Label: Warner Records (Worldwide), RR1 3415 081227954963
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Pasadena, California, U.S.
Time: 33:29
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 254 Mb
Charts: US #6, CAN #12, NLD #3, SWE #19, NOR #23, GER #19, NZ #48, UK #15. Netherlands and France: Gold; Canada: 2x Platinum; US: 3x Platinum.
Van Halen toss melody — along with subtlety and good manners — straight out the barroom door. Specializing in decibels and cock-strutting bravado, they put forth the proposition that Might Is Always Right, and the proof on their third LP, Women and Children First, is pretty convincing. "Romeo Delight," "Everybody Wants Some!!" and the mad, triple-time dash, "Loss of Control," are works of high-volume art. Each features banshee guitars, hellish drumming, lead vocalist David Lee Roth’s cries of hedonistic ecstasy, and ensemble harmonies that sound like the Byrds singing through a sewer pipe — all violently competing for attention in an explosive sound mix.
But underneath the noisy chutzpah, Roth and his mob are exceptionally good players. This is especially true of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who harnesses feedback almost as well as Jimi Hendrix did and displays smarts plus speed in his solos. As for David Lee Roth and his big mouth, he puts up a lot better than he shuts up, baying at the moon with far more spirit and comic panache than most of his competition. Megalomania of this kind is an acquired taste, yet the haste with which Women and Children First bullied its way into the Top Ten suggests that there’s a little Van Halen in everybody.
Like it or not, heavy metal is here, there and everywhere. What they may lack in innovation, the Scorpions make up for in sheer amplified power, while Van Halen swagger confidently past their own limitations and Def Leppard fall back on youthful naivete, enthusiasm and talent. To their credit, these bands have managed to tap some fresh energy from a source that apparently never went dry.
(Full version: rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/women-and-children-first-188484/)
01. A1 And The Cradle Will Rock (03:32)
02. A2 Everybody Wants Some (05:08)
03. A3 Fools (05:55)
04. A4 Romeo Delight (04:19)
05. B1 Tora! Tora! (00:56)
06. B2 Loss Of Control (02:37)
07. B3 Take Your Whiskey Home (03:12)
08. B4 Could This Be Magic (03:07)
09. B5 In A Simple Rhyme (04:39)
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