Van Halen

Van Halen III

Undeservedly Maligned

Review Score:

(6/10)
OK, this Van Halen 3 record won't bring back the glory days of David Lee Roth or even some of Sammy Hagar's high points with Van Halen. However, in spite of some obvious shortcommings there are several positives.

First of all, Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing is still top notch. The riffs and solos on Without You and One I Want are very good. Some other styles are explored by Eddie and they merely add to his abilities as a musician. His vocal performance on How Many Say I is quite good. That tune sounds like a symphony as it ranks as one of the record highlights along with Year To The Day and Love From Afar. Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony contribute quite reasonably as well.

There are several problems with this CD. First of all, the vocal performance by Gary Cherone is more bad than good. Way too much screaming which really grates on the nerves. Put David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar in the vocal spot and the recording just might rate 3 1/2 or 4 stars instead of a 2 1/2-3 rating. Also many of the songs stretch on for too long without incorporating enough intersting melodies or ideas. The middle stretch from tracks 5 through 10 are quite a chore to endure. With the exception of A Year To The Day, these tracks are quite boring.

Definitely not as bad as most people on amazon.com would have you believe. However, this is still a far cry from prime time Van Halen.

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