Why is Your Filthy Little Mouth the Rodney Dangerfield of all the various Van Halen offshoots? Sure it's got some diversity to it, but it's not like it's jazz or something. Poor ol' Dave gets flack if he does the same ol' same ol', and then he gets it if he tries something different (though it still remains to be seen how different his current project is, but that's neither here nor there right now). Not a lot of room to work there! Anyway, while maybe not his strongest album, it deserved better than it got from the music world and the fans:

"She's My Machine" - this song should've gotten good airplay. Great guitar sound and the song's about a car, which is always a pretty safe bet. But I don't remember hearing this song on the radio at all.

"Everybody's Got The Monkey" - I don't like monkeys, but again, this song is a nice little rocker.

"Big Train" - another good rocker chuggin' on through!

"Experience" - great concept, slight slip on the execution. Don't know what's up with that intro, but when the actual song starts the music is smokin' and Dave's got a good vibe and voice going. Then Dave slips his voice into some place it shouldn't go when he starts singing
"Experience
I understand
Is it like doing ninety..." etc.
Still a good song

"A Little Luck" - a song with horns, a different direction but no further off track than stuff like "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)", "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", "Easy Street", "I'm Easy" or "That's Life". The female background singers is kind of a change, but still, it's pure Dave.

"Cheatin' Heart Cafe" - does this song only get flack because of the presence of Travis Tritt? Or is it because it has a country-esque vibe? I don't know - I like it, but I've seen a lot of people around here say they don't.

"Hey, You Never Know" - this one's got kind of a country vibe, too. But Dave sounds good doing this.

"No Big 'Ting" - Dave goes carribean! With some help from some guy named Mitchielous. I hesitate to call it reggae, though, because Dave doesn't really have a reggae voice. A fun song.

"You're Breathin' It" - this actually sounds like it could've fit on Skyscraper to me, a little bit. Dave's got the ol' blues harp going.

"Your Filthy Little Mouth" - a nice little southern boogie. The female voice was a nice touch.

"Land's Edge" - Dave the storyteller. Nice groove.

"Night Life" - Again Dave getting mellow, this time with a song written by Willie Nelson. Never heard the original, but I like what Dave does here.

"Sunburn" - with the intro, I keep kind of expecting Dave to break into "O Mexico" - haven't really played 'em side-by-side to see how close they really are - probably not at all, but that's what it makes me think. Dave's own song in the vein of "Coconut Grove". This is closer to what he should probably be doing these days.

Anyway, I just don't understand why this album wasn't given a chance. I remember it getting dogged on before it even came out - that's one of the reasons it took me so long to get it, but now that I have it and have listened to it, I realise what a mistake that was. Hopefully if you're a fan of Dave's work, and you don't have this one, you'll go out and find it.

Originally posted by billy007:
Why is Your Filthy Little Mouth the Rodney Dangerfield of all the various Van Halen offshoots? Sure it's got some diversity to it, but it's not like it's jazz or something.And what, pray tell, is wrong with jazz? If you don't think DLR has an immense respect for jazz, then you don't know DLR.

Nothing wrong with good jazz, it's just the form of music that came to mind when I was trying to think about what could be considered a departure from what Dave normally does - could've easily said swing or punk or rap, but I just happened to pick jazz! (why do I feel like John Lennon right now?)

While I don't think it's a high mark of the Roth catalogue, I sometimes think YFLM is probably the closest DLR album to his actual tastes and personality. He has always given the impression that he's as interested in other music styles as he is in straight ahead rock and roll.

I think a large part of the problem is that the changing musicians just sapped Dave of credibility. Had he kept a line-up consistent for a large part of his solo career I think he'd have been better off in terms of how relevant he seemed. I think the seeds of Dave's solo career were sown when he didn't try to make the EEAS band a group of equals. When he chose to be the boss, he sealed his fate as a singer with a revolving door of musicians. Not many world class musicians are going to stick around for an extended period of time when they've being relegated to back up players.

Back to YFLM, I like the sound of it, which is important. Bad sound can really ground an album to a halt; Skyscraper suffers from this, it has great songs but the production is terrible. I think Dave made a good sounding record with Nile Rodgers here, though the bass should have been WAY louder (what's with low bass sounds with everybody in the VH realm?). The songs;

She's My Machine is a good rocking song, though it has a bit of a feel of a song that never makes it to the finish line. It turns around and repeats itself when it seems like it hasn't yet made its point.

Everybody's Got the Monkey is alright. Nothing special about it though.

Big Train is a great song, one of Dave's best, especially the bluesy ending.

Experience is a great song too, very cool lyrics. The high vocal part though is a mess. Dave sounds terrible, they should have changed the song around to avoid this.

A Little Luck is where the wheels start to fall off the bus. Interesting to hear Dave playing with the horns, but the song just does nothing for me. Again though, the horns make me believe that this is really where Dave's tastes are, not in hard rock like Unchained etc.

Cheatin' Heart Cafe is shit. Travis Tritt badly needs to cut that fuckin' hair, but I've got nothing against him musically. It's just not a very good song. Many of the lyrics sound like they were trying to hard to fit them into the space alloted. BTW, I have an interview with Dave from 1991 where he uses the 'standing in line at McDonalds' line. smile.gif

Hey You Never Know just doesn't work for me either. I like the 'ahh' female backup singing though.

No Big 'Ting is cool enough once you get past the stupid intro. Again, they lyrics seem like he's trying to hard to fit too many words in.

You're Breathin' is a great song, I really like this one.

Your Filthy Little Mouth is a good, simple song with some great Dave lyrics.

Land's Edge is a song that I really loved at the time of the Hits album DLR released. But I've sinced tired of it somewhat. Should have played it a bit slower, and with the bass jacked up.

Night Life is fuckin' amazing. THIS is the type of material that Dave should be doing. I'm tired of the 'fuck yer girlfriend' shit, this type of bluesy music is where Dave should be hanging his hat. A great song period, and Dave sells it damn well.

Sunburn is a cool song. Reminds me a lot of a song like Coconut Grove or the later Black Sand. Again, this is the type of material Dave really shines on, not the fast paced rock stuff.

If you're a Dave fan, it's an album worth tracking down.

Personally I think DLR found himself a little lost after ALAE, then saw the grunge/nirvana bus pull up and everything 80's get spat on.

So he found himself deliberately producing a very diverse album, in the hope that maybe he would find a sucessful road to continue down. Kinda a scattergun approach. Unfortunately he didnt score a hit here, and was left to flounder somewhat.

ANyways, I dont mind the album, the first 3 songs are pretty strong, and it picks us steam again towards the end, as everyone else has pointed out, its the middle parts of the album which leaves it lacking a little

It took me a listen or two until the album grew on me.

But now I can really enjoy it. It's kinda album to sit back and relax for me, ya know. :cool:

Nothing bad about trying out different styles now and then... as long as you don't sell out.

I guess with that album it's the same as for example with Bruce Dickinson's Skunkworks project. That one's a major kick ass album too. Yet it sold bad and hardly got any nice critics.

But as time goes by more and more people who listened to it start to like it. Don't ask me why that's how it is... sometimes confuses me too. :confused:

Originally posted by billy007:
.

"Everybody's Got The Monkey" - I don't like monkeys, but again, this song is a nice little rocker.

This song aint about Planet of the Apes - It's about drug habits.

Anyway - I like this album - but I don't LOVE it - I LOVE everything else he has done solo and VH. If there were a few more songs like 'BigTrain' - It woulda been a classic!

I think Mississippii Power should've been on there as well - better than most of the songs on the disc.

Songs like 'A Little Luck', 'Cheatin' Heart...', 'You're Breathin it', and 'Lands Edge', do nothing at all for me - but I'm happy with everything else on the album.

As for why it gets no respect, well it came out in '94 - Grunge was king, and Dave was seen as TOO '80's to survive - how the likes of bon jovi, def leppard AND van hagar survived and ave didn't - I'll never know!!!!

An end of era too this disc represented - new haircut/image, no 'guitar-hero' songs, Reprise Records, no Pete Angelus - no Picasso Bros., no Diamond Dave directed video - Wayne Isham directed 'She's My Machine - cutting edge music video director MY ASS!!!!! - a very forgettable video - when has that term EVER been used about a David Lee Roth video???

I recently got some boots of DLR at Montreal and Detroit '86, Florida '91 and Chaicago '94 - And I'm tellin ya it's fuckin sad to see the difference in '94 - the other gigs are at major arena's with sold-out screaming fans - BIG production - Classic arena rock.

The '94 gig? - he's playing a club - and a very small one too - the drummer is practically on top of him, he has NO ROOM AT ALL!!! on the stage - which means no acrobatics (although he was trying to kinda get away from that sorta thing in the mid-90's). The band aren't bad - but they aren't baaad either, know what I mean.

And then half-way thru some guy throws something at him - and later in the show he is heckled again - and between songs you can hear some drunk guy yelling for 'Yankee Rose' repeatedly - it's all very sad - he must've been thinking - "what did I do to deserve THIS!!!!"

I respect it.

YFLM is pretty good. My favorites from that album are She's My Machine, Experience, You're Breathin' It, Your Filthy Little Mouth, and Sunburn. I agree with Glenn that this album showed a lot about Dave's true personality.

Unfortunately this is the reason that it didn't get much respect. It wasn't as "hard" as the other DLR solo albums and people were turned off by it.

Originally posted by Lou:

Unfortunately this is the reason that it didn't get much respect. It wasn't as "hard" as the other DLR solo albums and people were turned off by it.Yeah, it wasn'ta hard rock album. Personally I love that album, been playing it a lot recently - but then I have the original version of Crablouse so my tastes are pretty weird .
graemlins/bounce.gif

The album blows, in my opinion. It's the only Roth solo album that I don't like at all. I liked a few of the tunes at first, but they don't have any staying power. DLR Band was decent, but for me, Dave's last really good effort was ALAE (which may be my favorite -- really close to EEAS, anyways!).

Because it sucks?? tongue.gif Easily the worst DLR solo album. "She's My Machine" is about the only decent track on it and it's VERY suspect. Terry Kilgore's guitar work was pretty generic and....well...boring.

I like YFLM, although it is not one of my favorite Dave solo outings.

Personally, I think it may have been one of Dave's finest efforts, lyrically. The biggest problem I had with the album was Terry Kilgore's playing. After Van Halen, Vai and Becker, Terry was a serious drop in talent.

In my opinion, Dave's solo efforts have gotten lost for no apparent reason. I thought EEAS was much better than 5150, Skyscraper and OU812 equally mediocre, and ALAE comparable to or better than FUCK.

Personally, I blame Dave and management. I think Big Ed could not effectively manage an unbrella stand in a hurricance. Without Picasso Pete, Dave floundered.

Originally posted by guillermo007:
.
"Everybody's Got The Monkey" - I don't like monkeys, but again, this song is a nice little rocker.
Originally posted by Master Joe:
This song aint about Planet of the Apes - It's about drug habits.

I know that, but I still don't like monkeys!

It was very hard for me to even find the album. Once I did and listened to it I found out why. I don't care much for it.

Both Van Halen and Dave have steadily gone down hill after they broke up. I didn't care much for the Sammy era of VH. I don't even acknowledge the Gary "era" and well... look at them now. As for Dave, EEAS was a great CD. I like Skyscraper more than most people do. ALAE was the begininning of the end. Personally I don't care for most of this album. The tour sucked big time ass too. Dave was way off his game. I've only listened to YFLM about twice and don't much care for it. Maybe if I listened to it more... but I'm a fan of classic Van Halen and this sounds nothing like that.

I just wish Dave and Eddie could put their differences aside and make some freakin' music.

They need each other big time.

i agree with someone earlier about the track that never made it: "Mississippi Power." you can find it as a "B-side" to "She's My Machine" on some import CDs (i know i know in the day of the CD there really isn't a B-side technically.)

i was actually surprised Dave didnt include it on his BEST OF record. Why not? You wanna attract some reason for people to buy a BEST OF record these days with unrleased material...so instead of just "Don't Piss ME OFF" Dave could've put MP on it as well and claimed there were 2 new songs on the BEST OF record....i know it wouldn't sold more copies but it still wouldve been nice for dave's fans to have a copy of this great tune on one of his albums.

well thats just my 2 cents....

In the eyes of the sheep, Dave is "damned if he does and damned if he doesn't".

If he sounds like Van Halen, they'll call it a "tribute band". If he sounds nothing like Van Halen, they'll say it sucks.

YFLM is a different kind of album. After first the Van HALEN split, then Vai having a big head, then Jason Becker becoming incapacitated, Dave was tired of building big bands with the latest hot shot guitarist. Instead, he called up his old friend from his first band (The Red Ball Jets) Terry Kilgore and wrote some of the best lyrics of his career. The musical formula: keep it simple. Blues, R&B centered with a little hip hop, reggae, and even country thrown in for good measure.

I love the album, and make no apologies for it.

Don't make apologies for your tastes, FORD, even though that CD blows donkey balls. ALAE is the only Dave cd I bother keeping in my collection because there's a few good tunes on there. But YFLM is terrible, with "She's My Machine" being the only somewhat listenable thing on there. The rest is a roadmap to Vegas, and Dave's never recovered since...

Hay i like it. graemlins/bounce.gif

I like this CD too. It is like Dave is trying everything that he always wanted to try. I give him credit for that. I like the title song, as well as Sunburn.
If you listen to Sunburn with headphones on, it is like he is whispering right into your ear. You can hear him breathing. His voice sounds very sexy on this one. graemlins/devil.gif
Billy, what is it with you and monkeys??? Did you have a bad experience as a child? LMAO.

Subtract the Travis Tritt tune, and I like the rest. Very Kool release from Dave.

In fact most are some of my favorite Dave as a solo artist. The guitar work is damn good !! graemlins/thumb.gif

I would take ANY song on YFLM over his last two most recent offerings! graemlins/irked.gif

I have not listened to this in a while. I remember buying it and trying to like it but there was nothing I found interesting. I did hear Dave do Shes my Machine and Big Train live on the radio and they sounded pretty cool. I saw Dave on that tour and I'm sorry but he was terrible. I think he was totally lost. Here VH was still one of the biggest bands in the world and Dave couldnt even get a song on the radio. I give him an A for effort, in that he tried to be very divers. I think Dave works best when he has some kind of guitar hero to feed off of. I will admit I'd rather hear She's my Machine anyday than the stuff he's doing nowadays.

Bad to the Bone

Wow, I'm listening to the songs via mp3 and I like it. It's very different and Dave sounds pretty good. His voice didn't go yet and he was definately well blended vocally. He could sing the way he used to and in the new register and most of the time the new register didn't sound shitty like it does now. He really messed up his voice a lot by the time of DLR Band...I can't believe the difference :confused:

I had time to analyze all of the songs and I must say it is a fine release. Like Glenn said, Dave is not a Hard Rock singer. He is a Blues singer. He's always been. Have you ever listened to old VH boots before Dave had his whole schtick? He sang and he sang bluesy. Fortunately, back then, he had an incredible range. This album showed a versitile Dave, one who enjoys all sorts of music. He may have been lost after Grunge, but what band wasn't?...Think of these releases (Slang - Def Leppard, Balance - Van Halen) and it makes sense that many bands known for partying in the '80s were lost. The thing that pisses me off the most when I hear this is that Dave still could sing in his normal range quite well. I think Rogers must've did something to mess him up...Or maybe Dave just didn't know how to sing in a new register correctly, but he could sing up until this album. DLR Band is a total change. All we get is whiny-sounding vocals and a really raspy lower voice. The only time I have trouble listening to Dave's voice on YFLM is in "Experience." It wasn't a new range, exactly...It was just an annoying voice. Dave seems to be going for that painful, ear-hurting sound now...Listen to the new songs...

Yer Filthy Lil' Mouth...that's what I'm talkin' 'bout nah!!...y'all gots to hear how Dave and Rocket worked up,"Land's Edge," live in '94--it iz b-b-b-b-b-baaad!!! Lowdown and gritty, full of spit and fire, Rocket beatin' on his guitar like kickin' 'round a junkyard dog...it's like Muddy Waters was singin' the tune!! She's My Machine is one of Dave's best solo cuts and like Glennzilla says, Night Life an' the Big Train outtro are badass blues cuts indeed!! Your Filthy Little Mouth reminded me of Lido Shuffle when I first heard it juzz a lil' bit. I likes that!! Great album yez yez yez!! graemlins/devil.gif graemlins/wtf.gif

"She's My Machine," is so damn funky...puttin' the unk in funk yez yez...

I put it on for a "fresh" listen today. It isn't that bad. It isn't that great either. I love Dave, so it's kinda like pizza to me...I have never really eaten any bad pizza.

I just can't stand this album. She's My Machine rocks, until the end when Dave is clearly struggling. I do like Everybody's Got The Monkey, and of course Big Train is the shit. But after that I just can't bare it anymore. Not even Experience which I know alot of people like. For me, this is clearly Dave's weakest album. Gimme DLR Band and ALAE any day over this one.

I just can't stand this album. She's My Machine rocks, until the end when Dave is clearly struggling. I do like Everybody's Got The Monkey, and of course Big Train is the shit. But after that I just can't bare it anymore. Not even Experience which I know alot of people like. For me, this is clearly Dave's weakest album. Gimme DLR Band and ALAE any day over this one.

What about "Night Life?" I know the night life ain't no good life, but its my life...

What about "Night Life?" I know the night life ain't no good life, but its my life...

Can't dig it Loons, and you know I likes da bluez. But I just can't feel Dave on this album.

Right Tool For The Job..now that's Dave kickin it somethin serious.

I can't Dance...

I can't sing..

I aint that smart,

But I can lift really heavy things...

When it comes to lovin..

Mama I'm the one you want....

Yes I is.

:devil:

The album starts well and ends well, but the middle is just filler, and bad filler at that. I like it better than Skyscraper, but that is about it.

Here iz one thing that I kno' jus' as sho' as my name...there tunes sounded better LIVE...especially Land's Edge...Roth would add some blues-isms in the intro an' it sounded like Muddy Waters...yonder comes ol' Papa Muddy Waters...an' he is PISSED OFF!!...Your Cheatin' Heart, of course, sounded better without Travis Tritt...

It's an ok album-I really like YFLM and the first You're Breathin' It. However, the album has its flaws: The guitar sound, for me, is thin, especially in She's My Machine, and the overall playing isn't anything special-could have been anyone playing; the diversity of song styles doesn't do it for me-I wanted rockers, but got only a few rockers and a bunch of weird stuff thrown in (anything with "Urban NYC Mix" can't be good). Overall, ok for a few listens every now and then, but certainly not a classic.

to be perfectly honest, dave lost me after skyscraper. and i've never been back.

It's all could have should have, but Dave did fuck up after EEAS big time. The reason Billy left was because he had almost no input on Sky. The album was an ill-fated attempt at sounding like 5150. IMO, Dave was just flat out jealous that 5150 blew him out of the water in sales. The music on Sky sounds so much more dated than EEAS. That really was the turning point for the worst for Dave. He was never able to recover. Like many have said, even the die-hard fans barely know the existence of his other albums. The industry just gobbled him up. His persona outgrew his music. That's never a good thing. What a shame! I still believe he is capable of putting out very interesting music, but there is zero market demand for it. IMO, he proved it with the DLR band cd. With all its flaws and voice issues, the music is extremely interesting. If the man is backed by original musicians with good ideas, he can come up with the goods. Too bad Lowery left the band! He was a perfect fit for Dave. The guitar riffs on the DLR album are some of the best Eddie clones I've ever heard. If only it had sold.....

It's all could have should have, but Dave did fuck up after EEAS big time. The reason Billy left was because he had almost no input on Sky. The album was an ill-fated attempt at sounding like 5150. IMO, Dave was just flat out jealous that 5150 blew him out of the water in sales. The music on Sky sounds so much more dated than EEAS. That really was the turning point for the worst for Dave. He was never able to recover. Like many have said, even the die-hard fans barely know the existence of his other albums. The industry just gobbled him up. His persona outgrew his music. That's never a good thing. What a shame! I still believe he is capable of putting out very interesting music, but there is zero market demand for it. IMO, he proved it with the DLR band cd. With all its flaws and voice issues, the music is extremely interesting. If the man is backed by original musicians with good ideas, he can come up with the goods. Too bad Lowery left the band! He was a perfect fit for Dave. The guitar riffs on the DLR album are some of the best Eddie clones I've ever heard. If only it had sold.....

Damn good post.

For me, Dave lost me during the Dick Clark New Years Eve party where he was to do a new song called "She's My Machine". I waited and waited and it finally came!!! What did I get? Dave lip sync-ing and rubbing up against a car. They even cut to a commercial before he was done. That was it for me. If the song was good, I would've given the album a chance, but I was embarrassed by that one song. Totally disappointing. I've never even heard the other songs off the album, not sure I'm missing anything, though I'm sure someone will say I am.

Damn good post.

For me, Dave lost me during the Dick Clark New Years Eve party where he was to do a new song called "She's My Machine". I waited and waited and it finally came!!! What did I get? Dave lip sync-ing and rubbing up against a car. They even cut to a commercial before he was done. That was it for me. If the song was good, I would've given the album a chance, but I was embarrassed by that one song. Totally disappointing. I've never even heard the other songs off the album, not sure I'm missing anything, though I'm sure someone will say I am.


You have to be real "open minded" to like any of YFLM. It does have a few gems, but it is unlike anything else he had done solo or otherwise. The voice by that time was rough, but tolerable. Had someone else made that album, it would have been easier to accept commercially. However, since Dave will always be type-cast to the classic VH sound, it was too hard to take for many. I finally bought the album a while ago on ebay. It was a cd cut-out. I paid more for the shipping than for the actual cd. I took the time to read the insert. The lyrics are actually pretty solid. The musical direction and musicians involved just weren't up to the standards we were used to with Eddie/Alex/MA/Vai/Billy/Becker. According to Jason Becker, She's My Machine was actually a left over from ALAE. BTW, I never saw that performance you refer to, but it sounds like it was total shit. He didn't even sing live? Although, at that point it was a smart decision considering how strained his voice was mid-90s. If you are curious enough, buy it on ebay for a buck or two. It is worth a listen for that price. It has been out of print for years. God, what a way for Dave to mark the 10th year anniversary of 1984. "How to ruin a career in 10 years" is the title of that book. (84-94)