Old Fart Rock And Roll: Springsteen, Sabbath & Van Halen

Some things on the table:

Bruce Springsteen has finally decided to replace the big man Clarence Clemons with Jake Clemons who is a nephew and Ed Manion, the Kingfish as they call him in Southside Johnny's Asbury  Jukes band (GD I wish I can type and not have to backspace every damn time I type a sentence out, no wonder why people quit blogging).  Seems like Springsteen is going all out for The E Street Band tour this spring.  I still cannot get into his new song, yeah I be mad too if  I lost the best damn saxophone and team player in my band too.

Black Sabbath minus Bill Ward?  Except for the two studio tracks on the live Sabbath album Ward hasn't played on any other albums from Sabbath since Born Again, the bizarre outing with Ian Gillan and Sabbath Management is trying to get Ward to play for less than minimum wage, which lead to a Facebook page of Sabbath fans for Ward.  Usual finger pointing although this time Sharon Osborne isn't the villan, don't blame me she says I only manage Ozzy.   Bill's son Aron put together his version of things and he really does a good job of explaining things to the haters out there.  After all for every 9 good people out there, there's always a troll or two being themselves.  Aron's take is here http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacksabbathfans/permalink/277631868968760/

Point is that the early Black Sabbath recordings were original in their own way and style.  Nothing remotely reminded the world what hard rock is when the first Black Sabbath record came out, recorded very quickly and to the point.  Bill Ward may not be been the most trained drummer but like Keith Moon of The Who that when Ward play the drums, you know it was a Black Sabbath record.  That speedway drumming on Supernaut is just as hard to play as a Neil Peart solo.  Next to Moon, Ward may have been one of the better cymbal hitters in rock history.    Even if you didn't like Never Say Die, Bill Ward still gave it a ID that like, Tony Iommi, Geezer and Ozzy still made it a Sabbath album, not a throwaway album but I still play it from time to time.  I'm sure the blame Sharon idea came up when Ozzy's drummer Rick Chefolos was mentioned as a replacement.  Time is getting short Sabbath Management and everything is going up in price so it shouldn't be that big of a deal if Bill Ward wants a bit more credibility and more pay since he gave Black Sabbath the original drive and beat.  Guy has to earn a living too.  Geez why do drummers get no credit and are the first to be discredited?

The new Van Halen Different Kind Of Truth really does rock and it might just be the best guitar album that Eddie Van Halen has ever done hard to believe right?  Despite all the backlash from former employee and Chickenfoot leader Sammy Hagar this goes toe to toe with the latest Chickenfoot album in term of real rock and roll.  So Sammy does it really matter that the majority of songs came from previous songs that didn't make it on the earlier VH albums?  Certainly Micheal Anthony is missed but Wolfgang Van Halen hold his own on bass and actually kicks Mike's can on She's The Woman intro.  Look, the kids may not know this, their attention span is about a milla second  anyway but back in our day when Van Halen put a album out it was a big event, meaning 79 or 80 and when Eddie vowed never to work with Diamond Dave again, we actually believed that.  Of course it does help when you get good production too, the Glen Ballard produced songs for the Van Halen best of were the worst songs ever done by the DLR band, nobody ever plays Me Wise Magic anyway and Can't Get This Stuff No More was more tossed off then anything off Balance.  So basically I was skeptical when I started reading the early reviews slamming Different Kind Of Truth.

If ADKOT was supposed to be a tossed off affair, Eddie came prepared even though Tattoo remains one of the least lead off songs Van Halen ever did.  They get the ball rolling on She's The Woman and they never let up for the majority of the album.  Sure, David Lee Roth can't hit the high notes, when you pushing sixty that's hard to do but his sly humor is all around the album.  There are a couple missteps (honeybabysweetiedoll, Tattoo) and John Shanks and Ross Hogarth are no Ted Templeman and Donn Landee.  In fact if Truth has Templeman and Landee's sound of the early VH albums this would have sounded even better.  But that's nitpicking, somehow getting Eddie and Diamond Dave back in the same room actually got Eddie to play mean and loud and this time he delivers with great intensity.

The biggest argument for the aging baby boomers that grew up in the rock and roll era is that in this age of auto tuned rap top forty garbage and southern rock that is country today is that there's really no rock and roll bands anymore and although there are some that kinda rock like in the old days (Foxy Shazam with their brand of Queen via Sparks, The Darkness with the over the top Queen/AC/DC vibe that didn't strike a chord with the 00's crown but are making a comeback, Radio Moscow with their ode to Blue Cheer and Frank Marino)  Van Halen still remains a real rock and roll band.  Perhaps it's the lead singers, the former Sammy Hagar whose a bit more serious than than the wink and nod party antics of David Lee Roth.  Or perhaps it's Hagar hoping that Different Kind Of Truth will fall on its face since he's not partaking in the record.  In the end he got the VH original bass player but what he didn't get was Eddie playing with something to prove.  A Different Kind Of Truth may not be the classic Van Halen, after all everybody knows classic rock radio will not play the new Van Halen, but if there's a AOR station still around this would get more airplay with selected album cuts.   I don't expect a GRAND STATEMENT from David Lee or Eddie but I do expect to ROCK OUT and A Different Kind Of Truth does that.  I certainly think it's the best they have done since Women And Children First.

And that is saying something.


Reissue: Iron Butterfly-Evolution 1970  If you have the oversized Light And Heavy Comp, you don't need this. The only cut that didn't make it on that album Slower Than Guns is boring but what you do get is a sampling of their big hit In  A Gadda Da Vida in it's 3 minute 45 form.  But you also get some hard rock goodies like Soul Experience, Stone Believer and the Iron Butterfly Theme.  They started out hippy dippy, and by the time they got to hard rock, they were done.  Rhino/Flashback has quietly reissued this and can be found in the local 5 dollar bins at your local Best Buy.

Grade B