WACF -Rewind

[cav]

WACF was a Super Cool VH LP. Moody, Dark & a VH Classic from the opening notes. Breaking new ground again in my humble opinion
The songs seem to reflect a more serious tone in some cases than the VH l & ll party rock vibe, which I love about VH.
This LP was a different animal. Don't get me wrong, there is some light hearted fun on WACF.... but these boys are a bit more seasoned at this point & it shows in the lyric content.
Ed stretches out again (Wurlitzer)on this LP & it all works. It's Raw & Mean.... And it's a flipping walk off home run

1) And the Cradle will Rock - A rock anthem for a new generation of kids. Roth's lyrics are a bit dark here... coming of age teen angst type thing. Ed's use of the Wurlitzer is brilliant. "have you seen Jr's grades?"

2) Everybody Wants Some - More anthemic vibes & Al's jungle beat, Ed's volume swells, Dave's Tarzan wailing... So kick ass is this song i cannot do it justice. It's never dull.... Ed's on fire (pun intended). Pure VH at it's best

3) Fools - Ed noodles, Dave sings along (call & response) intro. Ed plays more cool riffs & then the rhythm seems to be in a drop tuning... Michael Anthony's BG vox really shine here. To my ears, the song reminds me of something Frank Zappa would have appreciated

4) Romeo Delight - One of my all time favs by VH. Upbeat rock guitar w/ volume swells that Ed does so well. Roth & MA work so well together vocally. This song, like all of them on this LP, has a bad attitude toward authority. Reminds me of my teen yr. attitude. The guitar solo is stellar. Wow!! Ed is the man!!..... Feel my heart beat"... feel my heart beat

5)Tora Tora - Strange tune here.... feels like an Ed & Al jam that got turned into a tune.... under 1 minute in length, menacing heavy riff .... feels Sabbath like almost... a cool lead into the next song

6) Loss of Control - This tune is a cool continuation of Tora Tora.... Not one of my fav tunes on this LP... Must say, Ed & Al tear it up jamming... Michaels vocals are in fine form... god, MA is the man on background vox. Perfect compliment to the band

7) Take your Whiskey Home - LOVE this TUNE!! This one belongs in the VH hall of fame. Acoustic intro... Roth is on his game here as good as he's ever been! "Some go to woman, some go to Jesus...That I'm absolutely sure both's alright.. but it takes me halfway thru the label, to get me thru the night"!!!!
I love how bare bones the first albums were.... God I miss rock n roll of this stature

8) Could this be Magic? - Acoustic goodness, bluesy - sailor home from sea kinda vibe. Slide guitar tastefully done.... Kind of a "Happy Trails" type chorus. VH was far more than a hard rock band. This bluesy - folksy song proves it. In their prime, Ed & Dave were ridiculously great songwriters. This tune has son much heart & soul. Well done boys!! Well done

9) In a Simple Rhyme - This is one of my top 2 or 3 VH tunes, EVER!! All the ingredients are present. Michael Anthony's voice is just flipping amazing here. He is the unsung hero of the band. Dave's lyrics & voice are a perfect mate for Ed's riffs as our Al's beats.
Ted Templeman had the pulse of this band figured out & he played to their strengths. He knew Ed was a one in a million & he let the guitar god spread his wings. Dave knew this about Ed as well....

The Bottom line for me is that WACF is an awesome rock record, but doesn't get the accolades of some of the other VH material. It's a a deep tracks bonanza for true VH fans
Have a great day! CV

[KS 5150]

So many cool tunes on this! Fools is still one of my fave deep tracks

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Not just the greatest VH record ever, simply the greatest hard rock album ever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[japeape]

Probably THE greatest VH record, as far as capturing that sweet spot of the CVH era.

I love the fact that Ed kinda reverts to the club days, with his ferocious, quite bluesy
soloing, on this one.
It's interesting that he almost abandons the tapping on this one, though of course,
it pops up briefly in Cradle & Fools, and the intro to RD (which is more a rhythmic thing
with Al).

This album was my bible as a teenager, like Linus with the blanket.
I took it everywhere, kept re-buying it, which was odd, since i owned it.

Dave's greatest vocal performances here, plus the tunes are fucking GRADE A.

Still blows my mind that IASR & TYWH, even RD, are not known by every classic
rock listener on the planet.

[evhintexas]

Was Fools ever played live?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

[japeape]

Was Fools ever played live?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Only during the Club days.

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Fools and Loss Of Control might be the two most underappreciated tunes on this forum. I'll always be surprised at the hate these tunes get. Pure CVH brilliance to me.

[japeape]

Fools and Loss Of Control might be the two most underappreciated tunes on this forum. I'll always be surprised at the hate these tunes get. Pure CVH brilliance to me.

Without doubt.

The "off the rails" feel of LOC, always blew my mind.
And that ending is so cool.

I love the fact that they were experimenting & stretching, instead of just writing
another Little Dreamer.

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

One thing I love about II, FW, & WACF is you can hear that Alex has a large kit setup in the studio at his disposal for these albums. LOC, IASR, Fools, "Dirty Movies" etc. He has a wide array of drums and tones all over these songs. We've seen the pics of the band playing in the studio for the II sessions, but I'd love to see how Al had his kit setup for the WACF and FW sessions.

On most of the albums that followed, you can tell he's pretty much probably just playing a 5 or 6 pc kit in the studio.

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Without doubt.

The "off the rails" feel of LOC, always blew my mind.
And that ending is so cool.

I love the fact that they were experimenting & stretching, instead of just writing
another Little Dreamer.

LOC shows that Al, Ed, and Mike couldve played anything they wanted to. It's basically speed metal before there was much speed metal out there. Although it's a good thing Ed and Al sat on LOC for a couple years until they had it perfected. I like the early live version at Magic Mountain '77, but they didnt have the tempo all the way up yet and it's a bit rough around the edges lol. But the live versions on the Invasion tour are off the rails great.

It's always hard for me to believe this was the same trio that decided to take the foot off the pedal and pump the brakes and write fluff like WCTBL or FSG or even record a DITS just a couple years later. I guess it's not much different than pretty much all bands as they age and lose a bit of that edge.

WACF sounds like a young band still stretching out and not giving a damn about "making" a hit single.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Women And Children First is straight up ( . Y . )

[ScottyBHarris]

Was Fools ever played live?

I have a boot of Fools being played live. I think they were in London at the time, I’ll see if I can dig it up.

[DFVH5150]

I have a boot of Fools being played live. I think they were in London at the time, I’ll see if I can dig it up.

No way, but I hope I'm wrong! But I don't think I am unfortunately unless you're just referring to the scat intro part.

Oddly enough, I got to hear it live for the first time a month or so ago when Pittsburgh's VH tribute band "Mean Street" played it their first time. Was quite awesome!

[Dutchie5150]

Fools and Loss Of Control might be the two most underappreciated tunes on this forum. I'll always be surprised at the hate these tunes get. Pure CVH brilliance to me.

Musically, Loss Of Control is amazing. Vocally, its terrible IMO. Both lead and BV's. Fools is one of VH's finest moments.

[RRvh1]

Musically, Loss Of Control is amazing. Vocally, its terrible IMO. Both lead and BV's. Fools is one of VH's finest moments.

Yup, the vocals on LOC suck. Musically? Pretty cool.
Fools? Insane Eddie guitar intro. Lyrics and vocals? Meh...