Diver Down - Rewind

[cav]

Van Halen!! What made them great - also, tore them apart.
My favorite rock n roll band broke up at their peak & Diver Down played a significant role in the backstory of VH.
Opposites attract & the chemistry can be magical & volatile in the same breath! .... Hence, Van Halen or more specifically Edward Van Halen & David Lee Roth.
Diver Down was the half baked album of covers and originals. I say "covers" first , because that is how this album is referenced by many.
Roth & Ted Templeman loved classic cover songs (hits). Edward wanted to expand the bands sound with keys and original material.

I'm in the minority, but I LOVE DD!! I love the songs - the mix / live feel of this disc. I'm a fan....these are my personal opinions. I don't claim to be an expert on anything.
DD is far from my fav VH disc, but I still enjoy it very much. Ted Templeman & Don Landee captured the magic with VH better than any other producer / engineer in my humble opinion.

Tracks
1) Where Have All The Good Times Gone - Kinks Classic 2.0 for VH. Mid Tempo Rocker - Ed makes the riff Van Halen-ish as he always does. Truth be told - VH had a knack for covering songs and making them their own.
Great Chorus - Michael Anthony shines "always" on background vocals. The solo is short and sweet - but played with a nice "attack".

2) Hang em' High - Great riff - driving forwards..... has a bit of a Mean Street vibe in the beginning. Cowboy - Bad Boy Lyrics - Think - Clint Eastwood.
Ed is riffing all over this one. So damn creative ..... Ed at times seems to have enough riffs in one song for multiple cool songs. guitar heaven.

3) Cathedral - Instrumental piece - EVH stretching out again. Master of the volume knob. His creativity is unmatched. Sounds like a flute - keyboards & some sort of symphony all at once

4) Secrets - Laid back tune.... Dave muses about a beautiful girl who's "got that rhythm of her own". Mikes classic sounds here is the best. Mike is an equal part of the Sound of VH"!! Can't overstate his significance.
Ed's solo is deadly.... the volume "bumps" up . I love his sound ...... It's the best and the leads are so tasteful

5) Intruder - Instrumental Piece..... Al's driving beat... Ed playing his guitar and possibly some keys.... This is 1:40 minutes of Menacing Music - It's So COOL!! Ed was a human soundtrack!!

6) (OH) Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison Classic. Dave does a nice job vocally here. Let's face it... You have some stones to cover an Orbison Tune!! The band really delivers as well. This turns into a big hit for VH.
Apparently - this tune was done to keep the band relevant while on hiatus. When Pretty Woman goes BIG - the pressure is on to make a whole album and do stadium shows.
Feel free to correct me if I'm messing up the time-line. But I think it went like that

7) Dancing in the Street - This is a sore spot for Ed & Al.... they clearly don't like this song and have stated that publicly. I enjoy it because it's VH, but this was not a good "band moment" for the overall health of the group.
Bitterness was in the air.... DLR may have been better served to let this one go.... BUT - that didn't happen.

8) Little Guitars Intro - More EVH magic! Flamenco style meets Classical Guitar. Pure Magic!
9) Little Guitars - Al Beats with Ed's tuned down sounding guitar.... followed by another riff that is pure pop. This original should have been a hit. Dave & Mike work so well on this one. Ed's a key to the backups too.
Just love Little Guitars - Great Tune!

10) Big Bad Bill ( Is Sweet William Now) - Great Cover - Roth sounds like Al Jolson her. I believe it was Dave's idea to include Jan Van Halen - (Ed & Al's ) Dad plays on this one. Pure Magic!

11) The Full Bug - Hands down - one of the most under-rated Van Halen songs! This is balls to the wall - One foot pushing the Gas Pedal Through the Floor Boards Amazing!! Van Halen totally unleashed. Words won't do it justice
Rock n Roll at it's finest!! Love it!!

12) Happy Trails - Amazing Cover. Totally out & at the same time "IN" Character for this amazing band. I'll forever remember VH closing the US Fest with this.
This Roy Rogers Classic is super cool. The band Van Halen-ized it!! Like they did with all the covers they touched. I love this as a closing number.

Diver Down has sold 4 Million Copies - but I think it's remembered for being a half baked album due to the covers songs. That's a shame - because this is a fun filled time in my book.
Rare to come across 4 more talented individuals than Ed, Al, Mike & Dave. Just my 2 cents
Rock on !! CV

[I Coulda Hada VH]

I love Diver Down, also. Just not as much as I love VH, VHII, WACF, FW and 1984.

[Rokgtar]

I love it too; one of my top VH tunes is on this - Little Guitars

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Another great album. This and VHII sound like "summer" albums to me, more than any other VH albums.

[VH1986]

I rate DD among the bottom of VH albums--above III and ADKOT. I still love the album, though. The Full Bug is one of my favorite CVH tunes. Hang 'em High is righteous and Little Guitars is awesome (includes intro). Cathedral is otherworldly. Big Bad Bill is an infectious joyride. I do appreciate WHATGTG and Dancing in the Streets, as VH makes them their own. Happy Trails is a perfect ending to the record. I know a lot of folks here like Secrets, but I never got into it. Pretty Woman is a gagger and I can do without Intruder.

[CaboChris]

To me Diver Down is a CVH album and that's about it. It's not that it's a bad album and the music isn't great just that It had no staying power for me. I didn't really listen to it a lot as a kid when I was deep in the band. Not as much as the others at least. Debut thru Fair Warning and then finally 1984 was it for me. I always "skipped over" DD for the most part.

That album has always been LG and Secrets for me.

[vanCherone]

Great album.

[MF5150]

Full Bug
Hang Em High
Little Guitars
Secrets
Dancing in the Streets
Where Have All The Good Times Gone

All great tracks.

The latter two are the best covers VH did, IMO.


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[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Full Bug
Hang Em High
Little Guitars
Secrets
Dancing in the Streets
Where Have All The Good Times Gone

All great tracks.

The latter two are the best covers VH did, IMO.


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Big Bad Bill is an awesome song. One that I dont think any other hard rock band at the time could've pulled off convincingly.

I dont care for DITS, but WHATGTG to me will always be better than YRGM. It and You're No Good are my favorite VH covers they put on albums.

[jimmy812]

The other 5 albums in the 6-pack are better than Diver. But that doesn't mean it's a bad album. I'm glad the band listened to the record company who demanded they get back in the studio and record a full album. It's too bad the record company didn't follow through with demands for a live album during that period.

[jimmy812]

I dont care for DITS, but WHATGTG to me will always be better than YRGM. It and You're No Good are my favorite VH covers they put on albums.

As far as the Kinks' covers, I love 'em both. But YRGM is iconic. Sure, it's overplayed and I'm kind of tired of it, but I'm glad they led with it out of the gate. The energy was ferocious. In that sense, I'd say YRGM is easily the better cover. But I'd rather listen to WHATGTG simply because I haven't heard it as much. lol

[James in New York]

It's the perfect Spring into Summer Album!

Full of innovative Eddie...Cathedral, Intruder, Little Guitars Intro, Hang em High, the wild noises and whistles of WHATGTG, The Full Bug, Secrets, that great catchy riff in Little Guitars, the intro and solo in Dancing in the Streets...all gold!

[KS 5150]

I love this album just for the fact that it gave us "Hang 'Em High" and "The Full Bug", two of my fave CVH tunes

[vcooper3]

Here are my thoughts about Diver Down:

- I love Dancing in the Street. Back when I was a teen and really getting into Van Halen, DITS really jumped out to me. That riff Eddie came up with was really cool
- Secrets- I still think it includes some of Dave’s best vocals on any Van Halen album. They lyrics are great. I just wish Secrets would have made the setlist over the past few tours. It would have been great to see Eddie break out the double-neck guitar, even the yellow one he used on the Diver Down tour
- Where Have All the Good Times gone – great cover, I love how the song fades in at the start of the album.
- Hang ‘em High – One of Eddies best riffs and definitely a highlight on Diver Down. There was one show where the band played this song early on in the 2012 tour. It was funny because Dave had the lyrics taped onto the drum riser where he used them as a “cheat sheet.”
- The Full Bug – This song has some serious attitude. Also another highlight on Diver Down. I am glad the band played it at the La$ Vega$ show I attended in May 2012, but I wish Dave played the harmonica solo.
- Intruder – Who doesn’t love Van Halen instrumentals?
- Little Guitars – Definitely one of Van Halen’s best songs. I always loved to watch the old shows on video when the band played this song. Eddie would always get so energetic and would slide across the stage on his knees. He even did this on the 07-08 tour.
- Album liner- I still think Diver Down has the best album liner of all the Van Halen albums (photo collage).
- Tour footage – I believe the São Paulo show is the best representation of classic Van Halen on video (unfortunately the ’81 Oakland show only has 3 songs available currently). The US Festival was historical, but I think the band was on point at the São Paulo show.

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

One thing I wish had happened on the DD tour is if Dave and the brothers had been able to convince Jan to come out and perform Big Bad Bill live at the Forum in LA, even just once. That would have been pretty special. It wouldve been one of those moments that we VH fans would still be glowing about today.