Favorite VH Albums In Order

[Rikk]

OK, I know this has probably been asked before. But I haven't seen it. So I want to ask everybody, what is your order for favorite VH album to least favorite VH album?

[Rikk]

Here's my order (and I didn't include live albums):

1. 1984: Simply my favorite because it's the first I ever got and I love absolutely every single song on this album. Not just JUMP and PANAMA, but DROP DEAD LEGS, GIRL GONE BAD...even I'LL WAIT is one of my favorites!

2. WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST: This is probably the band's heaviest album (I think), their most hard-rockin'. From ROMEO DELIGHT, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!, LOSS OF CONTROL (I love this song), COULD THIS BE MAGIC?, IN A SIMPLE RHYME (awesome!). My only complaint is that the album opens with my least favorite song on it, ...AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK.

3. DIVER DOWN: Go ahead, laugh at me. But any album with HANG 'EM HIGH, THE FULL BUG, SECRETS, LITTLE GUITARS and the awesome cover of WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE? is sure to be in my CD player constantly. The only track I don't like is DANCING IN THE STREETS. Yes, a couple of the covers should not have been here. They should have used BIG TROUBLE.

4. VAN HALEN II: This could have been a longer album, but it's unbeatable. LIGHT UP THE SKY, SGMAD, BOTTOMS UP, BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, D.O.A., WOMEN IN LOVE...I could do without YOU'RE NO GOOD, and DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY has never been as high on my list as other VH singles. But this is a winner!

5. FAIR WARNING: This used to be my least favorite Roth-era album, but I'd have to say that I now listen to it much more than the debut. This is a great album, and it doesn't matter that it's so short, because it says so much. MEAN STREET, HEAR ABOUT IT LATER, UNCHAINED and SO THIS IS LOVE all rank among the band's best songs. The only reason this isn't higher on my list is because besides SINNER'S SWING, I don't think as highly of the album's other songs. But that's just me. This is still an amazing album.

6. VAN HALEN: This is only #6 because I almost never listen to it now. I know it too well. It's been so overplayed by me that I'm tired of it. Still, ATOMIC PUNK, ICE CREAM MAN, YOU REALLY GOT ME, I'M THE ONE...how could you go wrong here? There's not a bad song on this amazing album!

7. OU812: Okay, I'm a Roth diehard, so no Roth album will rate lower than any non-Roth album. But this is still a great album for me. Horrible production, great songs and performances. I like this one the most because it sounds the least polished, the most raw...the most like a band truly creating great spontaneous music. MINE ALL MINE, CABO WABO (the 7-minute Tequila commercial), AFU, BLACK AND BLUE (one of my all-time favorites), FEELS SO GOOD. It just would have been better without a few of the other songs.

8. BALANCE: This is a great album. FEELIN' and TAKE ME BACK are worth the price of admission alone. But then you add AFTERSHOCK, AMSTERDAM, BIG FAT MONEY (sorry, I really like it). It's great. I'm not huge on the instrumental tracks, and the first three songs actually ruin the album for me a bit. They are the most bland songs on the album for me, and I wish the album had a better opener. If it had, I would have probably rated it #7.

9. 5150: Still a great album, but I am always reminded that this could have been an ever better follow-up to 1984 if Dave hadn't bolted. I love SUMMER NIGHTS, GET UP and 5150, but I could do without THE INSIDE, LOVE WALKS IN and BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. DREAMS is good, but I never loved it as much as everyone else. But I can definitely appreciate it's groove, etc.

10. F.U.C.K.: I would almost say that VH3 is better because at least it has interesting guitar playing. And I'd still rather listen to VH3 than this, but at least this has a few good songs, which VH3 doesn't. RIGHT NOW (while I can't listen to it anymore) is admittedly an excellent song. JUDGMENT DAY also smokes, PLEASURE DOME is the album's best song. Other than that, it's filler-city for me. I can't stand the fact that they filled up their whole second live video with this damn album. It's now almost NEVER in my CD player. It's so dull.

11. VH3: A mistake. Sorry, that's my opinion. Badly recorded, instruments not always in tune (see WITHOUT YOU), bad singing, lack of any good backup vocals, Eddie playing bass, Eddie playing drums on a few songs...this is a solo album that lacks any of VH's signature fire. You know, I can still sit through WITHOUT YOU, DIRTY WATER DOG and ONE I WANT (which still has atrocious lyrics), and I actually like JOSEPHINA. But the rest of the album is pretty bad. FIRE IN THE HOLE is total 80's-cliche-rock, and done pretty badly (IMHO), FROM AFAR is just a big question mark for me, ONCE is just not very good, BALLOT OR THE BULLET smokes musically but not vocally...HOW MANY SAY I is the worst VH song ever...I mean EVER!

[ January 20, 2002 at 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Rikk ]</p>

[Dan Halen]

Not including RHRN and BOV1:

Balance
5150
Fair Warning
1984
Van Halen
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
OU812
Women And Children First
Van Halen II
Diver Down
Van Halen III

[Mean_Street]

I listed my favorites and wrote some feedback to explain like Rikk did, not to copy him.

1.Fair Warning-Really cool, my personal favorite. Every song on it is good. Push Comes to shove is so underrated!! 'Nuff, Said

2. 1984- GOOD SONGS, GOOD MUSIC, GOOD TIMES. even though i was not around in 1984, this makes me feel like i could be. 1984 the introduction is cool, the best keyboard instrumental i have heard.
and no one can beat the last of the classics. Every song is good on this one.

3. VAN HALEN- Their debut albumm the best i'v seen in a debut album, every song is good on this one. Runnin' with the devil, eruption, ain't talking about love, and the first thing you hear when you put this album on is the opening car horns that are backwards in runnin' with the devil... the album is a treasure.

4.VAN HALEN II- THEIR SECOND ALBUM, a great one, like RIKK said, it could have been longer. Also they could of added some of their bootlegs from the club days.. right? but still a great LP, and another one to treasure for eternity.

5. WACF- still a cool album, some songs acoustic and turn into hard rock van halen style. Take Your Whiskey Home, a very underrated song as well as a great song is not this, a lot of great ones.

6- DIVER DOWN- this is still a great album, mostly cover songs, but little guitars is a really cool song as well as the intro. The Full Bug, underrated song my personal favs on this LP. great instrumentals by EVH- Intruder, Intro to LG, and Cathedral. i also like the song "Secrets" that doesn't get mensioned very much as a discussion, but this is still a good album. but not my favorite favorite.

SAMMY ERA CDS
7.5150.good songs, i have this one, thats right i wasted my money on sammy/vh album, no i just jokin. good album- My favorite is Inside and Best Of Both Worlds. this is my least played vh album.

8. OU812- I don't have this one yet, i like some songs on it. Black and blue is good. i haven't heard the whole album, i haven't heard three songs, but a good album.

9. F.U.C.K- a good sammy album, i like pleasure dome, right now. i dont have this one but i think its still a good album.

10.- Balance- i never really got into this one, we have this, my mom won it off the radio. i like aftershock.

GARY ERA CD
VH III- never came introdueced to this one, i have heard Without you, josephina, and some of the songs on here are just psycho.. without you is all right. i don't have this one and not planning on buying it... maybe someday to add to my vh cd collection but i will never listen to but i would just be wasting money, so i'll wait 10 more years so the price is 1.00 for the whole cd.

[Rikk]

Absolutely, Mean_Street! TAKE YOUR WHISKEY HOME is a great, under-rated song. Great list!

[mean_street2]

hey guys mean street is a stupid idiot dork.

[Mean_Street]

oh thanks rikk. btw, mean_street2 you are the stupid retard.

[Rikk]

Originally posted by mean_street2:
hey guys mean street is a stupid idiot dork.

Dude, this is a VH Discussion Forum. What the hell was that?

[Mean_Street]

Rikk, ms2 is me. i was kidding around

[bethelc]

I will just name my favorite and my worst.
1. Fair Warning- A classic that I never get tired of. [img]smile.gif[/img]
2. VHIII- Sucks

[marty]

BALLANCE
OU8I2
FUCK
515O
FAIR WARNING
1984
VAN HALEN
VH3
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
I HAVENT GOT THE OTHER 2 YET

[VHguy823]

First time responder here. This is a cool topic and I had to respond. Here goes:

1) 5150 - This is a classic album! "5150" is one of the best VH songs ever, one that I never get tired of listening to. Even though the music is more synthesizer based I still feel this is a great album. Quality tracks include Why Can't This Be Love, Dreams, Love Walks In, and "5150". Some on here might argue those are cheesey sheepish pop songs, but to me it's just great rock music...

2) 1984 - Another true classic from VH! It's a tough call choosing between this album and the first Van Halen album for my second favorite. With the exception of Top Jimmy, there isn't a song that I don't like off of this album. There is equal balance between killer guitar work (such as the solos in Hot For Teacher and Girl Gone Bad, as well as the ride out in Drop Dead Legs) and great work done with the keyboards (Jump and I'll Wait).

3) VH I - What can you say about this album but damn!! Eddie and the boys changed the face of rock forever with this album. Eruption is easily one of the rawest pieces of sheer brilliance ever recorded (even with Ed's mistake on the top end). Classic tracks include Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, I'm The One, and Feel Your Love Tonight.

4) FUCK - This too is a killer album. It was nice to hear more of a guitar driven album with Sammy at the helm. Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome, The Dream Is Over, and Right Now all kick ass. Too bad there are some really bad songs off this album too like Spanked, In N Out (gotta be the worst Sammy song ever - does he sound constipated or what??), and Man On A Mission. It was cool to hear Ed do an instrumental on an album again too. 316 is awesome.

5) WACF - This is a very underrated album. I think this album really captures the diversity that Van Halen with Roth could offer. There are kick ass rock tracks like Romeo Delight, but I think it is the acoustical flavor in Take Your Whiskey Home and Could This Be Magic that really make this album unique.

6) OU812 - A decent follow up to 5150 with some really great tracks off of it. Mine All Mine really is a great track with some very cool lyrics. When It's Love has a cool balance between the keyboards and guitar in it and Finish What Ya Started will always sound good. There are some throw away tracks that should have never made this album like Sucker In A 3 Piece and A Apolitical Blues. Overall OU812 is a quality effort by VH.

7) VH II - Another cool album by VH. Mostly songs left over from the demo that didn't make it onto VH I. It still rocks decently with tracks like Somebody Get Me a Doctor (what a kick ass solo!) and Light Up The Sky paving the way. VH should stay away from covers, You're No Good absolutely blows...

8) BALANCE - Another decent effort by the VH boys and Sammy, but this album could have been so much more. I love the true hard rock sound of this album, it's just unfortunate that more couldn't have come out of the Balance sessions. Don't Tell Me and Aftershock rock as hard as anything Van Halen has ever recorded. Too bad they had to throw Amsterdam (God Damn Amsterdam to quote someone off of here) and Big Fat Money on this album. Also, did we really need Strung Out? To think someone got paid for taking the time to put that track on the album... Crossing Over should have made the final cut...

9) FW - An all right album by Van Halen. Never quite understood why it is so popular on here. My only guess is that it was a lot of people's first exposure to VH. Don't get me wrong it still rocks. Sinner's Swing and Hear About It Later are true VH classics! They could have done without the last two tracks though as well as Dirty Movies in my opinion. But to each his or her own...

10) DD - What a load of crap, well mostly anyway. The only thing that saves this from the bottom is that horrid compilation of VHIII. Why does VH with Roth feel so compelled to do cover songs?? I mean it's cool if you want to do them as B-Sides for the fans, but why make half an album with them on it? Gotta give props to Ed on Cathedral though. It's just sick how he performs on that track. I always like Secrets too for some reason, probably cause it is something different from the VH boys. They could scrap the rest as far as I am concerned...ha!

11) VH III - Ugh! Barf! Hurl! Spew! How could VH attach their name to this garbage? Everything from the mix to the majority of songs are horrible. There are a few tracks I can stomach off of this album, but it is so not Van Halen! Ballet Or The Bullet and How Many Say I have got to be two of the worst songs Van Halen has ever recorded! How the hell could they make the final cut for this album? Is it possible to delete this album from the VH legacy? Enough said...

Anyway it's been real...

[Rikk]

Welcome aboard VHGuy! You'll love it here.

Some great opinions, and glad you also like WACF, my second favorite VH album. I am VH/Dave fan first and foremost, but love some of the Sammy stuff too. Some of your opinions were very interesting.

Welcome! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[laner]

van halen- only the greatest album ever made. every song is classic. revolutionized rock and roll.

van halen II- man, i love this. my first vh album. SGMAD, light up the sky, dance the night away, beautiful girls, i think of this as the ultimate party album.

fair warning- holy shit these songs are awesome. all of them are classics, although i never really got into sinners swing, but his solo in that song is amazing.

diver down- i love them. sure, they're covers and oh pretty woman and dancin in the streets are lame, but the original stuff smokes. every time i listen to little guitars and secrets i love it even more. plus their fun side with big bad bill and happy trails is awesome. this is the album i listen to to make me feel better.

1984- love it all. panama? nuff said. HFT? the epitome of van halen in one song. i'll wait? excellent work with the keys.

WACF- i like it more every time i listen to it. i love mikey's thumping bass too. at least you can actually hear it. in a simple rhyme is such a brilliant song, and i can't get over how cool the intro to take your whiskey home is.

5150- i just like it. dunno why.

balance- ed's tone is huge! my favorite tone by far. alot of great songs, but i can't listen to them all the time, i find they get boring easily. lately i've really enjoyed take me back though.

OU812- good stuff on this album. wish i could hear more bass and sammy knew how to write lyrics though. mine all mine, cabo wabo, and finish what ya started all kick ass.

FUCK- spanked is the worst song ever. i absolutely love the dream is over, right now (this song gives me chills), and top of the world.

van halen III- haha, i didn't buy it, i'm not making that mistake. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Wolfie3]

O.K. you talked me into it, here's my list ... [img]smile.gif[/img]

1.Van Halen/Fair Warning
2.Van Halen II
3.1984
4.Diver Down
5.WACF
6.5150
7.Balance
8.OU812
9.FUCK
10.VH3

*And an honorable mention has to go to BOV1 for Me Wise Magic alone.