Balance

Artist: Van Halen
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: LP Record

UPC: 093624576013
EAN: 0093624576013
ASIN: B000002MUP

Release Date: 1995-01-24

Related Categories:

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Metal

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

| Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Hard Rock

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Guitar Gods

| Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

Vinyl Records

| Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Seventh Seal
Can't Stop Lovin' You
Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)
Amsterdam
Big Fat Money
Strung Out [Instrumental]
Not Enough
Aftershock
Doin' Time [Instrumental]
Baluchitherium
Take Me Back (Deja Vu)
Feelin'

Similar Items:

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
OU812
5150
Van Halen III
Live: Right Here, Right Now

Customer Reviews:

Inbalance.......2007-02-11

Almost released as an instrumental album after Hagar walked out near the end of the sessions. The VH boys are weaker here and running out of ideas. Sure, Amsterdam is the hash capitol of the world, but did we really need an anthem for the city written by a 50 year old rocker.

Rhytmical Van Halen.......2006-04-03

Well, that's last full studio album with Hagar up to date.
Bruce Fairbairn, who produced this album, made it sound quite different than other VH albums. But I wouldn't say it's too polished like some people think. Few ballads are really in pop style, but thats the way Bruce was doing it.I think Ed and Bruce efforts were to do good riffs and Eddie was thinking more about rhythm guitar than soloing on this album. Now about the tracks:
1 The Seventh Seal - It's good mid-tempo rocker with nice oriental intro and with no solo, nice, strong drums. - 8/10
2 Can't stop loving you - it's very warm ballad with radio-friendly chorus, it has a lot of Ed's trademark guitar tricks in the background. 7/10
3 Don't tell me(...) - well, very strong riff, song is sung very rhytmical. Two guitar solos, chorus little bit more gentle than rest of the song. 9/10
4 Amsterdam - song about smokin :) Eddie's solo is something like immitating helicopter's propeller(it refers to "brain shake" when you are stoned?) 9/10
5 Big fat money - it's very fast straightforward track, funny rocker. It's mix of hard rock, punk, and classic rock in the style of 60?(chorus) 10/10
6 Strung out - it's Eddie playing piano with... knife and fork, he also is digging inside the piano - ?/10
7 Not Enough - Beautiful ballad, with guitar-piano duo. 7/10
8 Aftershock - this is my favorite on this album, good rocker with great vocals and one of the most impressing of Eddie's guitar solos ever (it's the second one, at the very end of the track) of course 10/10
9 Doing Time - drum solo(who likes drum solos???) 5/10
10 Baluchiterium - guitar - synth instrumental with Ed (at the end) immitating ducks, elephants, dogs etc. 8/10
11 Take me back - not impressing ballad, with english spelled "deja vu"(I prefer french, original version) 5/10
12 Feelin - great ballad, very monumental thing, everything is on it's place there. 9/10
Japanese edition cd has also "Crossing Over", nice semi-ballad(?)with beautiful intro which reminds guitar from "Cathedral".
Tensions between Ed and Sam led to band split some time after "balance' tour finished. Among other problems there were alcohol problems and, of course, different opinions about where VH music should go to.

Perfect balance of sound and substance.......2006-03-14

Balance...according to me the best post-David Lee Roth Van Halen effort. I would even go to say that this is their best record on 3 days out of a week, the other competitior being their self-titled debut album.

Edie Van Halen as usual, is the linchpin in this enormous effort from a band that became extremely popular in the late 70's and early 80's. Edie Van Halen is proabably every new guitarist's idol and every semi-seasoned guitarists worst nightmare! Pioneering a different kind of sound, with his blazing fast solos and trademark two-handed finger tapping, Edie Van Halen undoubetdly is one of the most talented guitarists around, still rocking hard as ever; a lot of guitarists nevertheless having tried (and some shamelessly succeeding to a certain extent) to copy his style and endorsing it as their own. Rumour has it that Edie was so bothered by this, that whenever he had to play a lead, he would turn his back to the crowd, lest anyone see how he was playing!

Van Halen as a band, has over the years transformed from a fun-loving college-girl-boy pleasing outfit to a more serious and mature band. Although 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' still showed slight strains of happy-go-lucky (still superb rock) endorsements, 'Balance' comes across as a more serious effort...and the resulting sound is a clear cut above contemporary hard rock...a lot of it courtesy Edie's guitar playing sklls.

Balance contains some of the finest riffs Edie has ever come up with, although songs like 'Ain't talkin' 'bout love', 'Panama', 'Jump' and the famous and path-breaking 'Eruption' have memorable leads and patches, that are still considered second to none.

The first track, 'The Seventh Seal' has a riff almost like a sonic boomerang. A sound and tone effect never heard before, Edie sets agenda for a different kind of guitaring, one that is quite different from his accomplished style of pelting out riffs.
Similar gargantuan riff sections follow in 'Don't tell me what love can do' and 'Aftershock', all powerful numbers that can easily rock an entire stadium.
The piece de resistance of Edie's guitaring is unearthed in the absolutely amazing 'Feelin', which features a blazing fast solo and some sizzling finger tapping combined with beating riffs.
A taste of the broken style riff of 'Ain't talkin' 'bout love' can be heard on 'Amsterdam', another super riff-based track, which towards the end, is as much as a sonic kaleidoscope. The heaviest, or rather fastest Van Halen song ever, would have to undeniably be 'Big Fat Money'. And what a way to start the song, absolutely head banging stuff with definitive Edie riffing. Super rocking song.

A couple of love and soft rock songs come in the form of 'Can't stop loving you', 'Not Enough' and 'Take me back(deja vu), the latter having some beautiful acoustic accompaniment.
Instrumental manifestations appear in the form of the stringy 'Strung Out', which is a lot of fretwork I think, the royal 'Baluchitherium' (almost sounds like a Satch creation) and the percussion oriented 'Doin' Time'.

Die hard David Lee Roth fans might have to get used to the harsh vocals of Sammy Hagar, which is a far cry from the ways of Roth. Still, Sammy does a decent enough job, maybe sounding a bit too harsh sometimes, but nevertheless nothing incongruent to the music of the band as a whole. Anyways it won't take long to realise why this album rocks big time...and you'll have to thank Edie for that. Nothign Erupts like 'Ain't talkin' 'bout love, but there's pretty a punch to leave you with a feelin' of after shock.

Top Picks: (In case you're making a best of collection)
Seventh Seal, Aftershock, Amsterdam, Don't tell me, Baluchitherium, Big Fat Money, Deja Vu and Feelin'.

The Best VH Album to date.......2006-02-28

I dont know how anyone siad this was a bad album? THis is musically and lyryically there best to date. It has everything you want in a VH album!

The best in the Sammy Era.......2005-12-13

When Sammy first joined VH, let me tell you how Peaved I was. I never thought that he would be able to match the talent of David Lee Roth, and for years I was right. When 5150 first came out in the Spring of 1986, I thought it was a good album (but then I look at the time, and I was only 13) but as I got older, so did VH on my nerves and I refused to by 0U812. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge did catch my interest as a thought Poundcake was kick ass, but still never matched any album that VH did with LEE ROTH (well except for DIver Down) When the Balance tour came around, a friend of mine got some tickets and since we were both VH fans since 1982, and never got a chance to see them live, I agreed to go see them. First off, we listned to Balance in the ride to the show, and I was very impressed by the CD. I thought it was the best effort that VH had make with Sammy, and after seeing the show (Sammy really kicked ass, and he brought an great energy over the Meadowlands) I started to apprciate him a bit more. This is the best CD with him, and its 2 bad that he would leave after this CD...ENJOY

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Scottish Voices ~ Various Artists

Four the Hard Way ~ Danger Danger

Northwinds ~ David Coverdale

The Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia ~ Various Artists

China: Time to Listen, Vol. 2 ~ Various Artists

Attitude

Storm ~ Lenny Kravitz

High Society ~ Original Soundtrack

Greatest Musicals ~ Various Artists

Do Ya Wanna