder-type delivery that is a unique moment in Van Halen\u2019s history) or \u201cCabo Wabo,\u201d a song that dares to suggest a darker side behind the party atmosphere. These are the moments that boost this album up.<\/i><\/p>\n
And then, there\u2019s \u201cA Apolitical Blues\u201d\u2014an interesting cover choice that made it onto the cassette and CD versions (as well as the B-side to \u201cBlack And Blue\u201d). Little Feat is not the first band I\u2019d pick for Van Halen to cover\u2014and, honestly, it was my first exposure I\u2019m aware of to the music of Lowell George and crew. But Van Halen handle this one with the utmost respect, and is a fun addition to the album. (It did, however, take me a long time to really warm up to Little Feat, though it was because of this cover I made the effort to check their stuff out.)<\/i><\/p>\n
OU812<\/i> is, quite possibly, the crowning achievement of Van Halen Mk. II\u2014I know, sacrilege to those who worship For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/i>. But it did show off a band who were willing to take more chances with the kinds of music they wrote and performed, and\u2014for the most part\u2014they were able to successfully pull it off. Sadly, this is the one that seems to be the most overlooked in the Hagar era, and deserves a second chance.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5673],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-47158","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-van-halen","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47158"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}