Pete Thorn tells it like it is
I've been temporarily indisposed for a few days, but i saw someone reference me in a thread a few days ago, they were suggesting that because of my relationship with EVH gear that I would probably not speak my mind with regards to the new VH album and what I really thought.
Well, that's bullshit.
I'm a HUGE VH fan, as most know, and I've been anticipating this release for just as long as all of ya... of course everyone's got opinions, and I guess that's what these boards are for. So here's mine- I love it.
If you listen to the clip of either Chinatown or Outta Space that's on the net now and you don't get your rock n roll ass kicked, then, IMHO there's no hope. You are talking about guys in their late 50's hitting it HARD here, and one youngin pushing them all as well, and I think they are killing it. A lot of the classic bands are getting up there now, and I suppose it's the easy way out to just mellow out, and exit gracefully- or get a new singer like Journey or Foreigner, that sounds just like the old singer... these guys are not that band, they KNOW people want Dave and (i'd say no small feat) they made it happen with him.
Also lo res crap samples on youtube is no way to get into an album- How bout just wait til the CD comes out, throw it in for a few days, at home, in the car, whatever, have a couple beers, and ENJOY, don't over analyze and second guess the production etc etc, because in my opinion WHO CARES (not that I think it doesn't sound great because I do, Ross Hogarth is a good buddy and a STELLAR engineer, he doesn't mess around and he loves VH... the drums sound amazing I think, Wolf's bass is clear, loud, growling and mean, and Ed's guitar is for the most part ONE TRACK- a live performance, cause that's how he rolls... and how do you get it in both speakers? You delay one side like 11ms and voila now you have a big wide tone. That's what he wants- he obviously doesn't want guitar panned left, reverb right, it always bugged him I think. So I say just marvel at the fact that instead of doing what 99.9% of guys do (including me, usually) which is double the rhythm and pan it, and overdub the solos, you are instead getting a live ripping take from on of the best rock guitarists ever)....
where was I, OH YES... who cares about all that anyway, it's the MUSIC and the fact that you've got 14(?) new tunes from these guys to get into, and enjoy... at the end of the day,some you may like and some you may not like, but at least listen to it as an album, as whole songs, not crap samples on youtube, and live with it for a minute!!!! Remember 1984 had Simmons electronic drums on it! You probably didn't get used to the sound for a minute, but now it's hard for me to imagine it any other way!
I really think it's fantastic they got the record done and out, it was a long wait and a long road to get to this place.
Last thought- I've heard most of it, rippin loud through a great system, and the last song ends with a friggin WALL of guitar, a huge chord, that slowly dive-bombs down, and down, and down, and it's feeding back and exploding, like at the end of the mean streets intro but WAAAAY longer and crazier, and it just keeps going like that for like 30 seconds, and then slowly fades out- and I swear I got chills, my 1st thought was "if this is the last thing Ed ever released, what a way to go out"..."
So there, that's my honest opinion. In my book, they are off and running and it's going to be a great year for VH the band and VH fans!
