Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth comes out Feb 7 , but we’ve got our hands on it already. We’ll give you a track by track review of it as we listen.
Track 7 – “As Is” Yikes, this is a little too close to “Hot For Teacher.” I mean, you can actually sing it to the melody, especially the “when I think of all the education that I missed” section. After promising verses, the chorus just kind of sits there. It morphs into some kind of hoedown thing with a Roth spoken part. Another really cool ending, how it all kinda melds as it fades.
Track 8 – “Honey Baby Sweetie Doll” Weird guitar noises and feedback begin this track. Ahh, another chorus with no melody. The solo has kind of a Middle Eastern feel. Hmmm…the first real dud.
Track 9 – “The Trouble With Never” Opens with a marching beat and guitar. Another good lyric from Roth: “When you turn on your stereo / does it return the favor?” When it breaks down in the middle, I’m expecting Dave to say “ease the seat back.” Decent.
Track 10 – “Outta Space” killer opening riff. Whoa, Roth’s singing pretty high. Bet he regrets writing that in the upper register when he has to do it live! This is another song that originated from the 1976 demos. These guys are certainly coming out swinging – most of the record is hard rockin’ and fast too.