April 29, 1981 - Fair Warning

Two and a half months after my last release, and just over a year since "Women And Children First" Van Halen released their fourth album "Fair Warning" on April 29, 1981. While still doing well commercially, this album far undersold any of their first three albums. We shouldn't judge things on commercial success though; their second album sold very well and I thought it was a big letdown! Let's see what I think of this...

I just wrote my entire paragraph for side one, and then deleted it all into the abyss! I am terribly frustrated that I do not have a full overview of this first side but Eddie Van Halen continues to be the highlight as he plays lots of cool guitar. I thought the first three songs were decent enough but they all left something to be desired. The last song "Hear About It Later" was my favourite but nothing was really game-changing here. 

Side two begins with the big hit single off this album, titled "Unchained". They start with the chorus riff as Eddie plays some nice catchy guitar overtop a decent rhythm section. After a wordless chorus they move into the first verse as Roth sings nicely in his usual style and Eddie plays a new guitar riff that sounds pretty sweet. After a quickly sung verse they return to the chorus with Roth singing overtop this time. It's a pretty catchy chorus and it's hard not to join in when everyone sings "chained" and it's no surprise this would be a good choice for a single. They play another solid verse and chorus and that's followed by a short but pretty great guitar solo. As usual Eddie plays some crazy fast stuff that sounds pretty sweet and it leads right back into another chorus before things get a bit quiet. Roth does some of his rambling/talking vocals and he sounds cool as usual. At one point he says "you'll get some leg tonight for sure!" Always sex on the brain with Roth. They return to the catchy chorus after this interlude and they jam it out a few times while Eddie does a bit soloing overtop before he brings this pretty cool song to a close. Up next is "Push Comes To Shove" and Anthony leads the way on this one with a nice groovy bass line as Roth starts off with some more rambling/talking, looking for cigarettes and alcohol by the sound of it. Eddie eventually joins in with a simple but decent guitar riff as they move into the first verse. Roth sings in a nice voice that's a bit lower than usual for him as Eddie adds some nice little licks at the end of every few bars. They continue to jam out this riff and play a couple verses but this is very slow-paced for Van Halen. After a couple minutes Eddie starts a guitar solo while Roth sings "push" and "shove" lightly in the background. He starts things off slow but eventually ramps up into a pretty great solo that is definitely the highlight of this tune. Eddie segues nicely back into the main riff as they play a couple final verses and this song fades to a close. Track 7 is "So This Is Love?" and Anthony plays a nice bassline to lead the way as Eddie and Alex both play some light stuff. Roth begins to sing right away and his quick vocals sound pretty good overtop this toe-tapping beat. They move into a catchy chorus that sounds reminiscent of the hits on their first album with Eddie and Anthony singing the name of the song in the background while Roth sings his own bit. Things sound pretty great and very smooth as they play another nice verse and chorus and it's time for the obligatory guitar solo. Eddie fires off another awesome solo as he just knows all the best things to play. Anthony continues his nice bassline and they segue nicely back into the chorus at the end of the solo. In typical Van Halen fashion, they jam out the chorus riff as Eddie does some cool soloing overtop and Roth does his rambling vocals. They end it on a nice note and it's easy to see why this was chosen as the other single off this album. The last two songs are both only two minutes long, starting with "Sunday Afternoon In The Park". Eddie plays some synthesizers on this song, but they're not your typical 80s synths as we hear a very low, kind of computer-y noise that sounds pretty heavy! Alex plays some slow epic drums and Anthony plays some low bass and things sound almost like a sci-fi movie scene. It's very unlike their usual style, but I love how heavy it sounds! Eddie plays the lowest notes that synth can play, bit finally does go up the scale for a cool little synth bit. After his little solo he returns to the low, crazy notes and it sounds so cool, I love it! As things are fading out we hear Eddie start a fast, new synth riff that leads right into the final track "One Foot Out The Door". It's a pretty cool synthesizer riff and Roth starts singing quickly overtop in a solid verse. As solid as the synths sound, I would still rather have Eddie play the same riff on guitar; he seems to be a pretty decent keyboard player as well, but he's an elite guitarist and this riff has no guitar at all. Alex throws in a couple cool drum fills but the chorus is just like the verse led by the same synth riff. Eddie finally does play some guitar as he starts to solo overtop the main riff. His guitar is superb as always but I am not a big fan of this more 80s style riff with the synths. He continues to solo as things begin a slow fade and eventually bring this album to an end. That is the end of "Fair Warning" and I thought it was a decent album, but not a great one. I still enjoyed it for sure and Eddie Van Halen continues to play some great guitar solos, but the overall quality was songs was down I thought and there wasn't anything really captivating. I thought "Van Halen II" was also a step down after it's preceding album, but I'm afraid that this newest record occupies the bottom rung on the ladder. If the pattern follows though, their next album should be pretty great! I hope so!