A Different Kind of Truth [CD]

Van Halen is at their best when they show their true passion for hard rock. On "A Different Kind of Truth", Eddie Van Halen writes a collection of songs which rival "Van Halen 1", "Women and Children First" and "Fair Warning". While David Lee Roth's vocals are not nearly as strong as they used to be, Roth can still write creative and clever lyrics and sign them in his signature style. Add Alex Van Halen's thunderous drumming and you have Van Halen firing on all cylinders. "A Different Kind of Truth" is one of Van Halen's best albums.

this is vAN hALEN WITH rOTH PROVIDING A NEW RELEASE to support a current tour

First, I enjoy the music alright (it's decent), but I'm passionate about older Van Halen music and the great songwriting from the past, and I don't hear that kind of songwriting here on this album. If you really enjoy Van Halen's music, it may be worth a try to see how you like it.

Hoping for VAN HALEN, just not there. You could tell by their sound, something wasn't clicking. Not getting along even in studio.

so different is right Van Halen lost it here dont bother and get this one

I am sorry that Michael Anthony is not a part of this, but once you get past that, you won't look back at all. The album makes you feel like you have stepped back into a time warp. The music feels like it came right out of the early 80's, and in a way I guess it did. I did not have a problem with VH reworking unused tracks from previous albums, as it was their work to begin with, so I thought the sound was perfect. As much as I liked early Sammy Hagar Van Halen, you just didn't know how much you missed David Lee Roth until you hear them together again. Dave definitely brings out the best in Eddie and this is their best effort in a long time. As much as I wanted to rail against Wolfgang for displacing Anthony, I thought he did a great job. I didn't notice the hole left in the backing vocals as much as others did, and I didn't feel that the bass performance suffered as a result. This album definitely panders to the older crowd and nostalgia in general, but I feel it is a strong enough album on its own to win over some of the newer generation looking for something old, something new, something borrowed, something Dave.

When I heard the first track leaked in that of 'Tatoo" (which had seemingly no energy at all and was a unreleased track from 1978 called "Down in Flames"), I for all intents and purposes wrote this come back effort off. The next song I heard was a one minute snippet of the beginning of 'Stay Frosty", which sounded like "Ice Cream Man 2". I was actually laughing at what looked like to be the most obvious of train wrecks. Then came the lame cover which was spreading across the internet, and on top of that a total ripoff of the Commodores 1975 album "Movin' On". Then came word that the song "Blood & Fire" was a re-written version of an instrumental used in the 1984 flick "The Wild Life". One would think that there was no way that this album would be likeable to my ears, but this was NOT the case. Yes, I still can't stand the song "Tatoo", and I think that "Stay Frosty" is the second worst song on this album, but the rest is essential Van Halen, minus the sorely missed backup vocals of Michael Anthony. This record could easily be sandwiched among everything up to that of "Fair Warning" and it certainly eclipses "Diver Down" and "1984" among the Dave era. Songs such as "She's the Woman", "Honeybabysweetiedoll" , and "Outta Space" simply shred...This is one time in which I was dead wrong in what I thought this album was going to be...

It's been a very long time and no disrespect to Sammy and Michael, but this is the band they were meant to be. Eddie's guitar work is WELL? Eddie Van Halen!! need I say more? And considering that Wolfgang was still a gleam in Eddie's eye the last time they cut an album this good this kid keeps up with his old man and doesn't miss a trick. After all the craziness DLR has been through in the last 25 years he seems to have held up pretty well. The "attitude" is still papable! And lastly Alex is an absolute power house as always, he never ceases to amaze me. So far I have only listened through once and I'm sure it''s gonna get some playtime for the next few weeks. Very refreshing to hear a SERIOUS rock band again.