"High Hopes" Live

**MackieMan** · 02.20.07, 12:00 PM

Never saw this before...

Enjoy!

**Hammer Guy** · 02.20.07, 12:23 PM

Nice Find!!! Great Song!!!

**Michaels** · 02.20.07, 12:26 PM

Good to see that again...I was in High School then, I'll never forget watching that live that night. Sammy was so much cooler than.

**charlesresta** · 02.20.07, 01:26 PM

I heard that was written for VH during Balance. TRUE? Man great find..really good version and great vocals. Thanks for the find.

**lightemup55** · 02.20.07, 01:31 PM

That's an awesome clip. Really cool to see Sammy playing that Wolfgang guitar.

**Hammer Guy** · 02.20.07, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by lightemup55

That's an awesome clip. Really cool to see Sammy playing that Wolfgang guitar.

It's actually an Ernie Ball Music Man.

**extreme red roth** · 02.20.07, 02:57 PM

Unfortunately, this appearance, if you believe excerps from Sam's unreleased book, was one of the causes of the band breaking up. Ed and Al were pissed at Sam for making appearances as a "solo" artist.

Nonsense.

**Railrunner130** · 02.20.07, 08:22 PM

Really rocking tune. I wish he'd worded it differently though.

AT · 02.21.07, 02:57 AM

I remember seeing this when it aired. I liked that Sam was playing an EBMM AND it looks like he's playing it through a 5150!

This was right before the band started working on Balance. The Inside magazine reported that Sammy had originally written "High Hopes" for Balance, but the extended story is that Ed rejected it for the new album.

Another note: The CBS Orchestra is and has always been awesome! Thsoe guys learn tunes in no time for a show. They sounded great.

**Bad to the Bone** · 02.21.07, 06:09 AM

Originally Posted by AndrewThomas.net

I remember seeing this when it aired. I liked that Sam was playing an EBMM AND it looks like he's playing it through a 5150!

This was right before the band started working on Balance. The Inside magazine reported that Sammy had originally written "High Hopes" for Balance, but the extended story is that Ed rejected it for the new album.

Another note: The CBS Orchestra is and has always been awesome! Thsoe guys learn tunes in no time for a show. They sounded great.

actually, I think Sam has stated that both High Hopes and Buying my way into heaven were written and presented to the band and turned down at least twice so Sam used those. Sam's guitar playing is smoking on both of these tunes for a guy who's not really a guitarist.

**Double Down** · 02.21.07, 07:53 AM

That sounded killer. Gotta love Sammy.

**lightemup55** · 02.21.07, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by Hammer Guy

It's actually an Ernie Ball Music Man.

My bad....

**Double Down** · 02.21.07, 06:34 PM

This tune would have made a great Van Halen song. What a fuckin' shame.

Watch Paul Shaeffer right at the 3 minute mark. The old bastard is loving the hard groove....he's rockin'!

**Michaels** · 02.21.07, 08:17 PM

I'd like to know how many songs Sammy presented to the band, that they DID approve. I mean what did sammy do for 11 years during that period. Only write the lyrics?!!!!
I would think Sammy has a stockpile of rockers yet to be releases from that 11 year window. Did he not pick up a guitar and write his own shit or not.

AT · 02.21.07, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by Michaels

I'd like to know how many songs Sammy presented to the band, that they DID approve. I mean what did sammy do for 11 years during that period. Only write the lyrics?!!!!
I would think Sammy has a stockpile of rockers yet to be releases from that 11 year window. Did he not pick up a guitar and write his own shit or not.

The big thing they emphasized when Sam joined the band was that most of what would be written would still be initially composed by Eddie. Sam and Al then had a big role in arranging the parts, and Sammy of course wrote most of the lyrics and melodies. Who knows if Sam was just trying to write more songs in general in his later days with VH so as to take a different angle on things; he did say in his book he was frustrated that Ray Danniels eliminated his solo album portion of the VH contract with Warner Bros. (He would have had the option to make a solo album while still in VH and release it through WB.) Sam also said he wanted to push the band for the next album and do something more progressive--specifically he wanted them to rent a house out in the middle of nowhere for a couple of weeks, take a bunch of mushrooms, and write trippy stuff to different kinds of beats. So clearly he wanted to inject some different kinds of energy into the songwriting process. (But then '96 happened...)