March 26, 1980 - Women And Children First

Two months after my last release and a year after "Van Halen II", Van Halen released their third album "Women And Children First" on March 26, 1980. This album sees Eddie Van Halen use keyboards as well as his lead guitar and also has less backing vocals, giving it less of a pop-y feel and more like hard rock. I'm not sure how I feel about Eddie not playing guitar but I like the sound of heavier music as I thought their last album was a bit pop-y. Let's give it a listen!

The album kicks off with it's lead single "And The Cradle Will Rock..." and it opens with a pretty cool guitar riff by Eddie Van Halen as they settle into a slow main riff with David Lee Roth doing some of his typical high yelps. Roth sings an alright verse with lyrics written from the point of view of parents who are concerned about their teenage son. The chorus is short, but it's pretty catchy as Roth ends it with a smooth "rock on". After another verse and chorus Eddie goes off for a nice guitar solo that ends really quietly. We hear Roth say "Have you seen Junior's grades?" as the same cool opening riff returns and leads into another guitar solo that might be even better than the first one! They resume a final verse and proceed ro jam out the chorus several times until the song slowly fades to an end. I always find jamming out the chorus over and over to be unimaginative and stale and this is no exception. The next song is called "Everybody Wants Some!!" and Alex Van Halen plays a cool drum opening to this one as Roth seems to be making monkey noises and howling for some reason. Eddie and Michael Anthony join in with some slow, epic notes as Alex continues to drive this minute-plus opening. Once they finally get to the verse Roth sings over a nice bass riff by Anthony while Eddie comes in and out with some wicked guitar. They move quickly into another easy sing-along chorus as Roth sounds pretty good leading another party jam. After a couple more goes through they break for a "guitar solo" but it's a pretty tame one, especially for Eddie. They play another chorus after this underwhelming bit and it's back to just Alex playing the same opening drum beat. Roth rambles on about what he likes women to wear and he sounds pretty honest! I love when he says "no no no no no don't take 'em off, leave 'em on". After this humorous part they resume the catchy chorus and after a couple goes through we hear Roth let a couple really high yells loose! The song fades out and the last thing we hear him say is "I'll pay you for it, what the fuck". Not a big fan of that last line but otherwise a decent song. Track 3 is "Fools" and Eddie opens it with some nice quick guitar as Roth is basically moaning. After this odd beginning Eddie goes off for an early solo overtop of some epic drums by brother Alex and he rips off some really great stuff! He goes crazy fast at times and slows it down for some nice effect as well as I think this sounds pretty good. He segues nicely into some new heavy guitar and the rhythm section joins him to form this bouncing main riff. Roth sings nicely along to the beat about not wanting to go to school or do any really work as Eddie plays some solid guitar. Eddie echoes Roth in the chorus as his voice gets higher as this sounds like a classic Van Halen song. Eddie plays a nice solo that fits the mood well but it's fairly short as it's back to the chorus. Once again they jam out the main riff several times over to end the song as Roth provides some scat-like vocals and a few of his typical yelps. The first side ends with "Romeo Delight" which also sounds instantly like a Van Halen song with a fast rock beat and another cool guitar riff. Anthony copies the same riff and it's his bass that keeps the pace as Eddie wahs and fades his guitar and Roth sings n his usual lax style. Eddie plays some more cool stuff in the chorus and Roth's quick vocals sound pretty good. After another verse and chorus Eddie reels off a sweet guitar solo as he continues to show that he has some one-of-a-kind talent! After this blistering solo it quiets down to a basic rhythm section before Eddie returns with a new light guitar riff. This part seems out of place I think and it doesn't really seem to go anywhere. It just lightly meanders along before they return to the main verse and chorus again. I thought this was easily the weakest song on this side but they do end it with a nice rock and roll flourish that has some great guitar, bass and drums! 

The second side starts with a short song, the one minute "Tora! Tora!" and it has a trippy opening before a shot of a cannon silences things for a couple of seconds. A slow, epic riff emerges as Alex plays some cool drums and Eddie plays some epic guitar and this leads right into another short song titled "Loss Of Control". Eddie kicks right into things as he plays some incredibly fast stuff in a really cool opening. They move into the verse which is led by a simpler but still quick guitar riff as Roth sounds like he's talking through a radio. As the awesome guitar returns Roth sings in his usual voice a very quick verse. Eddie's guitar is phenomenal in this one and whenever he turns it up he really gets shredding! After another quick verse/chorus Eddie delivers a solo that is unsurprisingly pretty sweet! It's pretty heavy and I think it sounds great! They play a final verse and chorus and Roth yelps and screams as Eddie plays some more sweet guitar to wrap up this awesome little song. Track 7 is called "Take Your Whiskey Home" and Eddie plays some nice solo acoustic guitar as Roth sings nicely overtop. It's just the two of them for this opening verse and chorus and after Roth sings the name of the song Eddie switches to electric guitar but plays the same riff. It sounds pretty great in both modes but this electric main riff sounds like classic Van Halen. Anthony's backing bass is solid as well and after an electric chorus Eddie plays a short but wicked guitar bit before they resume the main riff. After another verse and chorus Eddie's second solo is longer than the first as he reels off some more amazing guitar. They jam the main riff a couple more times after the solo but the song ends kind of abruptly and it's off to the next one, "Could This Be Magic?" Roth joins Eddie on acoustic guitar for this song and the two of them sound really nice together! Roth plays a simpler rhythm guitar riff while Eddie plays a much faster acoustic part that meshes really well together. Roth begins some nice vocals as it's just the two of them for pretty much the whole song! Eddie and Anthony both sing some low backing vocals in the chorus as Roth sings the name of the album: "better save the women and children first". This kind of reminds me of "Ice Cream Man" from their first album; it's a song with a different feel to it but they do it really well as they keep this nice acoustic riff going. After another cool verse and chorus Eddie plays a short acoustic solo that is pretty good but I feel he could've done even more. They play a final chorus and this cool little song also ends abruptly. The album closer is called "In A Simple Rhyme" and it begins like it might be a sappy, slow love song but Alex starts up a fast drumbeat and things turn into a more conventional Van Halen riff with Eddie playing some nice guitar and Roth singing in his typical high vocals. He sounds pretty good leading the way and they return to the slower riff for a rather bland chorus. I was hoping that was a tease at other bands at the beginning, but it's actually the chorus which is a little sad. The verse sounds pretty great but after the second chorus they slow it down even more as they move into a slow, dreamy new riff that sounds pretty pop-y. It's alright but it's not what I'm looking for from Van Halen. They return to the faster riff and Anthony is playing a nice bass riff that backs a pretty sweet guitar solo! Eddie plays some great stuff as usual and then they return to the slow chorus and the dreamy part once again. The song seems to fade to an end, but it comes thundering back in with a nice new heavy guitar riff! This sounds pretty sweet, but it only lasts 10 seconds or so, and then the song actually is over! Seems like they should've saved that riff for a different song; an odd way to end one of the odder songs on this record.

That is the end of "Women And Children First" and I thought overall it was a pretty solid album. Eddie Van Halen is one of the best guitarists around for sure and aside from a couple weaker songs most of them were pretty great. I don't think it was close to the explosiveness that their debut album had but I think it easily surpasses their previous effort, coming in at number two. Not a bad place to be and I hope they continue to improve their next time out!