Van Halen "A Different Kind Of Truth"

  That's right folks. The 1st new Van Halen album since 1996 is out. David lee Roth has returned, marking 28 years since the last album to feature DLR. What a Triumphant return it is. I'll confess to being a bit apprehensive after hering the 1st track "tatoo". But after a couple of listens, I couldn't get the song out of my head & it's the weakest cut on the whole album. The band also relesaed previews for the other cuts on the album leading up to the release, but the short snippets didn't really do a good job of conveying the songs In my opinion. This is what had me wondering if it really would deliver or not. I'll put it like this. by the end of the 3rd song I was ready to start jumping around & giggling like a little schoolgirl from the pure =VH= excellence that is "A Different Kind Of Truth".

  the are 13songs on "A Different Kind Of Truth" about half of which are actually old songs that were written between 1976-1978 but never finished or released. The new songs retain the same feel as the older material, making for a very seamless album. Eddie has once again taken the throne as the worlds greatest guitarist. He never lets up from the 1st note to the last. Alex is the beating heart of the band pumping out the furious beats he's famous for.Dave is Dave. He's never been a fantastic singer, but he makes up for it in spades with his showmaship & sense of fun that he brings to the music. Last, but definitely nnot least there's Eddie's son Wolfgng filling Michael Anthony's shoes on the Bass. Wolfie is an absolute monster on the bass, keeping up with dad & uncle note for note & beat for beat. Things aren't quite the same without Mike's vocal harmonies on top, but the soud is still there. This stuff hearkens back to the eraly days of =VH=, conjuring up visions of "Fair Warning". It's true Classic =VH= at it's finest. I'd even go so far as to say it's as good if not better than any of the Early DLR era albums. They really got back to basics again. It's not over-processed & full of keyboards. It's pure guitar fury.

Here are a couple of my favorite cuts...