For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge production

**dart93** · 03.06.03, 08:26 AM

This is actually one of my favorite VH discs. Ted Templeman earned his pay on this one, IMO, by suggesting that Eddie return to riff-oriented writing. Twelve years later, I'm still delighted by the riffs driving "Man On A Mission" and "In N Out." All that said, the sound of this album has always bothered me somewhat. Does anyone else think that Eddie's guitars on this album sometimes sound muffled, as if he's playing in a closet? If only they had achieved the same sound on this record as they did on Balance...

**ross** · 03.06.03, 11:32 AM

I never noticed but I'll listen again. I've always liked the production on that album and especially Balance and Fair Warning.

**Crazy from the Hemp** · 03.06.03, 12:41 PM

I love the production on F.U.C.K. because Andy Johns finally got Mikey's bass rumble into the mix. I thought he really captured their live sound, whereas Landee (upon Templeman's insistence apparently) always buried the bottom end to give Eddie more room.

That was the first album where Eddie switched to the Music man. I wonder if leaving Frankie behind could explain Ed's tone not being what it normally was. Whatever, he certainly figured it out in time for Humans Being and Me Wise Magic. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] Still miss his old tone with the delay in the opposite speaker though. Like that better than the chorusy thing he's got on the go now.

**speedtruckermf** · 03.06.03, 08:32 PM

Eddie's tone got really thin about 5150 and especially since his new amps and guitars came out. Never liked the post 84 tone that much. I guess that's what happens when you trade a Marshall for a Peavey

**VanHalen5150Viking** · 03.07.03, 12:11 PM

I'll take my Peavey 5150 over my Marshall any day, thank you very much!

**TheBald Baron** · 03.07.03, 08:25 PM

I have always liked 5150 because I thought the album had a consistency to it, really tight, lots of hooks a driving beats. But the sound was really really thin. FUCK had good sound, but some of the songs with 3 and 4 competing lead guitar lines were hard to follow. Balance had a big, fat, heavy sound that I don't think they did anything with on the actual songs. Thank good ness for Humans Being!

**Dave's Dradle** · 03.08.03, 09:32 AM

Balance is by far their best produced album, but the songs in my opinion don't do it justice. Seventh Seal is awesome, my favorite post Dave song, but the rest of the songwriting is just plain weak. You can tell that Sammy is starting not to give a shit. Whenever a professional starts writing Wam Bam Amsterdam or whatever the hell he wrote you know he is mailing it in. I know the musicians on this board love Balance, but I want to hear VH rock, y'know make those songs that make you pump your fist and bang your head. They started to lose that in my opinion.

Everyone so far is correct that FUCK had some of Eddie's best riffs, but Sam's crappy-lyrics-o-meter is starting to kick in. Spanked, In n' Out, ugh!

**kenny5150** · 03.08.03, 09:51 AM

I like F.U.C.K but I've never ever liked the production. It's too 'muddy' for me, and Ed's guitar sounds a lot different than it had previously IMO.(Not in a good way) The bass was mixed further out a little, but I didn't like the bass sound.
All in all, I would love to hear this album remastered and cleaned up a little.

To me it sounds like it needs some of the high bottom end taken down a little. I wanna hear the kick drum in my gut, but not all the lower mid range mud......if that makes sense.

The whole thing sounds like the listener is standing just a little far too far away........a shame.

**Wolfman** · 03.08.03, 01:17 PM

Originally posted by Crazy from the Hemp:
I love the production on F.U.C.K. because Andy Johns finally got Mikey's bass rumble into the mix.

Not only that, but he got the best mix of Al's drum kit, IMO.

**Mario VH** · 03.08.03, 06:04 PM

I think the production and overall sound on FUCK is pretty good especially coming off the sub par sound of OU812. Balance was the best sounding Van Hagar record, Bruce did a masterful job producing that album.

**Jedi Master** · 03.10.03, 01:58 PM

Yea FUCK is great record. One of my favorites, if not the fvorite! The guitar sound is great!

**6String** · 03.10.03, 09:47 PM

Awesome production,but it gets annoying having to screw with mixer settings just for that album or a song off of it. I got my shit set up so even OU812 sounds good,so you can imagine how off it is when Knowledge is played,hehe.

**AceVH** · 03.11.03, 07:00 AM

I think F.U.C.K is by far the best VH album of the Hagar era. I loved the production, and think from front to back it is the most rocking album they did with Sammy. Balance had a lot of great stuff but also a decent amount of crap in my opinion. On top of that, the Balance tour sucked. They were going through the motions and you could tell the end was near.