[sphill]

Over the past couple of weeks I have found myself listening to some Gary/Van Halen 1998 shows. (Thanks again Evh51501008) I was fortunate to see one show in Sydney and like mainy fans I was initially drawn to Gary's movements around the stage and did not really listen to his interpretation of some classic Dave era tunes. Now that I have some of the shows I can listen now with a more critical ear.

In my opinion, Gary did a bang up job of some Dave material. It was great to hear these again and when I compare his version(s) to some of the other Dave bootlegs I have he does a remarkable job on them.

Some may say better, but lets not start that war.:chucks:

Question is. "Which Dave/Sammy song do you feel Gary did a great job on when he fronted Van Halen live?"

My choice- Mean Streets.:bannana_g
His version has real menace about it. Listen to the versions on "Live at the 10 spot" and "Wolfgang Attacks" bootegs to refresh your memory.

What are your choices and why?
:jot:

 

[Stiglar]

aint talkin bout love was always pretty cool . and romeo delight ..

i know this is sposed tobe a positive thread but i always hated his verison of panama just really rubbed me the wrong way for some reason .

 

[sphill]

No problem Stig mate.
"If the shoe don't fit then kick the bastard off and tell us why it hurt.":ball:
Myself, I always found the Dance the Night Away/Feel your love suffered. Sounded like a bar singer on those. :icon_eek:

 

[Mr. Beasty]

Gary

IMHO ... Gary was the ideal singer for VH ... he had Dave's energy and Sammy's vocal range ... VH3 could have been better and I wish he would have stuck around for one more record ... live, he certainely kick DLR and Hagar's asses!! ... if you have seen DLR live recently you know what I mean.

Plus Gary did not have the whole egomaniac thing going either, so he sang from all of VH's catalog and did extremely well. I am a DLR area fan at 125% but these days are long gone and to me Gary Cherone was the next best thing.


My $0.02!

Gary, Gary, Gary!

 

[VanMan2000]

Live kicks Dave and Sammy's ass? Huh?

 

[bottagetta]

I've been listening to III more lately. Prolly cause it's the nearest thing to new music from Van Halen in a decade. I've given it more than a casual listen of late, and I still cannot get into it for the most part..There are some good songs on that album, YTTD, Once, Without You...

On tour the band was incredibly tight. I was a little disturbed by Gary's dancing and stuff which was a little weird to me..I could'nt understand his lyrics on the album very well either. I wish they would have given him another album. Perhaps things would have stabilized and VH would have kept on making music.

 

[Stiglar]

I really liked VH3 for the most part ... jospehina still holds up as one of my fave vh tunes .. i much prefer pretty much any of the songs on that album than the new stuff they put on the greatest hits .. it really grew on me after a few listens

 

[KC_ArtRocker]

IMHO ... Gary was the ideal singer for VH ... he had Dave's energy and Sammy's vocal range ... VH3 could have been better and I wish he would have stuck around for one more record ... live, he certainely kick DLR and Hagar's asses!! ... if you have seen DLR live recently you know what I mean.

Plus Gary did not have the whole egomaniac thing going either, so he sang from all of VH's catalog and did extremely well. I am a DLR area fan at 125% but these days are long gone and to me Gary Cherone was the next best thing.


My $0.02!

Gary, Gary, Gary!

Wow, I love it when someone posts my exact thoughts before I get a chance to do so. Saves me a lot of typing!

I thought that III was a great album and I have listened to it, all the way through, many, many times. For me, the reason I liked Gary so much fell into 2 categories. He was very good for Eddie as a person and as a co-writer and he had more substance/depth than Sammy/Dave. Correct me if I am not accurate here, but I think that Eddie was sober during the making of III, and Gary seemed to be a much more pure, less agressive soul, compared to Dave or Sammy that it seemed like Eddie was a much happier person working with someone who was not pushy or ego-driven, and a lot of beatiful and creative music flowed out of that chemistry. "Josephina" is like no other Van Halen song that I can think of as far as melodic and beautiful music with lyrical content that has a bit of substance and depth to it. And there are at least four scorching rockers on that album.

The reason that I think Gary was probably not a successful fit for Van Halen was that he was just a bit too far removed from the Van Halen "brand." He was a bit more sensitive and had more depth/substance (as far as lyrics) than either Dave or Sammy (IMO) and did not fit the more macho, party, sex, jack daniels, food/sex metaphors :drunk: lyrical content that his predecessors liked to sing about (which I always disliked that part of Van Halen, more the Sammy than the Dave). I think that if they would have had that line-up for III, but treated it like a side project with a different band name, and marketed it as something outside of Van Halen, it very well may have been more accepted and successful. The music was there. I recently listened to Balance and OU812 and I could take the memorable songs from both those albums and it would equal the number of strong tunes that I thought were on III. I know that many will disagree with a lot of what I wrote here, but that is where I am coming from anyway. :icon_peac I would really have liked to hear a second effort from that line up before running him out of Dodge City.

 

[limpkornbizkit61]

Honestly guys i dont see much that was bad about Gary. In fact (i hope i dont get crucified for this one) i would have almost rather seen gary come back with the guys then sammy. He seemed like his head was on him more, had a sense of how to write music and lyrics, where as sammy (i like sammy and all so dont take me that im hating on him) kinda seemed like he was writting to fit into the previous "van halen" theme. If you listen to sammy's solo stuff before van halen his writting seemed a lot better and more focused, where as his van halen lyrics kinda lacked. But gary was pretty good about the writting. The only thing i wish he would have kicked more on was Year To The Day. I love the chorus for that song, it just kicks ass. But the verse is just........blah. You cant understand him at all. I wish he would have got something better going for that. The rest of the album kicks though, the riff for fire in the hole is crazy.

As for the live performances i cant say too much cause i never was able to go when gary was the front man. I have heard the boot's from the 98 tour and it seems like gary acctually performed the songs and such. Where as i have one of the 04 boots and sammy hardly sings at all. Don't get me wrong, having fan interaction is good, i mean if i was up there and the singer let me sing the interlude to panama i would shit myself. But sammy tends to go.......over board with it.

But whenever someone asks me the question of who do u go for, ive said it once and ill say it again, as long as eddie, alex and mickey are there thats all i need, shoot, put out an instrumental album and ill be fine :jam:

 

[SuckaInA3Piece]

I thought what Gary did best on the Dave/Sam stuff was just be himself. He wasn't singing them as if he was playing in a cover band, he was singing those songs as Gary Cherone would have. The songs I thought he did best were Mean Streets, and actually, I don't think he did the Sam stuff too well. Maybe Right Now, but alot of that Sam stuff is pretty tough vocally. He gave it a good go though, and I'll respect him for that.

 

[jacob5150]

its so refreshing to read this positve posts, no one gives Gary enough credit, i personaly love VH3...Dirty Water Dog is my favorite song on the album, and How Many Say I is second...everyone despices that song, i think its for a couple of reasons:

1. Its just something Van Halen NEVER did before
2. Edward on lead vocals, the first, the guy doesn't have a bad voice, just really different
3. No guitar, so a lot of Ed fans will reject it right off the bat

i love Edward as a guitarist and a musician, i love How Many Say I, i actually just had a piano recital in school yesturday, and i played that for my piece:thumb: its tough, but man its fun to mute and hit that really low Bb and C string:rock:

 

[SuckaInA3Piece]

You know what Jacob, I actually found that tab for you and totally forgot to tell ya!:doh: If you still want the tab for How Many Say I, let me know and I'll get it to ya.

Gary rocks man, and I actually like that song alot too. Ed on lead vox? Yea, I can dig it man. It aint about tryin to sing, it's about Ed gettin up there and expressin himself, and I thought it was damn cool. It took alot of balls for him to take a left turn like that on VH3. I love the guy for it, because that's what music is about..taking chances.

 

[jacob5150]

sure i'll take it, i also wish i had a keyboard or piano with 88 keys so i could record the song, my keyboard is too crappy, but figuring this is guitars101 ..:lol: who ever plays keyboard/piano and is a VH fan i recomend playing this song, its so fun, i'll tell you the chord progression if anyone needs it, i listened to that song like 1000 times to learn it

 

[Geordie]

Gary can sing !!!! Sammy has a voice which is unique!!! Dave......well!!! Sorry guys but he WAS a good front man with a shite voice but now....he is just all round SHITE !!!!

 

[Roy Bratbakken]

I thought Gary sang pretty good!

Trouble though, was that he sounded a little like Sammy, only not quite as good.
Gary sounded kinda similar, but without the natural energy, power and edge that Sammy has, so what the fans got was a halfass-version of Sammy.

In my opinion, they shoulda gone the other way and gotten somebody with a totally different voice, like John Corabi or somebody like that.

That's what I think!
Roy.

 

[Guest]

I thought that III was a great album and I have listened to it, all the way through, many, many times.

The reason that I think Gary was probably not a successful fit for Van Halen was that he was just a bit too far removed from the Van Halen "brand." He was a bit more sensitive and had more depth/substance (as far as lyrics) than either Dave or Sammy (IMO) and did not fit the more macho, party, sex, jack daniels, food/sex metaphors :drunk: lyrical content that his predecessors liked to sing about

EXACTLY - The direction changed (right down to the clothing worn on stage)but the great musicianship remained. They were a a grown up more sophisticated band. THAT shocked many, and some people (as we are well aware) could not deal with the change.
Cheers to Van Halen III and the great stuff Gary contributed. It's a big shame that the MIGHTY Van Halen seems to have written that era out completely, kind of shallow if you ask me, and I'm a fanatic....
FIRE IN THE HOLE!

 

[Rocker35]

I've seen/heard quite a few VHIII shows and one things for sure, the band were as tight as a nuns underwear and Eddie never sounded better. Plus, they did a good mix of Dave era classics along with the best of the Sammy stuff and the songs from VHIII. 'Nuff said!!!!

 

[jacob5150]

i'm lovin how everyone has the same view as me, its great, the respect Gary is getting that he deserves:thumbup:

 

[oaks]

Josephina!!! That is a great song on the album. I think Gary did a great job on that one. I love the live version that they did throughout the 98 tour. The whole sit down and play the guitar and sing was a nice change that worked for me. They also rocked out on the dave songs that they did

 

[vanhalenrock]

I agree i thought he really captured the atmosphere of Mean Streets during the 1998 tour, i've heard a few bootlegs from that tour and each time i hear his Mean Streets it blows my mind how well he can do it.