Label: Warner Records (US), 25394-2
Style: Hard Rock, Arena Rock
Country: Pasadena, California, U.S.
Time: 43:16
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 299 Mb
Charts:
US #1, CAN #2, AUS #5, SWI #16, AUT #13, NLD #30, SWE #2, NOR #5, GER
#11, NZ #13, UK #16. UK: Silver; GER: Gold; AUS: 2x Platinum; CAN: 3x
Platinum; US: 6x Platinum.
Between 1980 & 1982, Van Halen was
probably among my top 5 favorite bands, but I had lost interest by the
time they released their final album with David Lee Roth, 1984. Many
fans consider it the pinnacle of their career, and it was their
highest-charting and best-selling record, but I guess my musical tastes
changed and I had grown tired of DLR’s shtick. Two years later I was
eager to embrace the next chapter in the Van Halen saga when it was
announced that Sammy Hagar would take over as lead vocalist. It would be
many years later that I discovered the band that put him on the map,
Montrose, but I was already a Hagar fan thanks to his excellent 1981
solo album, Standing Hampton, so I knew he could deliver the goods as a
singer and guitarist. Song-for-song, 5150 is by far my favorite album of
the “Van Hagar” years. The synths & keyboards that had begun to
infiltrate their sound on the previous couple of records were prominent
on the first single, “Why Can’t This Be Love,” as well as the ballad
that blew me away the first time I heard it, “Love Walks In.” All the
elements that made me fall in love with Van Halen as a 13-year-old…Eddie
Van Halen’s guitar wizardry, Alex Van Halen’s propulsive one-of-a-kind
drumming and Michael Anthony’s solid bass playing & inimitable high
harmonies…were still on full display throughout the album. With songs
like the soaring “Dreams,” the stomping “Best Of Both Worlds” and the
super-catchy “Summer Nights,” the “pop” element that had always been a
part of their hard rock sound took center stage, but they still
maintained their headbanging credentials on tracks like “Good Enough”
and “Get Up.” The thin production by Donn Landee and Foreigner’s Mick
Jones is probably my only complaint about 5150. It’s not bad but often
the songs lack the punch and live-in-the-studio feel that longtime
producer Ted Templeman brought to their previous albums.
(kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/thirty-year-thursday-van-halen-5150/)
01. Good Enough (04:04)
02. Why Can’t This Be Love (03:48)
03. Get Up (04:37)
04. Dreams (04:52)
05. Summer Nights (05:07)
06. Best of Both Worlds (04:49)
07. Love Walks In (05:11)
08. '5150' (05:44)
09. Inside (05:02)
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