Blogcritics Comments on Is Less More?

Comment by Taloran on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 19:45:14 EST

I've never been a fan of Van Halen, but I'd love to hear an Eddie solo album. If he surrounded himself with virtuosos (or is it virtuosi?) and let them influence the way the music was played, it could be truly inspiring.

Comment by duane on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 18:31:34 EST

On the other hand, if you're using a guitar to mimic a voice, why not just get a vocalist? The guitar is a pretty versatile instrument, but it's often a good thing to make it sound like a guitar. Vai can make his guitar sound like a horse (Bad Horsey), but I'm not sure that's the best use of the instrument. Satriani is a hell of a guitarist, but with Vai we have another case of the student surpassing the teacher. Tom I don't understand how you can like Satriani, but not Vai. Isn't that like saying that April is your favorite month, but that you hate May? Wanky? I don't get it.

Comment by Tom Johnson on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 17:39:26 EST

Satriani's one of the few rock instrumental guitar gods whose albums have, for me, maintained an even, high quality throughout his career. He peaked with Surfing With The Alien, of course, but I think his post-Alien output has been more even and interesting, actually. I can't say the same thing of Steve Vai, whose solo albums I repeatedly check out and wind up trading in because they're just too wanky. Satch . . . he's like listening to a singer whose voice is made of guitar strings. I never tire of him. I'd welcome a EVH solo album. I'm not sure he has enough to say in that spotlight, however. Satch is great because his guitar mimics singing, but I don't know that Eddie's talent lies in filling in the spots a singer would normally occupy. His solo pieces on the VH albums were great, of course, but maybe they were great precisely because they were occasional things.

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 16:04:39 EST

that totally depends on what he comes up with. all solo guitar records do not sound like vai/satriani/malmsteen. in theory.

Comment by Craig Lyndall on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 16:00:07 EST

Wouldn't this fall under the masturbation category that Eric mentioned previously?

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:58:48 EST

i've always wished for an eddie solo instrumental album. could be great. could suck (tho i sort of doubt it).

Comment by TDavid on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:56:25 EST

This might sound farfetched but I still believe a reunion is possible. Dave dropped his lawsuit against the boys. Wouldn't that be sweet?! I don't think it would last because of conflicting egos, but damn would it be a good album and tour while it lasted.

Comment by Craig Lyndall on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:52:57 EST

Whether he has run out of things to say or not, he doesn't have a suitable mouthpiece anymore. People either loved or hated Sammy, and nobody even bothered to listen to Gary Cherone. If nobody is listening, are you saying anything at all? Without a lead singer EVH is lost. Ask the DeLeo brothers from STP or Slash for that matter.

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:49:39 EST

it's hard to say. i didn't think he came up with much of anything interesting in most of the hagar years....and the only thing i remember about vh3 was that i didn't like cherone's voice (that, and i thought the cover photo was just plain stupid) now that i've said that, i'm gonna make myself listen to it tonight.

Comment by TDavid on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:44:08 EST

My original point about Van Halen remains: In the 2000+ days since they've done anything musically I refuse to believe Eddie has let the 5150 studio gather dust. And since he created great songs before, one could argue that he could do it again. I don't think time has anything to do with his ability or foreshadows his ability to write/release some great music in the future. Time with Michael Jordan had everything to do with it. He didn't have the skills he had in his prime. He got old. Not the end of the world. It happens to all of us. Stephen King has said that he is going to stop writing because he has run out of things to say. I don't believe this, but I can understand from a prolific writer like him that a break from the action might make some of future work better. I don't think a writer can ever quit writing until they are physically unable to put pen to paper (or finger to key) or speech to type ... or however they generate their work. I don't think for a minute musically Van Halen has run out of things to say. Am I in the minority on this belief?

Comment by Eric Olsen on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:07:59 EST

as we have reductio'd this absurdum ad nauseum in the past, I will boil down my position: technique for its own sake is masturbation technique harnessed to expression is sublime but you have to have something to say in the first place

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 15:07:24 EST

despite ev's obvious soloing prowess, what really drew me to the vh sound was the rhythm guitar....Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, Jamie's Crying, I'm The One...all on the first release...had killer riffs.

Comment by Craig Lyndall on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:59:35 EST

My problem is that a lot of these guys who are considered "great" guitar players are shredders who are unlistenable to me. I won't consider someone a good guitar player if what they produce is unlistenable to me. Sure they are supposed to play their instrument with the most technical ability possible, but if the end result is unlistenable, are you really a good player? I don't think so. It is an opinion point and I obviously don't agree with a lot of people. That's fine.

Comment by duane on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:50:11 EST

This argument of EVH vs. Cobain just kills me. I don't see how there could be any disagreement about this at all. Are you guys arguing about which of those two is the better guitarist or which of those two is a better songwriter, or what? Imagine, say ten years ago, Eddie invites Kurt over to his place for a little jam session. You're invited to come over and hang around and watch. Who on Earth is going to tell me that you would see Kurt matching Eddie in any department having to do with guitar playing? Kurt is a strummer, Eddie is a fucking virtuoso. Don't be absurd. An analogy: imagine some guy saying that he is a better driver than Al Unser, Jr. You say, "You're nuts!" He says, "Al just drives around an oval...how boring...I don't like where he drives. I drive along the shore, through winding mountain passes, places that I like. That makes me a better driver." It's an absurd argument.

Comment by Craig Lyndall on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:49:36 EST

I vote for BRICKLAYER to suck it up and join so we can read full posts from him. Although if you are talking about Blood Sugar Sex Magik, I don't agree with you.

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:46:36 EST

comment #40 is yet another reason why we've gotta get Barger to hogtie BRICKLAYER into being a friggin' blogcritic.

Comment by BRICKLAYER on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:32:59 EST

I remember many years ago, like maybe 10 years or so, the Chili Peppers put out this one album, I can't remember the name of it, as my friend borrowed it and never gave it back (If I see that cowboy, he's a goner, for sure!) and it just went on and on forever. And I said to the future Mrs. Bricklayer at that time: "This would have been a great EP, but it is a crappy album. Just because a cd hold 90 minutes is no reason to fill them all up!" The future Mrs. Bricklayer nodded her head in agreement before going back to watching Touched by an Angel.

Comment by Craig Lyndall on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:26:03 EST

I can understand all that you are saying with the exception of the last sentence. I don't think his ability and innovation make him a greater guitarist than Clapton or Cobain. That is the opinion portion of this argument and I still feel the guitar playing of many other guitarists a lot more than I do EVH's.

Comment by Eric Olsen on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:21:55 EST

JR, I agree with most of what you say about Eddie, and the examples you cite are kiler, but that is why overall I am so disappointed with him and VH in general, because so much of what he has doen doesn't have those kinds of moments - he and they have coasted way too often.

Comment by JR on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:17:04 EST

John Brim's version of "Ice Cream Man" can be heard on the "Chess Blues" box set. For my part, I don't just like EVH's playing for his skill; I think he's written and played some fantastic music. I like Eric Clapton and Nirvana well enough. But for me, something like the solo on "Push Comes to Shove" just has this sound, an intensity and strange beauty that Kurt Cobain or Eric Clapton have never approached. Likewise the face-melting tip-toe of the first eight bars of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Or the thundering ray-of-sunshine riff to "Dance the Night Away". And there's no denying the songcraft of even such raised-lighter classics like "Love Walks In" and "When It's Love" and "Right Now" from the crime against nature that was Van Hagar. What I like about Eddie Van Halen has little to do with technical ability. There are any number of guitarists since then who have surpassed EVH in technique; but I still get off on the sheer enthusiasm, the oddball cleverness and the edge-of-the-seat intensity of his solos. He's the Charlie Parker of rock. It's not his technique, it's what he does with it. I can understand not liking Van Halen's music; to each his own. But don't pretend that those of us who do only like it because of EVH's technical ability. And don't kid yourself that his ability and innovation don't make him a greater guitarist than Clapton or Cobain regardless of who's more popular right now.

Comment by Craig Lyndall on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 13:21:22 EST

My take on the guitar thing is that the ability to shred is weighted far far lower on the scale for me than the ability to write and play good parts. I feel like there are guitar players with much less technical ability (like Kurt Cobain) who wrote much better parts than Eddie Van Halen ever did. I don't blame anyone for liking music for whatever reason they want, but I can't handle some of this misdirected technical ability.

Comment by Taloran on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 13:21:07 EST

Says on allmusic.com that Ice Cream Man was written by Brim. Allmusic says about John Brim -

John Brim may be best-known for writing and cutting the original "Ice Cream Man" that David Lee Roth and Van Halen covered on their first album. That's a pity, for the seriously under-recorded Brim made some exceptionally hard-nosed waxings...."

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 13:15:23 EST

wasn't that by Elmore James?

Comment by Taloran on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 13:06:48 EST

Ice Cream Man is my favorite VH song. Dunno if they wrote it though.

Comment by Mark Saleski on Is Less More?

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:55:04 EST

you're probably right about that eric...though there is some cool stuff on Woman & Children first.