Van Halen

Van Halen III

A Carnival With Rides Fun And Boring

Review Score:

(6/10)
Gary Cherone sang well on Extreme's "Pornograffiti", album, but by 1992's "III Sides..", his band sounded overblown. On VH III, he sounds occaisionally good, but frequently bad. Cherone either lost much of his voice or simply oversung from the pressure of singing with such a legendary guitarist. The good songs often have spots of rot, while the bad songs have some strokes of brilliance.

The instrumental opener, "Neworld", has a youthful innocence to it. Ed picks out some beautiful harmonics. "Without You", is pretty weird, but the chorus is decent, and its outro mantra of, "You gotta give more than you take", is likable. "One I Want", features some sardonic lyrics like, "Blackman, he looking for justive/Whiteman, trying to get a tan", but as a song, sounds horrible. An interesting riff, use of a delay pedal, and Alex's kettle drums on, "From Afar", make for a good slow rocker with plenty of space in it. On, "Dirty Water Dog", Cherone turns promising lyrics such as "I don't belong to any race/Pledge allegiance to a place/No borderline in the sand I'd trace", into adolescent drivel such as "I'm just a sucker for a pretty face". The last 45 seconds of the song do showcase a tight grove with the pulse of Anthony's bass, in-the-pocket bass drumming from Alex, and Ed's flanged country funk.

The innovative, "Once", is probably the best song of the album. Built on light keyboards and a syncopated bass line, it compares favorably with the power ballads of, "Love Walks In", and, "When It's Love", from the Sammy-era. Gary's singing is appropriate here, utilizing his strengths for smooth and gentle crooning. On an extended minute+ guitar solo, Ed explores the lower registers of the fretboard as well as the high notes with all the meticulousness of a surgeon, sewing up a wounded heart. "Once", is a beautiful song full of the bitersweetness of a first love. Well drenched with Edward's "brown sound", "Fire In The Hole", is the best rocker of the album. The last minute of tasty blues chords will give you goosebumps. On the ballad, "Josephina", Gary's singing complements Ed's exquisitely well textured, clean guitar playing. The guitar solo has spine-tingling notes which morph into a great melodic good time feel. The ballad, "Year To The Day", is just not good enough to justify it's nine minute duration. Ed wanks and wails here, with some originality and some rehashing of old riffs. The almost country, gurgling guitar instrumental of "Primary", displays Ed's preocupation on this album with achieving subtle textures, and sparse arrangements from a less distorted guitar sound. The result is sometimes muddy, but often shimers with a sparkling twang. "Ballot Or The Bullet", has a great message but sounds just plain stupid. On the serious closer, "How Many Say I", Ed sings with his cigarette stained voice as if to confess his imperfections. On the chorus, Ed and Gary trade vocals somewhat cheesily, but Ed sings with redeeming honesty.

Along with OU812 and Balance, III is among the worst VH albums. Some of the songs [are awful] because of Gary's voice, and some are just simply poorly written. But Eddie's guitar/songwriting skills show growth and originality. VH branched out on this one, sometimes fruitlessly, but without severing their rocky roots.

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