Fair Warning (1981)
1. Mean Streets
2. Dirty Movies
3. Sinners Swing!
4. Hear it About it Later
5. Unchained
6. Push Comes To Shove
7. So This is Love?
8. Sunday Afternoon in the Park
9. One Foot Out the Door
Back in the early 1980's, during the
hey-day of arena rock, Van Halen was the band that you simply had
to catch live when they toured your city. Of course, if you missed
them, it wasn't any big deal because they would be back the next year,
so you could shell out your $8.50 or whatever and still enjoy arguably
the best show that rock and roll could offer. Ah, those were the days!
The point here is that, with a band like Van Halen, people really didn't
seem to care whether or not the latest record was any good. A new album
meant a new tour - and that's really what it was all about.
So when their fourth album came out, in only four years, no one really seemed
to pay that much attention. That would have been a shame had this album been a
classic of the Van Halen variety, but sadly, this wasn't the case here.
For whatever reason, the guys try to sound much more serious this
time around, and as time would unpleasantly remind us sporadically
during their career, this band simply wasn't meant to ever be a serious
band.
The aura of the record is immediately recognized as being different on
the opening track Mean Streets. Yes, it's definitely still the
David Lee Roth era Van Halen, filled with the same trademarks
throughout, but the music just sounds more dark, more lean
and....well....more serious. So much so that when they continue with
songs with titles such as Dirty Movies and Sinners Swing,
there sadly isn't much difference. Yes, the titles sound 'fun', and it
really does sound like Diamond Dave is trying to revive a party, but the
overall atmosphere of the record just doesn't sound like the rest of the
guys, or maybe it was just Eddie, wanted to go on a ride this time
around.
There are those who say this one of their best albums. I guess everyone
is entitled to their own opinion, but I simply never really got it. By
the time I'm about halfway through the record listening to a song like
Push Comes To Shove, I'm already asleep. Something that should
never happen whilst listening to a Van Halen album. I guess overall
they 'succeed' at what their trying to do here, it just seems too
uncharacteristic of these guys for me to really enjoy anything here.
It's weird that the last two songs on the record are each less than two
minutes a piece - and one, the odd Sunday Afternoon in the Park
is nothing more that eerie synthesizers dredging up images of God only
knows what. Let's just say the title doesn't match the mood. Then
again, that was the whole point.
Well, at least their concerts kicked some major ass. And that was all anyone
cared about anyways.
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