Diver Down

**Mas Tequila** · 06.21.02, 04:05 PM

Just started listening to this album a lot lately. It's got some really good tunes on it, but I remember people saying that over half the songs are covers. I know like "Oh! Pretty Woman" and "Dancin' In the Streets" are both covers, but which other ones are?

**MAX** · 06.21.02, 04:41 PM

Originally posted by Mas Tequila:
Just started listening to this album a lot lately. It's got some really good tunes on it, but I remember people saying that over half the songs are covers. I know like "Oh! Pretty Woman" and "Dancin' In the Streets" are both covers, but which other ones are?

Where Have All The Good Times Gone, Happy Trails, and Big Bad Bill.

**Hissing Cobra** · 06.21.02, 10:30 PM

My favorite's on that one are The Full Bug, and Little Guitars. I also love Intruder, and their remake of Where Have All The Good Times Gone was cool. However, I thought that Dancing In The Streets, and Pretty Woman were pretty lame.

**Lem Motlow** · 06.21.02, 11:18 PM

If I have my history right, VH was obligated to Warner Brothers for an album in 1982 and the result was Diver Down. It is very short on new material and was pushed out in a hurry- hence the amount of cover songs. If I remember correctly, there was talk about a live album being released instead of DD, but for whatever reason it didn't work out.

You got to think that the boys were very tired by the time 1982 rolled around, after all they had toured almost constantly since 1978.

VH toured in 1982, but then took most of 1983 off, except for the US Festival and a few gigs in South America- which was actually an extension of the DD tour.

**DanHalen** · 06.22.02, 12:54 AM

Yea, but I love the album personally. I have really been wearing it out lately as well. Also, Hang em High, Secrets, Little Guitars, and the Full Bug are all kick ass songs, and none of those are covers.

**Mas Tequila** · 06.22.02, 01:18 PM

Originally posted by Hissing Cobra:
My favorite's on that one are The Full Bug, and Little Guitars. I also love Intruder, and their remake of Where Have All The Good Times Gone was cool. However, I thought that Dancing In The Streets, and Pretty Woman were pretty lame.

Yeah Little Guitars is a awesome song. Agree on Dancin' in the Streets is fairly lame.

**79th and Sunset** · 06.22.02, 10:48 PM

Great album, great tour !!

I like all the songs on this release. Yes, the boys were "pushed" / "obligated" to do this release. It's not even 30 minutes long.

**BrokenCombs** · 06.24.02, 10:46 AM

That album has got 3 absolutely excellent Van Halen songs:

-Little Guitars
-Secrets
-The Full Bug

And I even love the cover of Big Bad Bill.

**willy4pres** · 06.24.02, 12:06 PM

I was thinking about this Album this morning (as I do every morning, but it varies from album to album, just kidding). It's not as bad as allot of people say, it's just not very original, the performances are still good.

Pretty Women is sorta half ass really, but not bad. Im a Roy Orbison fan, and I dont even listen to him sing that song.

Dancing In The Streets is actually pretty good to me, I think the original song sucked to, but Van Halen's version is allot better, in my mind.

Where Have All The Good Times Gone, it might as well be a Van Halen song now, like You Really Got Me.

Those other two don't belong on any Van Halen album, I always considered them a Joke the band was playing on someone, or Daves idea, one of the two.

But it's not a Bad Album, I like it as much as Women And Children First.

**wip5150** · 06.25.02, 11:32 AM

DD is not a good album, however the SOUND is outstanding. It is a HUGE, FULL sound that VH fans know and love.

**The Full BuD** · 06.25.02, 12:31 PM

Where is everybody getting this "they had to rush it" stuff? I've never heard this before. I would think that Van Halen, being the biggest band in the world in that time, would have any time they needed to finish their album. I always thought all of the cover tunes were Dave's idea. Anybody got any proof of this?

**Eddie314** · 06.25.02, 12:40 PM

Originally posted by The Full BuD:
Where is everybody getting this "they had to rush it" stuff? I've never heard this before. I would think that Van Halen, being the biggest band in the world in that time, would have any time they needed to finish their album. I always thought all of the cover tunes were Dave's idea. Anybody got any proof of this?

I remember reading something around that time where Dave said they released "Pretty Woman" as a summertime single and then Warner Bros. wanted an album to go with it quick because it became a hit.

**The Full BuD** · 06.25.02, 01:13 PM

Hmmm, whadyaknow? Guess I learned something today! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

**Eddie_Van_Anglin** · 07.04.02, 06:55 PM

Well, personally, I think Diver Down is really good album. All that post-haste production stuff may be true, but I did indeed enjoy the product. I really love Cathedral and Secrets played together. I am also very fond of the Little Guitars intro and Little Guitars played together, those songs are really great. Secrets has always been a favorite Van Halen song of mine(why did I not put that on the "all time VH poll" I replied to earlier?) and I really can't tell you why. The whole mood of the album for me feels kind of relaxed for some reason, probably because of Big Bad Bill and Happy Trails, that's good stuff. Funny story, at my local Hastings entertainment store they always play the VH version of "Happy Trails" at closing time, at least I think they do every night as I've only heard it once. It was great, kind of caught me by suprise and made me smirk. I just happened to be looking through VH albums when I heard it, heh.