Vince G.

What I can't believe is that most people don't realize that "Unboxed" had already been released, sort of, but without the 2 new songs. "Unboxed" is nothing more than a U.S. version of what had been previously released overseas as "Looking Back" in 1986. The tracklisting for "Looking Back" is virtually identical. I have it on cassette and vinyl, and didn't see it for sale during my first visit to Japan in 1988 on CD until my last evening there, and by that time I was out of money.

"Looking Back"

1. I'll Fall In Love Again
2. There's Only One Way To Rock
3. Heavy Metal
4. Remember The Heroes
5. Baby's On Fire
6. Three Lock Box
7. Two Sides Of Love
8. I Can't Drive 55
9. I Don't Need Love
10. VOA

"Unboxed"

1. High Hopes
2. Buying My Way into Heaven
3. I'll Fall in Love Again
4. There's Only One Way to Rock
5. Heavy Metal
6. Eagles Fly
7. Baby's on Fire
8. Three Lock Box
9. Two Sides of Love
10. I Can't Drive 55
11. Give to Live
12. I Don't Need Love

__________________
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

"This is a lttle prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen. ."

"I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."

-George Carlin 1937 - 2008

Jor-L5150

^^^^
GOOD point ! thanks! forgot all about that

vince g-
yeah- i love this nerdy van halen minutia. i love being in a room where i'm not the only wierd guy keeping trak of all the stuff van halen has forgotten.
i agree that "humans being" as well a CGTSNM and MWM had a different, more layered and EPIC sound and arrangement. damn shame we didnt one more full van hagar record.

VH/CF-fan

Wasn't "Unboxed" released to finish off Sammy's record contract/deal?? Seems like I read that somwhere....

Michaels

This is why they should not be referred to as van hagar. Everything sammy presented was shot down. Think of all the tunes sammy wrote from 96 on, just think if eddie van halenized 10 of the best ones...now that would be van hagar

LLFHS

He made it to pay off his wife in the divorce.

His 1987 solo record with Ed producing and playing bass was the one made to keep with the Geffen contract.

__________________
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It's amazing how things turn around, and good stuff starts to happen when you put the cork in the bottle.
- The Duke

chefcraig

Here's the story, from Hagar himself.

Toward the end of January, Sammy received yet another surprise phone call. This time it
came from old friend, John Kalodner. He was calling to inform him that
Geffen Records was set to release a Sammy Hagar greatest hits album in a
couple of months. Kalodner wanted to know if he would participate on the
project. "Kalodner called to let me know what Geffen was planning," he
said a bit surprised. "John said, 'Leffler held us back for all these
years. Now that he's gone, we're going to do it.' Before I could object,
he says, 'Would you do a couple of new songs for it?' I asked him for how
much, but he didn't know. So, I said, 'Well, if you guys pay me $500,000,
then I'll do it. Otherwise, you can put a greatest hits record out, and I
won't support it.' Now I wasn't sticking them up, but I figured if
they'd give me that kind of money, it would be worth my time to work with
them on it."

Ed Leffler had negotiated a clause in Hagar's original Geffen contract
that called for him to be paid $250,000 in the event he agreed to record
two new songs for a greatest hits record. Sammy had a special purpose in
mind for the additional half million dollars he was requesting -- it was
earmarked for his divorce. The matter had been dragging through the
courts for over 18 months, because Sammy's accountants were slow in
getting financial information on his various holdings to Betsy's lawyers.
Since California law clearly stated that the assets of his marriage be
divided equally, Hagar was expecting to hand over a substantial amount of
cash to his wife. He figured that instead of pulling the money out of
his pocket, he'd try his hand at picking someone else's -- namely Geffen.
Though the logic was sound at the time, the act itself was immediately
misinterpreted by Eddie and Alex.

"The tension between the Van Halens and myself," pointed out Hagar,
"really started in late January. That's when they accidentally heard
about my involvement on the greatest hits package Geffen was putting
together. One day, while they were speaking to Don Engel on the phone,
he mentioned in passing that he was talking to Geffen Records about
Sammy's greatest hits record. I had not told the brothers what was going
on, because I was waiting for Kalodner to call me back. If Geffen
accepted my request for an additional $500,000, then I was going to give
them the songs. If they didn't, I would not get involved. There was no
need for me to say anything until I heard back from the record company."

For years, Ed Leffler had kept Geffen from releasing a greatest hits
album of Sammy's solo material. Every time the subject was brought up,
Leffler would tell them that Van Halen had a new album coming out and to
reconsider. Since the label was getting fifty percent of the profits
from anything new the band recorded, they would back off. When David
Geffen sold his company to MCA Records, keeping the company at bay was
difficult but manageable. After the manager unexpectedly died, however,
the floodgates were opened and there was no control switch to stop them.
Management green-lighted the project. Since he knew all the principle
players involved, and Van Halen had no manager when Kalodner stunned him
with his disclosure, Sammy decided to handle the negotiations himself,
with Don Engel's assistance.

"Leffler always knew what to say," divulged Hagar, "whenever the subject
of the greatest hits record came up. He always said the right things to
keep both Geffen and Warner Bros. happy. When Capitol released "The Best
of Sammy Hagar" in 1989, we had absolutely no control over that. When
Eddie and Al found out what Geffen was doing, they called me in Hawaii
and wanted to know why I was getting involved with the greatest hits
package. I was flying into Los Angeles in a couple of days, so I told
them I'd explain everything when I got into town. Kari and I flew in
from Maui and checked into the Bel-Air hotel. From there, I went straight
to Don Engel's law office. Then I placed a conference call to the
brothers at a prearranged time. With Don listening, I explained to Eddie
and Al that my involvement with the greatest hits package centered on my
divorce. I told them the main thing holding it up was money. To settle
the property issue, I was going to have to make a large cash payment to
Betsy. The deal with Geffen was simple. If they gave me the half
million I requested for two new songs, I would also do a two-week press
junket in Los Angeles and New York to promote the record. That ended my
involvement with the album. There would be no new single release and no
videos. If Geffen didn't pay me the figure I thought was fair, I wasn't
going to have anything to do with the record."

Continued...

chefcraig

Continued...

Hagar says he repeatedly emphasized to the brothers that the only reason
he was involving himself in the greatest hits package was to settle his
divorce with Betsy. "When I finished my explanation," he replied, "Eddie
and Al assured me they understood, and everything I was doing was fine
with them. Their comments should have been reassuring words to hear, but
they weren't. I knew they were up in arms over what I was doing and
didn't dig for one minute my involvement with Geffen, whatever the
reasons. Frankly, I didn't care. I wasn't making any money off this
project, and they damn well knew it. If they couldn't deal with it, that
was their problem, not mine. From my standpoint, buying Betsy off in one
large chunk was a good business deal."

Kalodner called Hagar two weeks after their initial conversation and said
the label had agreed to his terms. He flew into Los Angeles to finalize
the agreement with Geffen, then went to Conway studio where he recorded
"Buying My Way into Heaven" and "High Hopes" with producer Mike Clink.
The two songs had previously been submitted to Van Halen for
consideration, but Eddie rejected them. "You know what's amazing," he
mused. "I presented those songs to the band two albums in a row, and they
passed on them. When Eddie and Al found out I was using them for my
greatest hits album, they got really pissed off. "What are you going to
do now Sammy, go solo?" Those two were so paranoid, they were suspicious
of anything I did outside the band. Eddie had totally closed down on me
after Leffler's death. Without Ed around to validate exactly what I was
doing, the brothers stopped believing me. When I gave those two songs to
Geffen, Eddie honestly believed I was only out for myself and was trying
to become a solo artist again. He thought I was going to pull a Roth trip
and screw him and his brother. Again, without Leffler to verify what I
was saying, Eddie and Al grew increasingly suspicious of me. They stopped
trusting me after that.

"I was ticked off by their ridiculous attitude. I had been in this band
for almost nine years and had never done a thing to warrant any type of
suspicion. For reasons known only to themselves, the brothers couldn't
stand for me to do anything outside the band. However, they did whatever
they wanted to musically, under the context that it was for Van Halen.
If Eddie and Al wanted to do an instrumental for the record, we'd do it.
In other words, they had a solo project within the band. I didn't play
guitar on the albums, and I didn't write the music. My job was lyrics and
melody. We had built Eddie's 5150 studio into a state-of-the-art
facility. Since it was located right outside Eddie's house, and Al lived
less than two miles away, the Van Halen brothers became studio rats.
They were in there all the time, doing whatever they wanted. Eddie would
write music, tell Al what to do, and they would play for hours. It's not
that I really complained about this arrangement, but the scenario was
strange to deal with, especially when they were griping about me doing
outside projects. And the thing is, I never did anything outside the
band, so what was there to bitch about?"

__________________

LLFHS

ARMBI

__________________
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It's amazing how things turn around, and good stuff starts to happen when you put the cork in the bottle.
- The Duke

Bad to the Bone

the thing is those 2 songs didn't really do a thing to effect the way Sammy was percieved as a solo artist or how he was looked at in his role with VH. No one questioned his loyalty outside of the VH bros and RD. It just shows how screwy that band had become after Lefler died, it was like a ticking time bomb.

I like Buying my way into heaven alot, don't know why I just do but again it had zero effect on how I looked at Sam back then, I just thought thye were left over songs from his solo days.

LLFHS

"High Hopes" would've made a killer VH tune. Hell, the damn thing already sounds like a Halen demo.

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It's amazing how things turn around, and good stuff starts to happen when you put the cork in the bottle.
- The Duke

VH/CF-fan

Thanks LLFHS....and ChefCraig , for the info!

BTW, that was a great interview that ChefCraig posted. Never read that one before. Thanks guys.

RH-

VH1988

As usual, the Van Halen bros bitched and moaned about this and it caused a rift between Sammy & the band.

Did anyone ever think that Sammy was trying to leave Van Halen etc?

Eddie and his whole "you cant be in two bands" is the dumbest shit i have ever heard.

__________________
Van Halen concerts that I have attended:

9/01/91 - Tinley Park, IL.
4/11/92 - Peoria, IL.
7/30/93 - Tinley Park, IL.
7/31/93 - East Troy, WI.
4/14/95 - Rosemont, IL.
4/15/95 - Auburn Hills, MI.
4/16/95 - Auburn Hills, MI.
7/28/95 - Tinley Park, IL.
7/29/95 - East Troy, WI.
5/19/98 - Auburn Hills, MI.
9/05/98 - East Troy, WI.
7/19/04 - Chicago, IL.
7/20/04 - Chicago, IL.
10/16/07 - Rosemont, IL.
5/30/08 - Rosemont, IL.

TOM_5150

Well, you can't! (ha!).

VH1988

LOL, tell that to Chad Smith

__________________
Van Halen concerts that I have attended:

9/01/91 - Tinley Park, IL.
4/11/92 - Peoria, IL.
7/30/93 - Tinley Park, IL.
7/31/93 - East Troy, WI.
4/14/95 - Rosemont, IL.
4/15/95 - Auburn Hills, MI.
4/16/95 - Auburn Hills, MI.
7/28/95 - Tinley Park, IL.
7/29/95 - East Troy, WI.
5/19/98 - Auburn Hills, MI.
9/05/98 - East Troy, WI.
7/19/04 - Chicago, IL.
7/20/04 - Chicago, IL.
10/16/07 - Rosemont, IL.
5/30/08 - Rosemont, IL.