Diver Down [Import]

Van Halen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bmg
• ASIN: B00005HUOT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #960,285 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Where Have All the Good Times Gone!

2. Hang 'Em High

3. Cathedral

4. Secrets

5. Intruder

6. (Oh) Pretty Woman

7. Dancing in the Street

8. Little Guitars (Intro)

9. Little Guitars

10. Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)

11. The Full Bug

12. Happy Trails

Editorial Reviews

Japanese pressing. Reissue of 1982 original release has been remastered and comes in a standard jewel case. Warner. 2005. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Van Halen classic, May 14, 2005

By 

Daniel Maltzman (Arlington, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diver Down (Audio CD)

Did Van Halen follow-up their 1981 masterpiece "Fair Warning" with another classic in the same vein? No. Although "Fair Warning" remains Van Halen's masterpiece and is a fan favorite, upon its release, it was a commercial disappointment, stalling at platinum status (it has sold over two million copies to date).

Van Halen made a far more radio-friendly, commercial album with 1982s "Diver Down." Of the twelve tracks, three are instrumentals, and five are cover songs. That leaves only four Van Halen originals. The reason? As producer Ted Templeman stated, once you record a song that's a hit, you're already halfway there. A lot of fans have complained with the format of this CD. And while it would have been nice to have a full-length album of VH originals as a follow-up to "Fair Warning," "Diver Down" is still a classic Van Halen recording. The original recordings, "Hang `em High," "Secrets," "Little Guitars" and "The Full Bug," are four of Van Halen's all-time best songs. All of the covers on this disc are better than the originals, and the instrumentals are cool and help with the flow of the album. Eddie's playing, which goes with out saying, is spectacular. Dave shines of course, and Alex Van Halen (drums) and Michael Anthony (bass) provide a stellar rhythm section.

"Diver Down opens with the Kinks "Where Have All the Good Times Gone," a mid-tempo, upbeat rocker. "Hang `Em High," an ode to Clint Eastwood, is fast and furious. It features one of Eddie's all-time best solos. "Cathedral" is a haunting, offbeat guitar instrumental, which adds a bit of spice to the album. The highly underrated "Secrets" is, without doubt, one of Van Halen's greatest songs. It simply shows the Van Halen/Roth chemistry at its absolute best. This low-key, tuneful song is wonderfully written. David Lee Roth's finest lyrics can be found right here:

"She ain't waiting 'til she gets older

Her feet are makin' tracks in the winter snows

She got a rainbow that touches her shoulder

She be headed where the thunder rolls"

The pace picks up for the fast-paced instrumental jam "Intruder," which leads perfectly into the Roy Orbison classic "Pretty Woman," one of Van Halen's most popular songs. Van Halen made a dance-pop smash with the mowtown classic "Dancing in the Streets." The melodic instrumental "Little Guitars (intro)" leads perfectly into the gorgeous "Little Guitars," one of Van Halen's greatest love songs. Much like "Secrets," with "Little Guitars," Van Halen manages to create a love song that is both sincere and has power. Unlike the schlock that Van Halen would be releasing a few years later with Sammy Hagar. "Big Bad Bill (is Sweet William Now)" is pure Dave kitsch and adds a great sense of humor to the CD. "The Full Bug" is a great, underrated, fast-paced, classic VH rocker. "Happy Trails" is a light-hearted vocal instrumental and is a great way to close the CD. While some fans might complain at its inclusion, along with "Big Bad Bill (is Sweet William Now), and call it filler, I actually am quite fond of them both. "Diver Down" wouldn't be the same without them.

Some fans might consider "Diver Down" to be one of the bands weaker albums, especially when compared to their first four albums. I would have to disagree with this assessment. Van Halen didn't set out to make a kick-ass hard rock album with "Diver Down." They set out to make a more commercial, light-hearted album, and they succeeded brilliantly. It may not rock as hard as "Van Halen" or "Fair Warning," but "Diver Down" is a gem in it's own right. If you are a fan of classic rock, the first six Van Halen albums are essential to own for any great collection. "Diver Down" is no exception.

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Overlooked Van Halen Album, April 28, 2001

By 

"kingofrock379" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diver Down (Audio CD)

The title of the review says it all. Diver Down is the great overlooked Van Halen album. In my opinion it's one of their best albums but for some reason it's just overlooked by everyone. It was a great followup to an even greater album, Fair Warning. Diver Down for the most part is half cover songs and half originals with some instrumentals thrown in. I'll review the cover songs first. The first cover on the album is of the Kinks' classic Where Have All the Good Times Gone?, the Mighty Van Halen's version blows the original away. The only hit from this album was the cover of Roy Orbison's (OH)Pretty Woman, they did a great version of this song also. They also cover the classic song Dancing in the Streets, a lot of people say this is their worst song but I thin they did an excellent job on the song, David Lee Roth sounds great. The last two covers on the album are strange ones indeed, the first one is called Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)it is a very slow ragtime sounding song, it features Jan Van Halen (Eddie and Aelx's father) on clarinet, then the song that closes the album is Happy Trails, the VH boys do a great song on this song also, the background vocals are great and Dave's voice fits the song. So that's the story on the cover songs, now the first original is called Hang em High. This song is typical early Van Halen and it's amazing. Great guitar riff and eccentric drumming by Alex. Cathedral is a short Eddie instrumental, then it goes into Secrets. It is a good song, very underrated. Little Guitars is without a doubt the best song on the album, and no doubt one of Van Halen's best. The song is very catchy and poppy. The last original on the album is The Full Bug, this is also one of the best Van Halen songs ever. There is a short acoustic intro before kicking into a great rocker. Everything about this album is great, any fan of great music should pick this up, don't listen to what everybody says, and don't overlook this masterpiece

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Van Halen's most artistically bankrupt album, September 26, 2007

By 

Mike London "MAC" (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Diver Down (Audio CD)

DIVER DOWN is Van Halen's most artistically bankrupt album. Cited by both Van Halen brothers as their least favorite album, DIVER DOWN marks a vast departure from its predecessor, FAIR WARNING, returning the band to their party hearty image. Roth was behind the drastic changes behind the record. This album is not only Van Halen's weakest album, but overall one of the most puzzling records in all of rock. DIVER DOWN is very reactionary. The album points to Roth trying to reclaim the audience they lost with FAIR WARNING, as DIVER DOWN is the polar opposite of that album. Like all Roth Van Halen albums, the album is very brief, being only 31 minutes long, which has always irritated me.

The album sounds like it has a personality crisis. David wanted to do a covers record to move product, while Eddie wanted to maintain some shreds of artistic credibility, and the quality album is a causality of this tension between the two dominant personalities of the band. The sound and atmosphere is a total retreat from the darkness of FAIR WARNING, and the only reason for the retreat is Van Halen selling out. This selling out indicates lack of integrity and total artistic bankruptcy.

For fans of bands, I always recommend listening to the albums in chronological order. It gives a sense of history. When you get to DIVER DOWN, you realize that the band is simply running on empty, they're looking to reinvent themselves after the hideous darkness of FAIR WARNING, and they're simply running out of ideas.

Let's look at a little history. In 1982, when Van Halen released DIVER DOWN, they had just come off a major tour in support of FAIR WARNING. FAIR WARNING met with a rather chilly reception. That record was a very dark, mean spirited album, brimming with anger, immorality, and rough lifestyles. By the time FAIR WARNING had come out, the band was known for their party, over the top lifestyle, and Eddie's guitar heroics. While the guitar work certainly stayed amazing, FAIR WARNING simply did not sell well, and is still even to this day Van Halen's least commercially successful album due to its dark intensity.

When the time came to record FAIR WARNING's followup, Roth wanted to change directions. He and the record company began operating on the philosophy that if you start out with a hit song, you're half-way to a commercially successful recording. While the rest of the band disagreed with this ideology, they acquiesced to Roth.

Another issue contributing to DIVER DOWN's overall weakness is the band had been touring nonstop since 1977, and they were exhausted. The band were going on vacation, but recorded a single which went became successful enough that Warner Brothers wanted an album to go with the single.

Originally, the album's initial sessions began when the band tried recording their next single. They started out with Martha Reeves and The Vandellas hit song, "Dancing in the Streets." Eddie expressed difficulty recording the song, as he simply could not get a real handle. They then proceeded to record "Pretty Woman" at Eddie's suggestion. The intro, "Intruder", which Dave claims to have written, was composed specifically to take up time on the controversial video that MTV banned, as the song was about two minutes too short for the film they shot on the video. Rather than edit down the film further, they just wrote an extended intro.

Taking the hit song philosophy to its utmost, Van Halen recorded no less than five cover songs, almost half the album. Of these five songs, one is a Kinks song (the band was hoping to replicate the success of the "You Really Got Me" cover on their first album), the second is "Pretty Woman," the third is the totally incompatible "Dancing in the Streets", the absolutely bizaare "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)", and the fifth is the joke recording "Happy Trails." While the Kinks cover doesn't sound that out of place on a Van Halen album, both "Pretty Woman" and "Dancing in the Street" are obviously signs of a band selling out and just looking for a hit. Eddie has cited the "Dancing" cover as the worst Van Halen commercial recording, and for good reason. It's a good song, but totally out of sync with Van Halen's overall image and sound. "Happy Trails" sounds little more than a drunken joke recorded to allievate otherwise boring and monotonous sessions. "Big Bad Bill" has a nice vaudeville feeling to it, but again, this is Van Halen. You don't listen to Van Halen for vaudeville, and is probably the most ridiculous thing they ever recorded. The song is notable for featuring Jan Van Halen (the brothers' father) playing clarinet.

With the five covers discussed, that leaves only seven original tracks. Three of those are short instrumental tracks. "Cathedral" is one of Eddie's most enthralling guitar instrumentals, primarily because when you listen to it you think it's an organ and you wonder how did he get that music on a guitar. "Intruder" is filler written because the video ran longer than the song, although by segue-waying right into "Pretty Woman" it does give "Pretty Woman" a rather ominous tone not present in the original song. "Little Guitar" is a totally unnecessary intro. If they wanted to make it include it as part of the main body of the "Little Guitar" song , there was no reason to make it a separate track.

With the covers and the instrumentals dispensed with, that leaves a paltry four major Van Halen originals. "Hang `Em High" is a decent enough track. "Secrets" never did anything for me. "Little Guitars" has a strange Mexican flavour too it, and while nothing particularly wrong with it, there's nothing real memorable about it either. The song was improvised and recorded live.

That leaves only one song left. "The Full Bug." This track has sizzling guitar work, great vocals, and just a fantastic song to rock out too. This is the only time on the entire album where the entire band just clicks. This is vintage Van Halen right here, and easily on level with anything on the first four albums and 1984. Unfortunately, one song cannot carry an album. (Take note, American Idol winners).

Eddie Van Halen despises this album. As Eddie says, he'd rather have a flop with his own songs (which he did flop, and flop hard, with VAN HALEN III) than have hits with other peoples' songs. And he's right.

DIVER DOWN has too much filler, has too many covers, doesn't have enough originals, and of the originals, only one really rises to former Van Halen standards. It has a very cold, calculating feel to it, like the record execs and the band were more interested in restoring the band to their commercial zenith and forget anything about making good music.

Overall, DIVER DOWN solidified Eddie's opposition to recording music solely to sell. After DIVER DOWN, Eddie formed his own studio where he would have complete artistic control over Van Halen's music. Likewise, Van Halen never recorded covers again (the sole exception being OU812's closing song "Apolitical Blues.")

Ultimately, DIVER DOWN is Van Halen's most dispensable album. While I've been pretty damning about the whole album, I will say it's a very, easy listen, and is very uncharactestic of the band. But while it's light and fun, it's also fluff. Nothing really to return to once the album finishes, and it's only a mere 31 minutes long. It's like cotton candy. No real substance.