Wolfgang Van Halen breaks down ADKOT track-by-track

**Wolfie3** · 02.07.22, 09:47 AM

Great read here .. and man, was he SPOT ON about Tattoo.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-...rack-by-track/

**ED-A-HOLIC** · 02.07.22, 09:52 AM

really cool interview, love that album

**jimmy812** · 02.07.22, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by Wolfie3

Great read here .. and man, was he SPOT ON about Tattoo.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-...rack-by-track/

Great read. Thanks for posting.

Everything about ADKOT was really "fun" for Wolfie. Seems he used that word to describe every song. lol

**87GNX** · 02.07.22, 10:23 AM

That was a great read. I'm jazzed that "Stay Frosty" was a collaborative effort from all 4 of them, as that's my favorite track on the album. Eddie in one of his interviews had stated that it was Wolf who came up with the structure of the song after Dave's acoustic intro, and it's got Wolf's fingerprints all over it. That song absolutely kicks you in the gut and the groove in the pocket is just brilliant. Love hearing that it was a soup of all ingredients from all four of them.

**nj958** · 02.07.22, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Wolfie3

Great read here .. and man, was he SPOT ON about Tattoo.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-...rack-by-track/

ADKOT was a great ecord that should be appreciated a lot more.
I like She's the Woman more just like Wolf, but...
Tattoo was a big hit in Japan going all the way to 14 and did make the charts in the US as well.
So there you go.

**edwardv** · 02.07.22, 10:29 AM

Yeah Tattoo should not have been the single. Either way no stations would have played it. Sad world music is in today.

**Little Dreamer** · 02.07.22, 10:31 AM

There are a couple of sentences that are very important in this piece.

"My Dad's writing style had changed drastically" and "he was always writing."

This leads me to think that Ed has written a lot of music around that time period in a very different style than CVH, and none of that has seen the light of day. Pray that it one day will.

**rchop84** · 02.07.22, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by Little Dreamer

This leads me to think that Ed has written a lot of music around that time period in a very different style than CVH, and none of that has seen the light of day. Pray that it one day will.

Same..but i won't hold my breath. Wolfs focused on his music and Al is retired

**CaboChris** · 02.07.22, 11:25 AM

So Al did play for sure on the Ripley demo. I could be wrong but some had suggested it might have been Ed.

I also agree what he said about Ripley being one of the best pieces of music his dad ever wrote.

**jimmy812** · 02.07.22, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by CaboChris

So Al did play for sure on the Ripley demo. I could be wrong but some had suggested it might have been Ed.

I also agree what he said about Ripley being one of the best pieces of music his dad ever wrote.

I'm not 100% sure, but I still believe it's Ed playing the drums on that.

**Jedi McFly** · 02.07.22, 11:40 AM

This album will always have a special place in my heart. Love hearing Wolf's anecdotes about its recording.

Originally Posted by Little Dreamer

There are a couple of sentences that are very important in this piece.

"My Dad's writing style had changed drastically" and "he was always writing."

This leads me to think that Ed has written a lot of music around that time period in a very different style than CVH, and none of that has seen the light of day. Pray that it one day will.

There are some pics of Ed's music room at his beach house very recently. There's a desk with a rack of recording equipment. It doesn't surprise me that he never stopped. I'd love to hear it all. And I frankly don't care if it is in the style of classic VH. For some reason I've always been more interested in where Ed was going rather than where he'd been.

**YankeeRose** · 02.07.22, 11:50 AM

I agree with Wolfie that She's The Woman should have been the first single.

I've always felt that Stay Frosty was Ice Cream Man part 2. It's cool Wolfie described it that way as well.

I like Big Trouble much more than Big River, I wish VH would have just re-recorded Big Trouble with the same lyrics.

**KS 5150** · 02.07.22, 12:01 PM

Excellent, thanks for sharing!! 10 years ago?!? Can't believe it...still remember being in my car at the music store, waiting for it to open

**Sam Vs. Dave** · 02.07.22, 12:07 PM

Thanks for sharing that. Reading it was... fun!

**Wolfie3** · 02.07.22, 12:35 PM

Another little nugget/reveal was the confirmation of something that I had long theorized was the case (as had many others, I'm sure), that one of the reasons we didn't get any new music from the band for so long after VH3, was the fact that Eddie was shook at it's failure. I've always felt that the follow-up to 3 would have quickly made up for it though, as I remember Gary saying that it sounded much more like "classic VH". It's such a shame we never got to hear that album. All those years later though, ADKOT was certainly killer, so at least we got that.