Van Halen

Balance

Wasted opportunity

Review Score:

(6/10)
After the superb previous effort from this band this has to be viewed as something of a let down... While some of the material from Carnal Knowledge hinted at a more mature sophisticated approach (and not in the slightly grey sense of VH 3) with the epic feel of Pleasure Dome or The Dream is Over, this album does not fully fufill that tantalising promise. This is belied by the superb opener Seventh Seal, the most powerful song the band have ever producerd, definately in the vein of Pleaure Dome or Me Wise Magic, with an earth shaking riff (and some cool monk chanting). But while on the former record Van Halen's evil alter ego, as purveyors of sugary keyboard ballads, mercifully refused to rear its ugly head, here we are treated to 2 such compostitions, Can't stop Loving you and Not Enough. This sort of thing sadly does this great and increasing eclectic rock band a bitter diservice, and one possible silver lining of the anti air play approach of VH 3 is the absence of this sort of thing. Apart from the opener, there are two more tracks worthy of the band, Aftershock (great riff and solo) and Feeling, an intiailly ponderous piece giving way to some of EVH's most memorable guitar work, with great atmosphere throughtout. Amsterdam also recalls the heyday to a certain extent but Big Fat Money and Strung Out (whtever the hell that's supposed to be) seem just slightly obsolete; the former is a rocker not really in the style of VH, not one of thier better tracks, the latter... you have to hear it. Take Me Back could be described as a ballad, however it sounds more genuine and poignant and is actually quite listeneable and even affecting if you're in the right mood, a slightly sad, philosophical feel. Baluchitherium is an instrumental piece which is pretty powerful, a quality effort although i've heard it referred to as "pompous". I'm saying some good things here and there are positive points... its not that bad an album but it's not one of thier better efforts. One of its better points is that it has a harder more distorted edge than other recrds by the band which at least makes it distincitve and orignal. For the VH fan i'd say that it's a worthwhile purchase, but it's not brilliant all in all, a little patchy. However, given appaling ommisions in the so called Best Of release, such a purchase is the only way to get hold of the three classic tracks herein, so despite everything it's pretty much an essential. But for satisfying fufillment of the epic promise of .., (the aforementioned tracks excepted) you're better off looking to the results of the brief DLR renuion or the Twister soundtrack.

More Reviews: