Van Halen II

Exallent

👍

Grandson pleased .

I have only just recently picked this album up having in the past put it down as a 70's album that wouldn't sound as good perhaps as the bands mid 80's production values (even though I had VH1 and loved it!). How wrong was I? After all this time being a Van Halen fan, I didn't have a clue how strong these songs were, in part due to being slightly put off by Dance The Night Away, which I always thought was a bit too poppy for VH.From start to finish, this album rocks and doesn't at all sound dated as I had once feared. It's hard to actually pick my favourite tracks as they all work really well as a whole (although I still feel `Dance' is too poppy compared to the rest). If I had to pick my personal favourites then Somebody Get Me A Doctor, Bottoms Up, Beautiful Girls and Women In Love probably cut it more, but the guitar intro to DOA is very cool, the guitar work on Spanish Fly is a nice break from the heavy `brown sound' throughout the album and You're No Good is a great opener and choice of cover.And yes, Dance The Night Away is one of the best pop songs VH ever wrote.

Some bands, like Zeppelin, Thunder & Van Halen, are not deterred by the ‘second album problem’ and, although not as heavy & exciting as ‘1’, this is Riff City in top gear, with great production sound.‘D.O.A’ is a crunching riff, ‘Dance …’ (probably a radio Hard rock hit) & ‘Light up the sky’ are my personal favourites. Guitar overdubs are not evident but then Michael Anthony was an innovative & dynamic bassist who adds real depth to the sound. Finally, the drummer & vocalist pack musical punches too.

Just as good as their debut album

A classic - pure 80's pop metal with a sense of humour and some fantastic guitar playing. You can almost hear the fun they had making this. And when Eddie was asked to play Eruption on a classical guitar he came up with Spanish Fly. Genius. Often mimicked, never surpassed.

Play it Loud and Dave Lee Roth will blow your mind.....