PFPR

Van Halen - Tattoo, A Different Kind of Truth

I was never a Van Halen fan - the 80s in particular, as I so often say, having passed me by musically - so this new single being given the current runaround on Planet Rock could have been from that era. It is the sound I remember from those occasions when I did hear them long ago, probably on the radio, and it is fine enough: another AOR template dutifully applied.

I do have a David Lee Roth album somewhere on cassette and recall liking that. He is now the prodigal son, from what I know of their history, which isn't much. I have picked up on the handbags that has Sammy Hagger, another of the triumvirate of the band's vocalists over time, proclaiming his new incarnation in Chickenfoot as being in a better band than Van Halen. It has been wonderfully orchestrated for the release of both their albums. Roth is in consummate if cloned hard rock voice on this obvious single track from the album A Different Kind of Truth. There is also the requisite shredding that at times blows the socks; at others you just need to pull them back up.

I may well comment on the whole new VH album when I have assimilated it all. Fourth track China Town takes the band into heavier territory and fills a gap in time. Ditto Bullethead. Honeybabysweetiedoll too. Actually, I think I've just done the review. If it seems subdued, I think it's because I'm not playing the album loud enough as I write.