Presto-digitation

Can’t wait for the new album

My dad was a swing drummer in WW2 (prior to and after as well) and I grew up with swing and popular music from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

I'm really into both the new Styx album, Crash of the Crown, and the debut from Mammoth WVH...the latter of which is probably my album of the year so far.

No stinkers on this one.

How do you follow in the very large footsteps of your Thomas Edison-level guitarist father and iconic drummer uncle? Apparently the answer is by doing your very own thing and ignoring the pitfalls of imitation, as well as strategically avoiding a litany of external pressures. In the case of Wolf Van Halen, who plays every instrument and provides every last vocal note on the record, that effort has resulted in a fantastic ear worm of a rock album that I’m struggling to remove from rotation, to the detriment of other albums now lagging behind. Second single Don’t Back Down features just a killer riff and stomp and remains a highlight. Van Halen released several cuts to preview the album prior to its official release in June, including the aforementioned, but of the ones yet-unheard upon the album’s first spin there are several standouts including the album closer, Stone, arguably the most dynamic song on the record with an energy that doesn’t let up and a groove that will having you humming. When the volume steps up between verses it’s truly a head-crushing (in a good way) experience. I can’t reach for the volume knob fast enough (up, not down kids). Windows rattle, emergency vehicles go unnoticed, etc. Pretty glorious. Circles is almost an Alice In Chains-like number with low register harmony vocal drone, of sorts, and an atmospheric groove that is unmatched on the rest of the album. The harmonies in the background of the chorus is an infectious bit and the bridge is a softly sung bit of marvelousness. How I love a good bridge! Epiphany is another stellar track with probably my favorite chorus on the album. Apparently this was a favorite of Ed’s. I can see why. But where to find fault? Let’s see. I suppose you could contend the album is a bit long at 13 songs-plus-bonus track and ascending to nearly an hour’s length at a time when the trends seems to be shifting back to shorter releases in the 45 or so minute mark. Beyond that I’m struggling a bit to pick at nits. For sure not every song is as good as its predecessor, with a couple tunes You’ll Be The One – copping a bit of a Foo Fighters feel - and The Big Picture not exactly being the album’s highest points, but there is more than enough to really dig here. Despite playing every instrument on the album and choosing lead guitar and vocals as his go-to stage instruments, there are very few guitar leads. Because the work on this record is exceedingly competent and confident I suspect that decision has less to do with inability and more to do with playing-for-the-song throughout. The result is that he relieves himself of the unwanted burden of not having every lead break compared to that of his late father Edward. That’s a good thing, be it by design or happenstance. Album opener Mr. Ed (terrible title to a really cracking song) does feature some flourishes and tapping that mark just about the only nod to his heritage. Likewise, Don’t Back Down ends with a bit of a stutter strum that is very reminiscent of Van Halen stylings. But folks, there isn’t much more than that. The nods are quick and respectful and not frequent enough to be his undoing. There is a very cool instrumental break in the song Feel where Wolfgang taking a brief spotlight on each instrument, a bit like the solo breaks in Rush’s YYZ. One leads to another in succession and is tastefully done. That’s about as showboaty as the guy gets. Another Van Halen trapping that Wolf deftly avoids are the party hearty lyrics. Not a single song about cars or strolling the beach for glistening babes with a cold one in hand to be found. If anything there’s a bit of a sorrowful uncurrent in the vocal themes that still manage to work really well with music, which isn’t dour in the least. But if you pay attention to the smart wordsmithing, you’ll get a hint of some lamenting underneath the surface energy. Clearly the bonus track and lead off introduction to this album, Distance, with its almost impossible-to-watch video comprised of home movies of Wolf growing up with his mom and dad, carries a ton of heart-tugging sentiment made exponentially more acute with the video, but there are other areas where Wolf clearly expresses some sorrow. A standout lyric for me is in the bridge (did I mention how much I love a good bridge?) to Circles where we hear, “I’ll take it back, whatever that means. I’ll wait for you, bend to your will. Whatever it takes.” This takes me back to being an unfortunate teen who was awkward and always on the periphery of where I wanted to be with girls, always saying just the wrong enough thing, overthinking things just to the point of driving opportunity away. Wolf is 30 and I’m 52, so hardly a relevant high school ghost emerging, but for some reason it just took me back to my awkwardness. I also get the sense of a bit of skin-shedding, as the title track Mammoth suggests. With “You’ve found the way, a mammoth weight, right off our shoulders. When you escape don’t hesitate in starting over” I get the sense of the man stepping out of the smothering shadow his father’s and uncle’s legacy has cast. (No pressure, kid). Earlier in the song we hear, “Hey you, anything is possible. Let them think you’re unremarkable and prove them wrong.” I think it’s a sentiment like this and the humility Wolfgang has shown that makes the man and this album such a fun thing to admire and root for. It’s healthy. This wasn’t a young guy wanting for much growing up in the lap of rock and Hollywood royalty, but little about this fellow or his album suggests he’s cruising on coattails and riding the glory of those before him, as those lyrics remind. Did his famous parents and father, in particular, open doors for him? Certainly. If he was just some schmuck from Akron, Ohio we just might not be listening to this album. But as you can neither help your lineage nor choose the circumstances of your birth, it’s what you do with it that matters. What Wolf Van Halen has done is craft an album that is all him and the influences and styles he grew up with manifested and processed through the filters and fingers of a product of growing up the 1990s and early oughts. And what’s he doing here? Good question. I’m not certain he’s covering a lot of brand new ground and his lyrics won’t soon make you turn in your Tom Waits card, but he isn’t exactly going where you might expect either. So, let’s trade the fact that he isn’t ushering in a whole new genre with the glorious surprise and relief that he didn’t pick the safe route either, which he could have done. Or used his name to simply foist any half-baked effort on a curious, hungry, and mourning Van Halen fanbase. I’m looking at you, Kelly Osbourne. And, frankly, that’s as good a summary as I can muster for the album on the whole, it just isn’t what you think it’s going to be, and yet – after several listens – you find it’s also exactly what you want it be.

I haven’t listened yet, but what I have heard is far less interesting to me than his last three albums.

Yes. Every note.

And the follow up: https://youtu.be/THzg2Qd7sA8

I hate Lou Reed’s voice and I do not hate James’ voice, so this will choose Lulu as the worst of the two, even if it is like picking between fatal malignancies.

It’s a piece of shit. Next.

Somewhere In America is my favorite song of theirs. Big loss.

I saw them live four times, about eight fewer times than I should have.

Yes. My least favorite VH album. It should be everyone’s...

Numb

Actually I was wondering where the poll was here. Sigh

Amen

Van Halen, easily.

Comfortably Numb

Kashmir

Eminence Front

Thunderstruck

SBS

In My Life

Bump