Customer Reviews

A Little Ain't Enough (Original Recording Remastered)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

David Lee Roth's third solo album "A Little Ain't Enough" marks something of a turning point in Diamond Dave's career, and in some ways, represents the end of an era--not just the end of David Lee Roth's relevancy as a solo artist, but the end of an era in popular music--namely 80s pop-metal.

After the "Skyscraper" world tour, Steve Vai left Dave's band (bassist Billy Sheehan had left prior to the tour) and Dave had to rebuild his band. Dave kept hold-overs Gregg Bissonette (drums), Matt Bissonette (bass), who had played on the "Skyscraper" tour, Brett Tuggle (keyboards) and added guitarists Jason Becker and Steve Hunter to record this album. As everyone knows, Becker was tragically diagnosed with ALS prior to the recording of the album and was unable to tour in support of it.

The band behind "A Little Ain't Enough" was pretty stellar. It may not have had the big names of the "Eat 'Em and Smile" lineup, but it was a good band. The Bissonette brothers provided a tight, muscular rhythm section, Becker certainly had the chops to be compared to players like EVH and Vai, and Tuggle's playing didn't saturate the album as it did on "Skyscraper." Dave himself still sounds like Dave, full of charisma and in control, blissfully unaware of the storm coming out of Seattle that is headed his way.

When ALAE was released, Roth stated that it was a cross between the first Van Halen album and "Skyscraper." While there isn't a song like "Jamie's Cryin'" or anything as good as what's on Van Halen's debut, Dave's statement makes sense. What ALAE is, more or less, is a slick, meat-and-potatoes collection of 80s Van Halen-esque rock. The bluesy "Tell the Truth," the country-ish "Sensible Shoes" and the excellent mid-tempo rocker "Lady Luck," were the exceptions in what was Dave's return to hard rock after the synth-heavy "Skyscraper." A lot of care went into crafting and performing these songs and it shows. Dave and the band wanted to put out a ballsy rock record and take the world by storm.

The problem was, more or less, timing, rather than lack of good songs. If "A Little Ain't Enough" had been released in '89/'90, it may have had a better run on the charts. By 1991, however, this style of music, and Dave himself, were starting to be seen as stale. Even before the grunge era, audiences were yearning for something new. When Nirvana and Pearl Jam blew-up later in the year, Dave and all he was associated with were seen as passe.

All this is a shame, because "A Little Ain't Enough" is a good album. No, it's not a masterpiece, but it's a solid, 80s style hard rock album that fans of classic Van Halen would enjoy. The title track, "Lady Luck," "40 Below," "Last Call," and "Drop in the Bucket" stand as some of Dave's best solo work. I would argue that, overall, it's just as strong as what Van Halen were doing at the time with Sammy Hagar, with their "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" album. It's a shame that Dave wasn't able to survive the 90s the way his former bandmates were.

THIS album is the best album DLR produced post Van Halen. And that is saying something. Jason Becker, a 19 year old, was the greatest talent find EVER. Unfortunately, Jason was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) DURING the recording sessions and never toured with Dave, and never produced more brilliance with the master of wit and showmanship...

Because of that tragedy, and the emergence of the 1990's "whiner sound" that took over (and sadly still has hold today), Dave's career also went down.

BUT, if you want to hear the 80's BIG ROCK sound, with guitar solos, FUN lyrics, party attitude, GET THIS no matter what you have to do.

Bob Rock, incidentally, produced Metallica's Black Album. ALAE is better. GET IT.

Some of the best lyrics I've ever heard on one of the best CDs I've ever heard! This albums is full of energy and upbeat music. The songs are so powerful and catchy and just want to make you get up and dance.

I highly recommend it, it will cheer you up whenever you feel down.

THIS album is the best album DLR produced post Van Halen. And that is saying something. Jason Becker, a 19 year old, was the greatest talent find EVER. Unfortunately, Jason was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) DURING the recording sessions and never toured with Dave, and never produced more brilliance with the master of wit and showmanship...

Because of that tragedy, and the emergence of the 1990's "whiner sound" that took over (and sadly still has hold today), Dave's career also went down.

BUT, if you want to hear the 80's BIG ROCK sound, with guitar solos, FUN lyrics, party attitude, GET THIS no matter what you have to do.

Bob Rock, incidentally, produced Metallica's Black Album. ALAE is better. GET IT.

"A Little Ain't Enough" was and is a great album! This was the last "big rock" album Dave did for awhile, and has a BIG sound courtesy of Bob Rock. Like all things Dave, this album is FUN! From the title cut to "40 Below" and especially "Hammerhead Shark" Dave's lyrics are truly funny and virtually all the songs have memorable hooks.

THE song on the CD is the last - "Drop In The Bucket." This song kicks from start to finish, with Jason Becker's best soloing on the album, especially towards the end. The track is a lengthy jam, with some real nice instrumental action, especially the bass guitar,as the track kind of downshifts into the solo. Over the years "Drop In The Bucket" has become my favorite song on the record and one that stays on my mp3 player the most.

One other thing on the CD, there's some real bluesy guitar licks on many of the tracks, courtesy of Steve Hunter (some folks think Jason Becker was the only guitar player on the album).

David Lee Roth in 1991 had already done 2 (well 3 if you count 1985's Crazy from the Heat E.P.) solo albums in the form of 1986's Eat 'em & Smile (which went double platinum) and 1988's Skyscraper (which barely went platinum).

During the time between 1988 and 1991 would see Dave completely lose his backing band on those 2 releases. Enter uber producer Bob Rock who along with Roth assembled a new collection of young talents mainly in the form of guitarist Jason Becker (who would be diagnosed with ALS shortly after recording commenced and was unable to tour).

Due to Skyscraper only selling half the # of records compared to Eat 'em & Smile, 1991's A Little Ain't Enough was hopefully going to put Dave back in multi platinum territory.

The album ended up barely going gold and was pretty much universally panned by critics. The subsequent tour also saw Dave playing to mostly empty (as well as smaller) venues as well. I guess you could say that this album was the death knell to his solo career.

So, now 15 years later, is the album really that bad as critics made it out to be? Not even close.

I think what caused most people to savage the album is that it was pretty much a square arena rock album for the most part and lacked the gonzo over-the-top musicianship of Eat 'em & Smile or the synthesizer drenched soundscapes of the somewhat experimental Skyscraper.

But although it is a straigt up no frills rock album, that doesn't make it bad in and of itself.

Dave is in top form vocally on this release and the extra production sheen from producer Bob Rock shows in terms of the amount of extra female backing vocals and extra instruments in terms of horns and even a passing harmonica or two.

Some people said the album was way overproduced, but I think it's just a casualty of being released in 1991 after Nirvana's Nevermind had hit, pretty much singledhandedly killing off most if not all of 80's musical acts in the process. Grunge was taking over and people weren't interested in the feel-good rock that Dave is known for.

Jason Becker brings an almost at times southern rock feel to his leads as well as bringing some really thick rhythm guitar work to the table as well. It really sucks that he was diagnosed with ALS as this guy was a true prodigy IMO.

The album has a bit of filler on it in terms of the goofy Hammerhead Shark and 40 Below and as a whole it doesn't gel quite as well as it should.

But there is still a ton of good music on here and anyone who got put out with Van Hagar and want to hear DLR in his element would do wise to pick this up.

While it doesn't quite compare to his prior 2 releases (or even to his 1998 DLR Band CD), it is still a very solid release that is a very enjoyable listen.

I'm a big Van Halen fan and due to the fact that the 1st song I ever heard from them was "Jump" it solidified my status as a David Lee Roth fan. Therefore, I had to listen to his solo albums. This is only the second, album i've heard from DLR (the other being "Skyscraper" and while this one has better lyrics, I think in the music department, I think they are kind of a tie.). Here are the tracks and my thoughs and oppinions:
A Little Ain't Enough:Really good title track, some of the best solo DLR lyrics.
Shoot It:Very good beat and lyrics too it. I really like this song.
Lady Luck: This isn't a terrific song, it's kind of...Boring really isn't the word, but it's the best I can come up with.
Hammerhead Shark:This is a pretty cool song actually. It's very catchy
Tell the Truth:It's allright. It's not the best song on the album
Baby's On Fire: This is better than the Van Halen song "On Fire". It's a really good song.
40 Below:This is a good song and the lyrics are kind of funny.
Sensible Shoes:The harmonica work is pretty good but the song itself just isn't terrific.
Last Call:This song has a pretty good chorus, except the verses are kind of dumb
The Dogtown Shuffle:It's semi-good. It's nowhere near being the best song on the album,
It's Showtime:The guitar in the beginning is great,and it's a pretty good song the rest of the way through as well
Drop in the Bucket:Guitar sounds spectacular. This is one of the better songs on the album.

So, all in all, this is a pretty good DLR album. A must for Van Halen fans. B+.

This is defineatly when Dave put his career on autopilot...BAD TIMING. It's like canned Roth, not as good as Eat Em' but allot better than Skycraper. Same song structure here, same timed in yelps and woooww's, same solos going all wild with Roth yelling like he is in heat out of the litter box. Every song is like the one before it, laced with sexual innuendo and Dave "trying" to sound sexy...gross. I enjoyed the song Hammerhead Shark because it was different and had its own sound, but ones like Baby's on Fire...Put The Flame Out...come on, tacky. Listening to this with a High School friend once made me embarresed. If that tells you anything about the album. Funny how this CD was the last of its era to survive and have good sales because the Nirvana wave destroyed everything and everyone else besides Roth, Halen, AC-DC and Metallica. Roth got the memo on his era's demise and after this put out a great effort with Your Filthy Little Mouth, trying to re-invent himself...too bad this CD sealed his fate. At least during this time he had hair. WOOW! The song 40 below is about a girl he is going to score with and about every tempature reference he could make sexual. Hilarious and sad at the same time.

I love this album baby's on fire & 40 Below.
It's got some power playing on the guitar from Jason Becker.
The last album DAVE did with Gregg Bissonette & Matt Bissonette.
Even Though Gregg played on the "DIAMOND DAVE" album on the song "BAD HABITS".
I think all around DAVE is a fun rock & roll sounding artist.
My rating for this album is a 5 of 5 stars!!

Most of my CD favorites are live recordings, recordings that capture the energies both of the performers and of the audience. David Lee Roth's "A Little Ain't Enough", a favorite exception, is a studio recording overflowing with energy. Jason Becker's lead guitar and Gregg Bissonette's drums and percussion strut hard while David Lee Roth's vocals depict life after midnight: women, drugs, alcohol, fast cars, and violence. David's lyrics portray both the shine and the cruelty of nightlife (the CD insert is *very* worth reading), while David's brash performance depicts 'walking the line'.

Outstanding tracks include 'Shoot It' [fast talk lookin' down the barrel]; 'Hammerhead Shark' [this *should* be the fight song of the San Jose Sharks hockey team]; 'Tell The Truth' [after cheating, a relationship staggers to a halt]; 'Baby's On Fire' [Daddy raves on]; '40 Below' [Daddy is icy and hot -- *very* hot vocals and percussion]; 'Sensible Shoes' [struttin' with the well-accessorized man]; 'It's Showtime' [got it in one take]; and 'Drop In The Bucket' [*really* hot rock].

Like the Rolling Stones' classic LP "Let It Bleed" ('turn me over ... play me again') "A Little Ain't Enough" is best played again and again at loud volumes. Highly recommended as a substitute when you can't afford a night on the town.