Customer Reviews

The Van Halen Encyclopedia

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Van Halen Encyclopedia is what it says: a massive, encyclopedic accumulation of knowledge about the band. Perhaps only The Beatles are the only other band in rock history that have been written about in this depth -- and that's in several books. The VHE is the culmination of years of research about the band by author C.J. Chilvers, Official VH Website webmaster Brad Starks, and dozens of contributors. You'll have to read it for yourself to get a grasp of it's scope. It's an absolute A+ in my opinion. No other VH book ever written has even come close.

Pros: Well, it's got alot of trivia tidbits... Cons: Numerous errors and a big disappointment if you're looking for good info regarding bootlegs. The Bottom Line: Unless you're simply looking for some shallow trivia about Van Halen, it would probably be best that you avoid paying your hard earned money to get this book, Recommended: No --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I bought this because I thought it was gonna give me lots of juicy details about the plethora of VH bootlegs that are available on the WWW, but I was sadly mistaken.

I wanted a list of bootleg cdr's with track listings, track times, sound quality & performance ratings, but these are not in this book.

Some errors: ---Attributes "Man On The Silver Mountain" to David Bowie(!) instead of Ronnie James Dio & Rainbow. ---Spells Jimi Hendrix "Jimmy". ---Attributes "Nobody's Fault But Mine" to Edgar Winter instead of Led Zeppelin. ---On page 173 Lynyrd Skynyrd is spelled "Lynard Skynard". ---Says that "no known recording exists" for VH's cover of Trower's "The Fool And Me" when one does indeed exist on "Golden West Ballroom 1976".

Perhaps these errors seem trivial, but damn, you'd think that the author of a book about a mainstream act like Van Halen would know better...

I was deeply disappointed with this book and wish that I had instead spent my money on something by Bukowski or Crumb.

If you are a fan of Van Halen I,II, or III, then this is the book for you. Everything is listed here, from tour dates to in depth bios of all the members, to appearances on Tv shows (like the time Eddie was on Frasier!)

This book is great to read and reference. A must for any fan of "The Mighty Van Halen!"

Van Halen Encyclopedia By Gene Kelly

Van Halen burst on the music scene over twenty years ago and revolutionized Rock and Roll forever. Now, three lead singers later, and over 13 albums that's sales total over 65 million copies, comes the very first authoritative collection of data on the legendary band. The Van Halen Encyclopedia is over 365 pages of biographies; tour information, album notes, and random facts of this LA based group.

The book is divided in three sections, a timeline, alphabetical entries of a mass of information, and a detailed listing of every known appearance of Van Halen on their many world tours. The timeline serves as a quick intro into the lives of this band, and has entries as early as 1914. The alphabetical logs not only include info on each band member, but also of various magazine and television appearances, individual song entries, and the legend of the brown M&M's. Van Halen used to have in their contracts on tour that there would be a bowl of M&M's at every show, with the brown ones removed. If one were spotted, the band would then set off and demolish everything in sight. Their reasoning? Because of certain stage requirements that needed to be followed, the Brown M&M's were used to see if a promoter followed every item on a contract. Finally, a listing of every tour stop Van Halen performed at, including data for attendance, audio/video copies of each show, and random notes. A brief description of the setlist and tour is also provided.

Overall, the Van Halen Encyclopedia is a welcome addition to a music lover's collection. The book reads very well, and is not just a source for Van Halen fanatics. This book gives a very good account of what life is for a Rock Star, from simple contracts, all the way to promoting yourself and your music. It is a perfect book to curl up with your favorite songs and relax.

Dull dull and dull. A guaranteed good time for anal retentive fans with no life. For the rest of us it's about as exciting as watching paint dry. No pictures, no band interviews, no opinions, no new info, nothing. Just a billion pages of information, about 10% of which is useful. The other 90% is just there to take up space. Save your money.

The book is very informative, but it contains a lot of useless information that only a geek would worry about, such as the name of Eddie's piano teacher! In other words, you tend to sift through the book rather than read it.

I was also amazed to find that there is not a SINGLE pic in the book! I really think Mr Chilvers could have left half the useless information out and made some effort in making the book more aesthetically pleasurable!

However, the book is still a "Must have" for any TRUE VH fan, it's just got so much information in it, from early club days to the present!

After being royally let down by that new over hyped piece of garbage of an Eddie Van Halen book by some dishonest fan, I was inspired to go back and rediscover previous efforts by those who came before. Might as well considering that new book ripped this one and every other VH book known to mankind. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, CJ Chilvers should consider himself extremely flattered. VH Encyclopedia was the first true comprehensive look at all things Van Halen. Devoid of hype and pretense. A simple book pieced together by a fan and other fellow fans. Sad how little new has developed in the career of VH since its release about a decade ago, which actually makes it still a very accurate, detailed and useful read.

This is a great book, very interesting and knowledgeable, the author clearly knows that he's talking about. Here's the thing though, this book is available free direct from the publisher (the revised second edition). Google search it and you will find it.

I think this is a great book period. The only problem is ther is some unnecessary info and ther are no pictures. It is still a great book, though. Van Halen fans should consider this for themself or a gift.

A true Encyclopedia. This book should be the definition of it. Nothings missing in this compact book that is available at a bargain I think. Van Halen fans should not live without this excellent book.