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Esquire praises Fair Warning

March 12, 2009 63 Comments

Fair Warning CDEsquire 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
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  • SCAR

    Fair Warning is a great party album!!!! We need more beer!!!

  • ikethebird

    Push comes to shove solo is never ranked in top 100.What a crock.

  • PJ

    “The least commercially successful album from the David Lee Roth years. And the best.”
    Hits the nail right on the head.

  • MICAL VEE

    The first tour i saw VH on was the fair warning album and could have been their best tour together!!!!

  • Erick

    ABSOLUTELY, GREAT ALBUM !!!

  • Garrett

    My personal favorite since childhood…to this day I can’t get over the lead line in “So this is Love?”

  • Mark

    “Alright you sinners swing!”
    Great tune, Great ALBUM!

    Party time.

  • Beau

    I love this album – some very great tunes all around! I heard during the making of this album that things started to go sour between EVH and Mikey. Is that true, ir just another rumor?

  • Mitch

    You can’t deny VhI. But, for overall listening, not tired, I killed this album,playing/listening, Fair Warning is my choice for early VH albums.

  • Mitch

    p.s. oh, yeah. . . so this is love

  • Jeff

    Always my VH favorite, as is the single “Unchained”.

  • Rocko

    One of three of the best Van Halen albums from the Roth Era. Next to Van Halen’s Debut and 1984

  • Big Blue

    See, a gun is real easy…
    In this desperate part of town…
    Turns you from hunted into hunter…
    Go and hunt somebody down…
    Somebody said “Fair Warning!”…
    Lord, strike that poor boy down…

  • Rocko

    Unchained Rules!!!

  • larrytech

    my 1st concert was the fair warning tour. 6/21/81 at the L.A. forum, 6th row floor in front of eddie. i was 12 years old. i remember they were SO LOUD!!! to this day, my favorite album, hands down. HEAR ABOUT IT LATER. don’t think about it, just put it on and listen………

  • Nat

    All they had to say about the album was, “The least commercially successful album from the David Lee Roth years. And the best.”

    And there’s really nothing else they needed to say – that’s all you need to know.

  • jim

    Dark and heavy album, a masterpiece.

  • http://myspace.com/timkarplus Tim

    Fair Warning is a fantastic album.

    A very good pick for this list.

  • Caleb

    ed’s slide intro on “dirty movies” …

  • Peedah

    I’m searchin for the latest thing a break in this routine I’m talkin some new Kicks ones like you ain’t never seen!

    Fuck Yeah!!! One of the Greatest Albums of all time !!! I think you guys know the other 5!!!

    Such a great record my first Band in High School was named “Fair Warning” in tribute!

  • Karl

    “The least commercially successful album from the David Lee Roth years. And the best.”

    Wrong. Best VH album of all…

  • Charles5150

    To me, it’s the best guitar album of all times. It’s a masterpiece, if you want to learn to play guitar, the only thing you need is this album, all Eddie’s tricks and tastefullness are there

  • alexandre

    great album!! all tracks are excellent!! it really rocks!!

  • b.a.

    Dead on!

  • AJ

    Fav VH album of them all for me. Dark, heavy and ripping, a true masterpiece!!! As charles5150 said, anyone wants to learn to play guitar, Fair Warning is IT!!!!

  • Mark

    Even One Foot Out the Door, which they recorded in one take supposedly, is just great stuff.

    I have gotten tired of VH1 and 1984, but never Fair Warning.

    WACF, Fair Warning, and the four original tunes off of Diver Down. That is their most creative period in my opinion.

  • John

    I read an interwiew with Eddie van halen about the making of fair warning and he bashed mike everychance he got. Eddie said he layed down alot of the tracks at 4 in the morning. Great album unchained is my favorite.

  • JVH

    I agree with charles5150,
    This album scared me when I first heard it,
    Wtf was Ed doing on the intro to mean streets!
    How the fuck did he come up with it?
    Took me years to work it out, and I still struggle to play it,
    understatement

  • chris omeara

    I was always disappointed in the weak reception of this album which was VH’s masterpiece; When it was followed up by commercial Diver Down which the mainstream loved, I knew the industry was rigged…

    Kind of like when they pushed “Shake It Up” by The Cars while their first 2 albums were artistically WAY better…

    Or how they loved Sting solo over the Police…

  • pushtoshove

    dirty Movies….

  • http://n/a Mark (UK)

    I can’t think of any other album that combines such outrageous self-confidence with technical brilliance – from the first note to the last. I remember DLR saying “This album is so hot it will melt all the other records in your collection.” Can’t help but agree with him. Time for another one I think and a UK tour.

  • Erick

    We’re all on one line here. That’s good!

    See, that’s what VHND is all about; VH 1976-1984 with these 6 great albums and VH 2007 and on

  • DANOOOSH

    FAIR WARNING.ALSO MY FAV OVERALL.THE STAGE THE BAND WAS IN MUSICALLY AT THIS TIME WAS THEIR BEST MOMENT FOR SURE .I MUST AGREE WITH MARK TOO.. THE COUPLE ORIGINAL TUNES FROM DIVER DOWN,W.A.C.F.,ALSO IF YOU WANT A REAL TREAT,JUST PLAY THE SINGLE SONG (GIRL GONE BAD )FROM 1984 FULL VOLUME AND SEE WHAT IT DOES FOR YOU!! IF THE NEW CD IS ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO BEING AS GOOD AS WHAT THEY HAVE DONE IN THE PAST,LOOK OUT. START SAVING MONEY FOR TICKETS NOW,YOU WILL WANT TO BE CLOSE FOR THIS NEXT TOUR. 2009, A CD, A LIVE DVD,AND A VIDEO GAME!!!

  • Frank

    Fair Warning is classic VH at it’s best! The Intro to Hear About It Later and Means Streets are some of Ed’s best work. My personal favorite is “So this is Love”. I went nuts when they played in “81″ and “2008″. It was like I was back in High School all over again.
    VH is the greatest band period…

  • SCAR

    It’s pretty fucking cool to see a lot of us put our differences aside and celebrate an album that is filled some kick ass tunes. She looked so fuckin good so sexy and so frail…..

  • DANOOOSH

    FRANK..RIGHT ON BROTHA!!I NEVER GET TIRED OF THIS ALBUM..ED WAS JUST LETTING THE MUSIC FLOW, ON THIS CD..VH 3 WAS JUST THE OPPOSITE,SOUNDED LIKE ED WAS TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH..HOPEFULLY, WITH ROTH BACK IN THE MIX,ED WILL BRING THE THUNDER ON THIS NEXT CD..

  • Dave Gunger

    Definetely an underated albumn. It’s my personal favorite. How can you go wrong with “Mean street, Unchained, So this love, Dirty movies”. “Take it off….take it all off!!!!”

  • Dave Gunger

    And “Hear about later”..AWESOME. “Tell me honey will your lovin’, pay my bills yea…”

  • http://mgmgrand.com ToddVW

    My all time favorite album…….The beginning of So This Is Love? So great

  • TK

    Eddie’s tone and solos are the best on this album. Hear About It Later………fantastic tune.

  • Karl

    Danooosh, is your Caps Lock broken? Or are you just trying to annoy with every word? Do you seriously believe a new CD will come even close to the magnificent Fair Warning? Dream on…

  • Scottso

    This is every hard core Van Halen fan’s favorite album. The UNDISPUTABLE heavy-weight champ of the enire VH discography!

  • Jack H

    You can listen to this album over and over again. Great guitar solos and drum tracks. Might possibly be the peak of Dave era VH in my opinion.

  • Erick

    They should open the next tour with UNCHAINED and I really hope that they’ll play HEAR ABOUT IT LATER.

  • Mark Sachs

    I did see them open up with “Unchained” on the III tour. Actually Gary Cherone did a great job with this song live. Eddie was spot on with the intro to it and it sounded just like the album. Regarding the album, I had this on casetee when I was a teenager. After reading this on the VHND I went out on my lunch break and bought Fair Warning at a store called Magic Mart here in Virginia. It a shame that rock doesn’t sound like this nowadays!

  • pushtoshove

    Now now Karl…..That’s just your negativity …Maybe that’s your problem…anyways….Fair Warning….The best

  • http://photos4u2c.wordpress.com/ Dave

    This album sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday. It always sounds fresh and raw to me. It’s my favorite VH album. It never leaves my car — have to be careful about speeding tickets though.

  • tim stone

    Best album….best tour……best guitar work I’ve ever heard.Will never be matched.

  • kerndawg

    The best album with DLR. I bought the cassette twice. Wore out one (lol) and now have it on CD. I wish music like this was still active.

  • Blake

    Agreed. This is the best VH album, in my opinion. And I love all of them.

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