Listen To Entire ‘Chickenfoot III’ Album For Free at AOL Music

September 26, 2011 125 Comments

Chickenfoot’s sophomore album, “Chickenfoot III”, is available for streaming in its entirety (except for albums’ hidden track) at AOL Music. Due on September 27 via eOne Music in North America, “Chickenfoot III” was produced by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Metallica) and is the much-anticipated follow-up album to the successful eponymous debut of a rock band packed with successful veterans — guitar hero Joe Satriani, drummer Chad Smith, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and frontman Sammy Hagar.

Filed Under: Chickenfoot

klambo

It’s better than their first album, but still way too generic. They’re all great musicians, but for some reason they don’t direct much effort towards their creativity and instead just settle for the most basic solution.
Jake’s Bitch

CF is rocking LIVE … playing my favorite Come Closer right now !!!
Rick Berdeski

spent the evening at the “wall” listening to this cd…and the hiddn track just kicks so much ass i wanna say that…VH better step up…u lost the greatest singer ever.
Jake’s Bitch

The hidden track … amazing !!! I listened to the cd then watched CF live. This is how to debut an album … take note VH !!! Only one thing could have made this night better !!! Some people have a lucky rabbits foot well I have my own lucky “chickenfoot”
0I812

I missed the live podcast,BUT,it is being re played today at 1200pt,3 here on east coast.I would like to just say it is very,very,hard to make any good rock song now days without sounding like something that has already been done.To make something new that the fans will like is no easy task and I think they have done a GREAT job and accomplished just that.I have seen and set up stages for both versions of Van Halen, and both were great.While all of the Roth era stuff captures a Great band,hungry,on the rise and kicks ass, the Hagar years put out some great tunes too, but different.I took my 18 year old son(in 2007)to the re-union tour,and he is now an old VH fan.I hope their new album has some new goodies that rock too.Looking forward to that release.
Shine On

LAST TEMPTATION

Liked: Sudden changes in tempo kept it entertaining for me; solid slamming by Chad on the skins (whodathunkit for a drummer known mostly for playing funky pop?); catchy and nimble-fingered riffage from Joe.

Disliked: Mike’s backing vocals weren’t strong enough in the mix, for my taste.
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ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT

Liked: Mike’s backing vocals are stronger in the mix here than on track 1; Joe’s wah-wah effects tickled my eardrums pleasantly; the bass & drums lock together well.

Disliked: The word, “alright”, was repeated enough times to annoy me.

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DIFFERENT DEVIL

Liked: Beautiful opening; nice singing in a lower range for Sam; Mike’s backing vocals mixed strongly here (the more of Mike’s voice I hear, the more I like the song he’s on, since I’ve been a big fan of his singing going back to the first time I heard “Runnin’ With The Devil”); lyrics sufficiently (for me) descriptive of the temptation to leave someone for new excitement to be found with a fresh lover–with sage advice included that you’re probably better off trying to keep your CURRENT relationship fresh and exciting rather than abandoning it.

Disliked: N/A

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UP NEXT

Liked: I can hear Mike singing very clearly; nice shredding from Joe in places; Chad & Mike’s playing very tight, once again; enjoyed the surprise of the group shouting, “Who’s next?”

Disliked: On this first listen, I couldn’t figure out what the lyrics were about, not for certain.

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LIGHTEN UP

Liked: Joe shines here with absolutely stellar playing; Mike and Chad are showing that they can lock into a tight groove on just about anything, so far.

Disliked: “Don’t ask no questions, and I will tell you no lies”– a little trite and overused lyrical line, methinks.

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COME CLOSER

Liked: Mike’s bass playing is strong-sounding with tasty licks; Sammy sounds better when he’s not screaming. Nice sentiment about keeping the romantic fires burning. This song, unlike the other Chickenfoot tunes, didn’t originate with Joe but with Sammy, but Joe shows he’s clearly this band’s leader with how he defines the whole emotion, momentum, and pacing of every song.

Disliked: N/A

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THREE AND A HALF LETTERS

Liked: Joe’s nimble pickin’ (as always); nice idea to discuss the timely subject of people suffering from the weak economy.

Disliked: Sonically, the spoken-word verses and the screaming choruses didn’t mix well for me. (Perhaps I could call it a noble experiment that failed.)

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BIG FOOT

Liked: Loved the plug for “Houses Of The Holy”; enjoy Chad’s tapping on the wood block; AWESOME shredding from Joe; Mike’s backing vox sweet & strong; bass & drums keep firing on like a vintage engine.

Disliked: Very generic lyrics, as Sammy has freely admitted. And, as someone on here has already asked, “Which is it? Is it in the morning or the middle of the night?”

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DUBAI BLUES

Liked: Kind of amusing update to the Yardbird’s “I Ain’t Got You”, because the exaggeration factor has been increased; Mike’s bass opening a pleasant surprise with some rubbery thumping from him; still can’t find anything to complain about concerning Joe’s guitar contributions; liked the quick snappy open hi-hat notes from Chad.

Disliked: N/A

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SOMETHING GONE WRONG

Liked: Acoustic sounds at beginning are a nice change to the album’s feel. This song has Sammy’s best singing on the album, to me. Mike sings superbly, as always. Chad can play with approprite softness to fit the tunes (his experience with The Red Hot Chili Peppers has served him well in this, no doubt), as can Mike.

Disliked: N/A

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HIDDEN TRACK

Liked: Chad’s best drumming is on this one, as he sounds like a very well-oiled machine. Joe’s great here, as well, and I couldn’t be happier that he didn’t restrain himself on this album as much as on the debut. This track sounds like a Satriani solo song, in a way, and I like the wierd, alien sound effects at the end. Conspiracy theory lyrics are also fun to me, too. Rhythm section sounds like they’ve played together for decades. Mike’s honey-voiced backing makes the song go down well for me here, too.

Disliked: N/A

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

RATING: 4/5 (good, but not a classic–though I may like it more after more listens)

WAS THIS ALBUM ALL THAT I EXPECTED?
Yes, because being a fan of Satch, Mike, and Sam, I figured I’d probably like it. I didn’t, however, expect it to be a “Led Zeppelin IV” in stature. No regrets at all about buying this one, even though I got bored with the 3-D stuff more quickly than expected.
Little Guitars Sing to Me

@FAMAC:

“there’s a point where art is accomplished and well concieved, and a point where it’s not. There’s opinions across the board to be sure, but these tunes are below the standard one would expect from all of the artists involved.”

Agreed, there are indeed opinions across the board, including yours in this example (and mine, in response). While I don’t happen to agree with your “below the standard one would expect” assessment, nor with your “nothing but bar chord riffs” claim, I actually really like what you do in your discussion to dissect things in order to try to back up your view. Nothing but respect for that, I promise.

On the other hand, comments like “Satch can’t write a guitar riff to save his life” and “If you told me Satch’s teenage son wrote the guitar parts, I wouldn’t be surprised” are hyperbole, plain and simple. Worse, they’re not worthy comments for someone who is as knowledgeable about music as you seem to be and who otherwise puts so much effort into providing a well-argued justification for concluding that the music here is lacking. (Not that you NEED to justify feeling that way, mind you – I just really respect the effort you put into explaining it. But then the hyperbole drowns out the rest.)

Btw, I happen to like Black Dog – a lot. No need to get into a laundry list of the Led Zep tunes I care less for, though, since that’s not really the point here. I get your argument; I just don’t agree. If you’re looking for some “swing,” “rhythmic changes,” or something besides a “thump, thump one note bass pattern,” there are plenty of places to find these and many other virtues on this album. “Lighten Up,” “Come Closer,” and “Something Gone Wrong” are three good places to start, if you feel like taking a closer listen to see what you might have missed so far in the diversity of this album. Also, you have to admit, you cherry-picked the most inane lyric you could find and took it out of context of the spirit of the song – but this album actually contains some refreshingly mature and thoughtful lyrical work on Sammy’s part. (Again, see “Come Closer” and “Something Gone Wrong,” among others.)

On the other hand, there definitely ARE several songs that are plenty simple and straightforward, no question. And, in the end, if the album just doesn’t do it for you, no worries. Hopefully you, I, and everyone else here will be getting a fresh dose of stellar Van Halen by the time the buzz over CF III dies all the way down. Maybe what you’re looking for will be found on that album, if not this one.

Can’t sign off without noting that I fell out of my chair at your “I hope god is blind, Sam” comment. That was just flat-out hilarious. I get the spirit Sam is conveying, but I can’t read that passage of your comment without cracking up all over again. Thanks for the laugh. Cheers!
Sparks

I’m giving this disc a 7 out of 10. Many good moments. I do wish they’d roll around in the dirt more, though. Even when they’re playing rough, the recording comes off too tight and clean. I’m not a huge fan of Satch and Mike doing the exact same thing as each other underneath the solos.

My challenge for the bands 3rd album CF5(?) are as follows:

• Mike taking a swing at a full lead vocal verse here and there. “I don’t wanna go there” from Last Temptation was as close as we got. He’s way ready to take on more.
• Sam avoiding biblical reference and things like “come on baby” “uhh!” and “YAAAAAAAHHH!!!”. In all honesty, I think his words were pretty good this time around.
• Mike sliding more bass stuff like the begining of Dubai Blues in there.
• Joe playing something other than an Ibanez. I think endorsement shouldn’t lock you out of everything else. Fewer over-dubs.
Herb

@FAMAC

Just wondering why the hell you waste so much time and effort trying to convice everyone that this new effort is weak? C’mon man, you are terribly transparent.

Quit preaching your take. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about your opinion until you qualify it as your own, and not the gospel.

For me, this album rocks! I find it to be a more mature effort on each players effort.
Carnal Knowledge

Herb, this is the Van Halen News Desk……meaning these are mostly Van Halen fans. Meaning, a majority of them are Original Van Halen fans. Meaning, they’re really agitated and restless at this point. Going into a diatribe about why you DON’T like an is meaningless. Yet, for some on here, it must be done.

Here’s an interesting take: If this new Chickenfoot album DID sound like something of early Halen, these same people would call the band a ripoff and copycats.

But, they also go to lengths to say how it DOESN’T compare to original Halen. In other words, ALL BANDS, ALL ALBUMS are compared to original Van Halen, which is quite the shame, if you ask me. It’s like buying a new burger from In and Out and throwing it out the window because it doesn’t taste like the ones your grandma USED to make. You’ll starve yourself out of spite……

These people cannot and will not be pleased with anything until something new Halen, with Roth, comes out.

VAN HALEN
LATEST RUMOR
DUE OUT IN 2012
FAMAC

@Herb “For me, this album rocks! I find it to be a more mature effort on each players effort.”

Well, that’s pretty convincing.
dano29

On a side note, ‘Different Devil’ is now officially lodged in my permanent memory bank – just opened and signed my divorce papers while it was on (of course, in this case, the Different Devil was her’s not mine)
John M.

CFIII is definately worth a listen, it could be one of Sammys best efforts. I was just reading about Roth in wikipedia. When I got towards the end It metioned Alex had the idea of using the 1984 kid all grown up for the cover of the new album.
Under Van Halen album titles with DLR it said “TBA” (2011), now that works for me! Name the album TBA, featuring the grown up kid from the 1984 album looking at his watch, for the album cover LOL classic!
SPANKED

What’s truly funny to me is that Roth only fans think his solo work was good, but that this is bad.

That brings the laughs.
chrisom

I agree with FAMAC. Great analysis. No disrespect to CF, but he’s right.

Try harder next time. Where’s the guy who wrote “Your Love Is Drivin’ Me Crazy” or “She’s On Fire”? “There’s Only One Way To Rock”? “Heavy Metal”? “Plain Jane”? We all know what these guys are capable of…
John M.

@ Spanked, IMO all Roth Solo work sucked. Hagar always had at least one good song per album including his ones with VH. All the rest of the songs were chuckers. CF III is no exception 1 good song, the rest are chuckers. All VH3 stunk.
EVERY ROTH VH SONG KICKED ASS! And I expect it will hold true with the new album.
John M.

The exception for Hagar was Standing Hampton, that album had 5 GREAT songs.
SPANKED

Thanks for your opinion John M.

What about Van Halen with Hagar?
Herb

FAMAC,

The last thing I’m doing is trying to convince anyone, let alone you.

I needn’t get in to a long diatribe. CarnalKnowledge pointed out what so many of us that can enjoy Hagar music know: It wouldn’t matter what those guys did.

It ain’t from the book, bro. You speak like you think it is. Just sayin’ it’s your point of view.
Coopster

Quite simply, CFIII is good, old fashioned rock n roll. There are moments of this that remind me of The Who at their bombastic peak. Joe’s laying back in the groove letting Mike and Chad ride up front and they bring the A game. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve really HEARD Mikey playing and it never disappointed me.

I hate that people are looking for some kind of exhibitionistic display of multinote sonic chaos because that’s so very much not what Chickenfoot is about. Joe does that on his solo stuff, this is supposed to be his “band” that plays groovy songs, not his solo work with words. It’s a throwback to the late sixties, early seventies era of rock, even the tone of the music recalls that magic time of cranked Marshalls and catchy hooks. This album is growing on me with each listen, I love it.
B.Y.

Got CFIII all cranked up-that shit rocks!!!!!!!!
Halen High

Coopster – glad you like the CF album. But The Who at their bombastic peak?
famac

Just to show Herb and other readers I’m not a biased DLR fan:

Remember when Diver Down came out? I saw that red and white cover and thought: they follow Fair Warning with this horrible cover?? And then it opened with Where Have All The Good Times Gone which might have Ed’s worse recorded solo, and they were just banging through a simple tune. It was below their skill level – it was a let down. Diver Down fealt rushed and low effort compared to Fair Warning, which fealt like an instant classic rock record the moment you heard and saw it. (Of course, there are tons of great tunes on Diver Down – it just had two covers that didn’t exploit the band’s strength, OPW & WHATGTG).

Chickenfoot’s PR for this record made it sound like the second coming of Zeppelin, but much like Diver Down – it immediately feels like a lesser effort than their first outing. To my ear, it sounds like they had a bunch of demos they lavished a lot of recording polish on, rather then developing the basic songs. So you get a lot of Van Hagar harmonies and double tracked guitars, some cool fragments – but the basic tunes are lackluster – and don’t exploit the group’s talent. (The first two could be REM songs)

And the first record just had tons more energy than this record, frankly. I think Sam and the guys put all the work into the PR and the polish, and lost the soul and fun of the group along the way.

It’s a manicured demo.

Try this little exercise I put myself through today: listen to Chickenfoot III, then put on Why Can’t This Be Love. As much as I hate Van Hagar, I admit that’s a well crafted and performed tune. Everyone brought their game on that song, and it stands up with the CVH catalog. There’s nothing even approaching that on III, and everyone involved supposedly has the talent – and claimed they were bringing it.

This is the Hagar curse. He’s a talented singer – he can do good things – he chooses not to. The last tune on this record is proof of that. How anyone can listen to that song and not think the rest of this record is a waste of talent just isn’t being objective, in my opinion.

Hagar’s in it for the party.
No Mas Tony

SPARKS — All valid points, bro. I’m personally leaning toward more of a 9 outa 10. Though I’ll admit, that I’m really kinda rock-&-roll starved at the moment… not getting music like this in so long, I’m eating it up.

Sammy’s muse seems to be relationships & spirituality. It works for me, actually. But I know where you’re coming from. Sammy says “Oh yeah” more than the Coolaid man did in the 80′s. LOL. That and “Baby, baby, baby” and “Wooo”—- They’re fillers, nothing more. The key thing this time is that the meat of the lyrics are the versus themselves. Not like the last album where he actually recorded a song written entitled, “Oh yeah”. Ugh. My least favorite song on the album next to “Turning Left”.

I think Mike is really happy just being a contributing force behind the music. It would be cool to hear him sing lead in a song or two, but he is definitely getting his fair share of the spotlight. AND he was the only member of the band to have his photo right on the cd cover — kick ass photo. (And in 3D!).

There are a couple songs on CFIII that were ‘decent’ but could’ve been better. Like “Lighten Up”, I was really getting into this eerie guitar work right in the beginning where it almost sounds like a whacked-out pipe organ, and then they broke to a more straight-forward riff and Sammy goes into his “why you working so hard, baby – can’t ya take it easy – I don’t like ya sleazy – Oh baby – lighten up”, etc. That and “Big Foot”, just relies a little too heavy on the hook and the lyrics are bit contrived. BUT, there are many moments of greatness. And I do dig most of the lyrics this go-round. Any album with at least 6-7 smoking songs gets a 9 in my book.
Little Guitars Sing to Me

@Carnal Knowledge: Was that an In and Out burger? Or “In ‘n’ Out”? Pretty tasty, either way, I reckon.

I really liked your point about the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t issue of a band being bogus to some here no matter what they produce because they’re either VH wannabes or else they don’t offer enough of what Van Halen does.

I’ve actually been a bit “afraid” to mention a couple of minor but noticeable musical similarities to VH’s sound from certain pieces on the CF III album because of the firestorm that would be sure to ensue. (Certain sections of harmonies; certain snippets of drums.)

Oops! Did I just do that? Oh well, what the hell, I’m getting ready to go to bed anyway. Fire away! Heh-heh.
kayser sozay

Famac – First two songs sound like REM?? Are you sure you weren’t listening to an REM album? How you get that Last Temptation sounds like REM is beyond me. And although Alright Alright has an up vibe to it like some REM music, it’s far grittier – more like an old Stones vibe if you ask me. I do agree with you that the last song is the best. Sam should be singing in that lower register more often.
Little Guitars Sing to Me

@famac: Again, I’m very impressed with the effort you put into explaining why this new music doesn’t do anything for you. It’s especially nice to see someone who’s critical of Sammy/Joe/Chickenfoot able to concede that not everything from the Dave era was an unmatchable gift straight from the hand of God. (Not that that in itself tarnishes the CVH or EVH legacy in the least, but many Dave-era fans seem unable to admit it, nonetheless.)

One point re CF III that I do agree with you on is that it’s not as high-energy, on average, as their first disc. Where I depart from your interpretation, though, is that I don’t find that this has anything at all to do with this being a lackluster effort.

I was actually pretty skeptical about the divergence from the first album that was foreshadowed in the early interviews and reviews about the then-upcoming new album. And I was not impressed by “Big Foot” at all, when heard on its own as the first single, with no surrounding musical context. (Even now, it’ll still likely be one of my least-listened-to songs on the disc, though I find that it fits better as part of the organic whole.)

However, I’ve found the diversity and musical direction on this new album intriguing, rather than a letdown. (That, despite the fact that I’m a longtime Satch fan who can’t get enough of the beauty, creativity, and craziness he’s free to express when his guitarwork is the “main feature” of the music he’s involved in.)

The groove on several of the tunes really gets me going; the lyrics and harmonies are much more successful at hooking me into singing along than was true with the band’s first release; several of the guitar solos (and other segments of guitar work) are mesmerizing to me; and almost every time I listen to 2 or 3 of the songs while I’m driving somewhere around town, I notice something subtle going on I hadn’t caught before. (Sometimes involving Joe, sometimes Mike, sometimes Chad.)

Mind you, I’ve phrased most of these comments in personal terms because these are my personal experiences with the album. Yours are different. That’s art; that’s life.

The main things here that I would underscore as being objective, rather than mere opinion, are that (a) there are many subtleties on this album that are not “in your face” but are nonetheless significant to the music and (b) the difference in the quality of the energy here compared to the first album has nothing to do with a lackluster effort or with losing the soul and fun of the group.

I’m not sure whether you’ll find anything worth considering in this post. Frankly, we seem to have pretty little in common in how we interpret what we’re hearing, musically speaking.

I can’t really relate to the concept of not being able to find any soul or fun (or compositional/arranging talent, for that matter) in this collection of songs. Nor can I understand what it would feel like to listen to a song like “Something Goin’ Wrong” and not be powerfully moved. (In my book, that particular song EASILY surpasses “Why Can’t This Be Love” in terms of matching the quality of the CVH catalog.)

Oh well, guess that’s the long way of saying you’re you, I’m me, and that’s that. C’est la vie. Enjoy the anticipation of new CVH. Maybe you’ll find something more worthy there.
Little Guitars Sing to Me

@kayser sozay: Liked your take on “Alright Alright.” Definitely something more Stones-like than REMish going on here, to my ears, and yes, way grittier than REM. Not to say REM couldn’t have made a version of a song like this (minus the solo), I suppose, which perhaps is more what “famac” had in mind.

As a sidenote, based on just the 90-second sample, I actually thought I was going to HATE this song and simply skip over it in perpetuity. But, damn, now I can’t shake the infectiousness of it, played in its entirety on an actual stereo (rather than a computer). Even my wife can’t get it out of her head. My fault.

I do get why some find it cheesy, and I wouldn’t classify it as one of the most sophisticated songs on the album. But I can’t help it, this song puts a smile on my face, a song in my heart, and makes me feel like Christopher Walken yelling for more cowbell. “I got a fever, and the only prescription is more Foot! Alright!”
Sparks

@No Mas Tony- I’m with you on the rock starved stance. Also, my 7 out of 10 was after 1 full listen. I should’ve mentioned that number will atleast turn to 8.5. Funny you should mention Lighten Up. I absolutely love that song until…I have ta say it… It ends a lot like Aftershock. I think the VHND review mentioned a song did. Had to be this one. I do applaud their efforts and I’m glad I picked it up. I really only have a few nit picky complaints at this point. Nothin’ major. Sounds great on my I pod while I’m standing on a packed subway!
coopster

Halen High- Yep, there are moments, pieces and parts within the music, that recall Quadrophenia or Who’s Next for me. And that was when they were at the top of the rock god mountain. Pete’s sound was big and thick, John’s bass was practically playing lead and no one could touch Keith’s machine gun drumming. The weakest link was Roger who wasn’t weak at all, his voice was instantly recognizable and powerful, much like Sammy.
John M.

@Spanked Im wrong about a lot of things and this is strictly my opinion, but I liked a lot of Hagar VH, but usually no more tracks than 3 per lp.
IMO Hagar is one of the best singers ever in rock history. He still sounds amazing and hes nearly 64. I just wish he had more inspiration when it comes to his lyrics.
There wasnt a Hagar VH album to match Standing Hampton and Roth, I dont like unless he is with VH. They go together like Peas and carrots. I even like Me Wise Magic, and for the life of me I dont know why. LOL.
SPANKED

Nothing by Chickenfoot sounds anything like REM. Lol.
Carnal Knowledge

Little Guitars: Same amount! In n Out!

Anyway, to your point, the solo in Up Next is right out of something Halen would/could/might/may put out….
FAMAC

I’m going to review a specific track: Come Closer. This tune had tons of potential. The loungy guitar chords in the verse are very nice. They even draw out a nice tenor vocal part from Sam. This part of the song could easily be on a DLR solo record – he’s a master of this style of tune (see Black Sand).

Pretty early in the tune though, Sam’s predictable lyrics and 5th grade rhyming rear their ugly head. He ends at least 50% of the verses with Babe. I counted 10 – it detracts from the tune because you start listening for it. It cheapens the effor.

I could forgive all that, but when the tune hits the bridge, they bolted on the standard hard rock power chords, including the same Van Hagar backing vocals we’ve heard a million times. Come on guys – every harmony doesn’t have to be the exact same “Ahhhhhh.”

Honestly, I think they could have made a better tune out of Come Closer by just using the verses, broken up by a solo. “Take a Walk On the Wild Side” has no middle 8 or bridge, and it’s a great tune in this sort of style.

This was a tune that was crying out for a wandering bass part. The open chording of the verses where ideal territory for some creative wandering – or at least a more interesting part, but Mike just phoned in the thump thump root notes.
Carnal Knowledge

No Mas Tony: You Just Hit The Nail on the Head Bro!! If an album has more than 50% good songs on it, doesn’t that make it a good listen? Too many people in this forum focus on the bad songs. Well, they only focus on Sammy’s bad songs. Not Dave’s…..

I give the album a 4.75 out of 5 (The 3D glasses keep it from having a higher rating)
Frank “The Tank’

Chickenfoot 3 is a great throwback rock album! It’s diverse and the group really sounds tight. The harmonies between Sammy & Mike are stellar and really bring you back to the glory days of that era of Van Halen. Joe, Chad and Mike really click and Sam’s vocals are killer.
The live web cast really showed how good this band is!
clevelandrum

@FAMAC, fully agree with your review. I’m just not into either CF effort. I tried to listen to 2 podcast live songs from CF3, and left midway on each. Bigfoot didn’t catch me either. Lots of hype, but my tastes have changed, I guess. I’ve seen 4 Sammy shows post VH and preferred his Wabo material over this stuff. I enjoyed his work with VH, except for Balance.
Shine On

dano29: “On a side note, ‘Different Devil’ is now officially lodged in my permanent memory bank – just opened and signed my divorce papers while it was on (of course, in this case, the Different Devil was her’s not mine)”

Best wishes to you getting over what she did to you. Your comment, in its reference to ironic timing, reminds me of what happened to me yesterday: after I had criticized “Three And A Half Letters” for not sounding like the spoken-word verses and screaming choruses mixed well in my above review, the next day at work (Sep. 28th) the boss called all of us in my department working yesterday that our department was being eliminated due to poor recent sales figures. Here, I’ve criticized “Three And A Half Letters”, and NOW it’s about to become my theme song!! “I need a job! Give me a JAAAAAHHH…”
Shine On

Rick Berdeski and Jake’s Bitch, I absolutely agree with you: the hidden track is fantastic!
Shine On

A correction on my above review: I realize now that “Up Next” is about the afterlife, inspired by the death of manager Carter. I change my “Disliked” for “Up Next” to “N/A”.
HillBilly Jim

Ok, so i post here very infrequently, usually when i read something that really pisses me off. I usually just sit back, and read through the posts while i eat dinner at work.

I’m mainly a Classic VH fan, the Van Hagar years were a big let down for me, some of the stuff is really good, some just ok.
But i’m not a fan of Sammy Hagar. His crappy lyrics don’t really bother me so much. For me if the lyrics are good, then its a plus, but i dont really care about the content.
I just didn’t like his voice singing over Van Halen music.

Fast forward to the first Chickenfoot CD. I wanted to like it, mainly i guess because i like Mike, I want him to do well.
Listened a few times, couldn’t get into it.

I just listened to the new CD today, and i must say, i think it’s really good! I can definitely get into this.
Plus, I think Hagar’s voice has gotten better with age.
He’s not as whiny and screechy as he was with Van Hagar.
Back then i think he was just trying to sing as high as he could…look at me, look how high i can sing…and such.
Now he sounds like he’s got a sore throat, or there’s food in his mouth, or something.
Whatever, he sounds better on this CD.

Anyway, that’s my tale of the new Chickenfoot CD.
If you’re a DLR fan, such as myself, don’t knock it until you actually listen, you might miss out on some good tunes.
Little Guitars Sing to Me

@Carnal Knowledge: Agreed! (Re the VH-worthy solo.) Though to my ears (yours too?) it does retain a distinctly Satch flavor, at the same time. Not better. Not worse. Just Satch. I hopefully anticipate some similarly scintillating chops out of Mr. EVH very soon, though of course also with HIS own equally recognizable flavor.

Can’t wait to load both discs on the home stereo and hit the random-play function. Only after probably 15-20 straight-through plays of the new VH over a couple of weeks, mind you. Give me SOME credit, heh-heh.

@Hillbilly Jim: Fascinated by your take on the new Chickenfoot. I don’t blame you a bit for not liking Hagar’s voice over Van Halen tunes. It was a hell of a difference, after all. Personally, I was somewhat of a Hagar fan already (not HUGE, but more than trivially) prior to Van Hagar. At the time, it looked impossible that Roth would ever work with the rest of the band again. I was thrilled to learn that such a major rock voice was joining forces with the gang and, most importantly, that there would be more music to be heard from the Van Halen camp. Still, it was sooooo different. Worked for me, though, especially compared to the alternative (i.e. no new EVH).

Though my reaction to Sammy’s voice in his earlier work differs from yours (strictly a matter of personal taste, of course), I loved your colorfully descriptive characterizations, especially “look at me, look how high i can sing” and “now he sounds like he’s got a sore throat, or there’s food in his mouth, or something.” Classic! Bet even Sam would get a hoot out of that.

Glad to hear the new disc and Hagar’s current vocal sound work better for you than past efforts. Now let’s hope the new VH will be everything anyone could hope for!
Little Guitars Sing to Me

@No Mas Tony: Mikey doin’ lead — now THAT really would be a whole different brand of freedom. Could be sweet — almost as sweet as your Kool-Aid man reference! Holy crap, THAT goes WAAAAAAY back! Nice one.

Though Lighten Up does more for me than for you even as is, I do agree with you (and in this case, probably even with FAMAC) that the main verses would do better at fully living up to the intro if the primary riff was more compelling. Man, I could loop that intro for DAYS, though. Really hits something primal in me, especially the way it escalates.
Shine On

Thanks for sharing with us, Hillbilly Jim. It says a lot you can be won over by the new CD, considering you haven’t been a prior fan of either Chickenfoot or Van Halen! I think Joe worked at talking Sammy out of trying to sing so high.
Dano29

Shine On – Best of luck back to you. Hopefully things turn around quickly for you.

Sadly, my ex’s different devil was alcohol. Which, as I’ve said in another comment thread, is absolutely soul crushing to live with.
Panama Red

@ dano29 – Wow, that sucks dude. Sorry to hear about that man. I know what you mean about a song sticking in your head forever when your psyche associates it with a certain experience. I hope it didn’t ruin the song for you and more importantly, I hope things work out for the best.

No Mas Tony said – “There are a couple songs on CFIII that were ‘decent’ but could’ve been better. Like “Lighten Up”, I was really getting into this eerie guitar work right in the beginning where it almost sounds like a whacked-out pipe organ, and then they broke to a more straight-forward riff and Sammy goes into his “why you working so hard, baby – can’t ya take it easy – I don’t like ya sleazy – Oh baby – lighten up”, etc.

Those aren’t the exact lyrics but I know exactly what you mean No Mas and you basically took the words right outta my mouth. I freakin’ love that freaky pipe organ sound. Some of the sounds Joe gets out of his guitar on this album are so freaking awesome, and on a few of those songs the lyrics just don’t feel like they go along with Joe’s direction/vibe.
But overall, I am really diggin’ CF III. Right Now, I keep playing “Something Going Wrong” , “No Change” and “Up Next” (Holy Shit I LOVE “Up Next” it kicks so much ass!)
I think I can honestly say that there’s not even one song that I don’t like. There are some songs that I like much more than others but even the few songs on CF III that I’m not crazy about the lyrics, I still love the music.
God, I am so happy to have a brand new album from a great rock and roll band. Man, I needed that. And there are some great lyrics on this album by Sammy, I don’t care what anyone says.

“Sammy says “Oh yeah” more than the Coolaid man did in the 80′s.”
HA!! That was funny.
Although I have to say, unlike you, I love the song “Oh Yeah” from their debut album. It’s got great energy and just makes me feel good and pumped up.
You’re right about Sammy saying “Baby” all the time too. Sammy uses the word “baby” more times than a stripper trying to milk a middle aged, married business man out of a 20 dollar bill on a slow Tuesday afternoon at the strip joint.
J/K, you know I love Sammy.

I agree that a lot of songs are about relationships, women, etc. I’d like it if he branched out more often to more abstract or deeper lyrics like on “Something Going Wrong” and “No Change”
To me “Something Going Wrong” is an instant classic.
Some of my fav Sammy songs are when he sings about more serious subjects (like “Protection”, “Karma Wheel”, “Serious JuJu”, “Peephole”, “Mine All Mine”, “The Dream Is Over”) instead of just songs about women/sex and fast cars. But you gotta have some of those too, it is rock and roll after all.

Kayser Sozay – “Sam should be singing in that lower register more often.”
I agree, it’s not that often, but when Sammy takes it easy on the pipes and just sings without the high screams and stuff, he can really sound great. I’m not saying he shouldn’t do his trademark screams because those are rock and roll! My throat would literally explode out of my neck if I tried to do those screams or hit those high notes. I’m just saying I really, really like it when he sometimes keeps his voice more mellow and really just sings a song smoothly. He’s got great vocal ability, he’s not just a Rock and Roll screamer who belts out high notes. The dude can sing!
FAMAC

Today i’ll review Dubai Blues while it’s still free on AOL. Much like Come Closer, a nice little volume swell chord work from Joe on the verse with lots of opportunity for nice bass work that is forgone. Like the line “I’ve got more change in my pocket than your boyfriend will ever make.” A good lyric from Sam!

Unfortunatly the chorus retreats into yet another formulaic arena rock chord progession, including Sammy’s Daltry WGFA impersonation. “Yeah Baby, All I want but I ain’t got you, Yeah Baby all I got’s the Dubai blues.” That scream from Sammy opening every chorus just wears my ears out. It’s one of my least favorite things he overuses.

But the solo passage is excellent of Dubai Blues!! A nice little off kilter riff allows Joe’s solo to breath a little more than the power chords he solos over on most other tunes. The end of the song also has some nice guitar work from Joe.

One thing I take away from this entire record is that Joe’s tone is just too saturated and lacking enough high end. It reminds me of the Peavey solid state amps from the Eighties. Steve Vai suffers from a similar tone issue on the DLR records, and I wonder if Ibanez is to blame.
ArmyMedic

@Famac,

I understand your opinion. I am very aware of your right to it and I’ll respect it as such. However it’s very easy to be the “fifth beatle”. To your ears, the suggestions you’ve added would make it a great song. I’ll be honest with you, I think that “come closer” is honestly one of the more personal songs I’ve ever seen Sammy Hagar touch.

All I’m saying is that if you have such an ear for such big improvements on a song that’s gaining popularity with Chickenfoot fans, will probably be a frontrunner for the next single (and would probably do very well) I wonder if you can actually appreciate the simplicity of the song with the subtle nuances that are there. If you’re not able to pick them up, I’m very sorry. It’s been a long time since music moved me at all, but that track was really good.
Shine On

Crazy Jay: “but I would not be suprised if the new VH is great or if it falls flat.”

Yeah, it could go either way, and the suspense is hard to take, at times. I want BOTH bands to do well and kick my butt! Here’s hopin’…
Shine On

“This has all of the signs of being chickenfoot’s last album.”

I respectfully disagree, Crazy Jay; it has all the signs of a band that has a lot of fuel left to burn on future albums. In the current musical scene, where pop and hip-hop continue to rule the charts, prediction of how well a new rock album will do is a tricky business. Nevertheless, I will be somewhat surprised if “Chickenfoot III” doesn’t end up going Platinum.