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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid album, but lacks that David Lee Roth punch, April 5, 2007
THE BAND: Eddie Van Halen (lead & rhythm guitars, keyboards), Sammy Hagar (vocals, rhythm guitars), Michael Anthony (bass), Alex Van Halen (drums & percussion).
THE DISC: (1986) 11 tracks clocking in at approximately 43 minutes. Included with the disc is a 6-page booklet containing song titles/credits, song lyrics, 1 black & white band photo, and thank you's. Recorded at 5150 Studios (Eddie Van Halen's home studio in Los Angeles). Label - Warner Bros.
COMMENTS: If you asked me, I'd tell you the David Lee Roth era of VH had pretty much peaked with "1984". Along with "1984", Van Halen's amazing 1978 debut are, to date, still the only VH releases to achieve "Diamond" status (10+ million units sold). Decades later, I still wish Eddie and David Lee Roth could have worked things out (Eddie wanting to do guitar work outside VH, and DLR's infantile antics were the main reasons for each pointing the finger). In my opinion, all of the VH releases from the DLR era are classics (with the exception of perhaps "Diver Down"). The DLR era Van Halen albums were straight ahead hard rock (guitars, bass, drums, and a helleva singer) - the way it was meant to be. The exception being "1984" when Eddie introduced the keyboards. Exit David Lee Roth (April 1985), and enter Sammy Hagar. Sammy's proven himself over the years with Montrose, HSAS, several songs on movie soundtracks, and his many solo albums. A good rock singer with an underrated guitar. In hindsight, Hagar brought a 2nd quality guitar to VH (he's nowhere close to the ballpark Eddie plays in, but who is?). With all this being said, I like this "5150". At first, I wanted to ban anything Hagar did with VH because only the DLR era stuff was real VH. This album has absolutely grown on me over the years though. Three big hits came from "5150" - "Dreams" (reaching #6 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart), "Love Walks In" (#4), and "Why Can't This Be Love" (#1). Minor hits followed with "Best Of Both Worlds" and "Summer Nights". The feel was more slick, polished, commercial rock... heavily ladened with keyboards. Along with a new lead singer, the other big difference was Alex's electronic drum kit (these were big in the 80's... and a lot of bands used them including Def Leppard, Ratt, Genesis, etc). Having played drums in the past, I feel these electronic drums really give off a different sound. For me, 10 times out of 10, I'd choose a real drum kit. Perhaps I've given the impression that I'm not a fan of the Hagar era VH... not true - this is a good rock album. It simply lacks that "in your face" attitude, and most importantly character. Highlights include all the songs mentioned above as well as the rocking opener "Good Enough" and the underrated title track ("5150" meaning mentally/emotionally disturbed). The album closer should have been a hidden bonus track - perhaps untitled - "Inside" is filler at best. Looking at the 4 studio albums Hagar did with VH, I'd pick this one first. The albums that came after "5150" seemed even more safe by rock music standards. Worthy in your rock and roll library - absolutely. However, if I want to hear some Van Halen, I'll grab VH's debut, "VH II", "Fair Warning", "Women & Children First" or "1984" first. If I'm in the mood for Sammy Hagar, I'll most likely grab his "Standing Hampton" or "VOA" before this one. I think "5150" would benefit from digital remastering (as of 2007 it hasn't happened). The start of a new era for the Van Halen brothers and Sammy - "5150" wasn't Van Halen's first album to reach Billboard's #1 position for no reason. Good album (4+ stars).
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
well, I liked it back then, January 14, 2005
there's two camps of Van Halen fans: Roth fans and Hagar fans (I've never met a Cherone fan). As history told us, Roth abruptly exited Van Halen in early 1985 for a solo career, Van Halen replaced him with Montrose frontman and solo star Sammy Hagar. Was the "Van Hagar" lineup a success? it depends.
5150 came out in mid-1986 and one-upped 1984 by going to #1 (but in all fairness, "1984" was #2 behind Michael Jackson's "Thriller", the biggest album of all time... 1984 still sold twice as much and spent a longer time on the charts). When I first the album in the late 1980's, I loved it, even tho I was a bigger fan of the DLR lineup, I did think 5150 was a rocking album.
However, as time has passed, 5150 has not aged very well. Even tho it's predecessor 1984 was also a product of the excessive synthesizer age, that album holds up very well and to this day, songs like "House Of Pain" and "Panama" STILL rock, and songs like "Jump" and "I'll Wait" still sound great, even if you can tell those songs are products of twenty years ago. On the other hand, many of the songs I thought rocked on 5150 just don't do it now.
I used to love "Good Enough", "Why Can't This Be Love", "5150" and "Summer Nights", but age hasn't been kind to these songs. Alex's electronic drums make this album very dated to the extent the music's lost it's enjoyment.
If you want a good "Van Hagar" album, try out "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", that was the album they finally found their identity without Roth,
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good cd., March 25, 2004
This album and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge are the best Van Hagar CD's. The tracks were good except for the last one. Good Enough-Good start for Van Hagar. The band sounds like it has been reinvented here. Why Can't this be Love?-Good song, even though it is a saccarine love song. THe Keyboard work was quite interesting. Get Up-Easily the hardest song on the album. Sammy really hit the high notes here. Good song to listen to when you want to get pumped up. Dreams-The best song on the album. The song is very keyboard driven but has a very lush feel. It also moves fast and deals with people aspiring to be more than they are. Summer Nights-A fun party song. It was a carefree song about meeting women and having a good time with the guys. Best of Both Worlds-A good track about enjoying your life while you can. Love Walks In-I thought this song sounded very progressive and I quite enjoyed it despite it being a saccharine love ballad. 5150-Really good track, mainly dealing with the woes of winning a woman. It has a really great guitar riff opening as well as a good solo. Inside-I hate this track. While the rest of the albu is pretty good, I can't stand this song. I always stop my CD after the 8th track so I don't have to listen to this horrible song. Overall, a good album. THough, I thought that the sound was wierd. It had a very compressed feel.
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