Top Jimmy vs House Of Pain

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Discuss.

[BlindtotheWorld]

House of Pain. I like Top Jimmy....it swings but it falls too much into a derivative type rock and roll song, ed's guitar work notwithstanding. House of Pain is pure VH.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

I love them both, but I give the slight edge to Top Jimmy. The outro to House Of Pain is epic, though.

[DFVH5150]

Top Jimmy. He's the king.

[Van Squalen]

Discuss.

Come on. You can do better than this.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Come on. You can do better than this.

Spanked vs Man On A Mission?

[Jesus H Christ]

Top Jimmy.

One of VH's most underrated tunes.

[Bad to the Bone]

HOP. I LOVE the solo in that song.

[NDL]

Top Jimmy is a cool little jam, but House Of Pain is THE best example of brute force EVH. I also like Dave's brief scat around the solo...

***

It's a shame that we can't get House Of Pain as an isolated track; Audacity's vocal remover effects only go so far.

[japeape]

Top Jimmy.

I'm not sure how you can classify it as a "derivative rock & roll song," as it's way outta left field.

The weird tunings & intro, the lyrics, and VH doing something different from what we think of
as VH (Panama, Unchained).

[BlindtotheWorld]

Top Jimmy.

I'm not sure how you can classify it as a "derivative rock & roll song," as it's way outta left field.

The weird tunings & intro, the lyrics, and VH doing something different from what we think of
as VH (Panama, Unchained).

For VH it might not be typical but neither is Happy Trails. I'm not saying that VH is derivative but song structure is a common one. A gazzalion songs of this style have been written since the 50s.

One example:




By contrast, House of Pain is like nothing else besides VH.

[japeape]

For VH it might not be typical but neither is Happy Trails. I'm not saying that VH is derivative but song structure is a common one. A gazzalion songs of this style have been written since the 50s.

One example:




By contrast, House of Pain is like nothing else besides VH.

That sounds like a Chuck Berry/blues, deal.

"Top Jimmy," feels more explorative & tricky to me, with Ed's little ad-libs
and turnarounds (or whatever they're called).

It's more like Jump Blues, but with a VH twist.

I don't know, i thought it was a really interesting idea/tune, when i first heard it.

And also the cool riff he jams underneath the amazing solo.

[japeape]

Musically, i love HOP (the intro, that fantastic outro, etc.), yet i think Dave
kinda let the tune down.

It was a rare thing, where i felt he ran out of ideas & just said: Ahh, this verse is fine.

They have all they need for a great tune, but the verses just seem half baked.

[pickslide]

Depends on the day. I love em both. Whether I'm the mood for a straight shot of VH (Pain) or something a little more eccentric (Jimmy) would determine my preference. Both are good songs to show the surprising variety of Van Halen to a neophyte or Jump fan. Two songs no one could have written but the dudes in early VH.

TK

[Number 47]

HOP

For me it's the only song on 1984 that is not quite like the others... a dark horse.