VAN HALEN NEWS DESK

Esquire praises Fair Warning

March 12, 2009 63 Comments

Esquire lists The 75 Albums Every Man Should Own, an “unranked, incomplete, yet highly tasteful and informative list of the records your music collection requires.”

Van Halen’s Fair Warning made the list. All they had to say about the album was, “The least commercially successful album from the David Lee Roth years. And the best.”

Filed Under: Van Halen

David Alexander Toluca Lake

Hear About it Later guitar intro, best flanged guitar sound ever.

And I wish Donn Landee would get his due for his being the 5th part in the early Van Halen record sound.
http://vanhalennewsdesk doug

LET’S NOT FORGET MICHAEL ANTHONY! HIS BEST WORK WAS ON THIS ALBUM! FUCKING AWESOME AND UNTOUCHABLE! “HEAR ABOUT IT LATER” IS ONE OF THE BEST ROTH VOCALS EVER!
alexandre

i’m never tired of watchin’ unchained in Okland 1981 on You tube. Best live video i ever see!!!
ringostore

If only Eddie and Dave could do this again for the “supposed” next album. No commercialism, just raw energy. All Eddie has to do is practice practice practice.
Rocko

IF they tour next year, they should start of with Mean Street then end it with Unchained
Ozzy

I was 13 years old when I heard “fair Warning” for the first time…….. it changed my life forever!
I´m very grateful to be a VH fan ever since, but it´s a damn shame that all things went very wrong the last 10 years.
Eddie, make us proud to be a VH fan with youre next album!
Fair Warning II (?).
Ozzy

ohhh yessss!
paul wilkinson

and to think ed nearly quit around this time.glad he didnt.always been my favourit album
LRC

As mentioned, great tunes with exceptional guitar work. The rythm playing behind the versus etc are masterful. Some of the time changes during the solos etc are brilliant. This should be in every student guitar players must have. Listen to the swinging rythm guitar behind the versus in Unchanined,totally in the pocket and light years ahead of the standard rock chords players of that era were chunking out (not that there is anything wrong with that.) Most songs of that era (and this even) would take you five minutes to work out the rythm tracks and a little longer to work out the solos, this album will keep you working on all aspects, and even then you may get the notes but the feel and groove will??
Dave Gunger

HAPPY 18TH WOLF!!!!!!!!!
RickieVanWhalen

Fair Warning is the greatest technical guitar playing album of all time. PERIOD. There is simply not an accurate guitar tab for half of this material. Can you play “one foot out the door” – HOLY SMOKE!
Dave

‘One Foot out the Door’ has got to rank as one of the best EVH jams ever in my opinion; also, an interesting key / time base this song is played…..the rest of the album is top notch as well.
http://www.visionarycinema.com Scott Essman

From the riveting opening fade in of MEAN STREETS to the pounding of that song to the decadent DIRTY MOVIES and the killer hard rock of SINNER’S SWING, HEAR ABOUT IT LATER, UNCHAINED and SO THIS IS LOVE?… this is a nearly perfect album… even the ballad PUSH COMES TO SHOVE and the bizarre SUNDAY IN THE PARK and ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR are good moments… but this entire album is so dark, brooding, and musically note-for-note spot on, it ranks as one of the best albums ever and certainly the best VH album… their absolute peak… got it when I was 14 and nearly 30 years later, it’s still my favorite album… when they played MEAN STREET at the reunion shows last year, I was 14 again. There isn’t a false moment on this whole album. Beat for beat it’s the band’s finest hour… a few moments on W&CF compare plus the DIVER DOWN originals… several songs on VH and VHII are up to these, but the dark tone of this album can’t be matched. I am so glad to see so many classic VH fans agree… 1984 is often listed by “critics” as the best VH record… they obviously didn’t listen to the first four records very much… 1984 is their WORST album and I still love many tracks… but it doesn’t hold a candle to the first four and FAIR WARNING is definitely far better than any other to anyone who’s paying attention. The fact that it’s their worst selling album says a lot about what the general public knows about music made by true musicians for people with the highest musical tastes. Submitted respectfully by a VH fan for 30 years next year!!!