Guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen during a recent Guitar World interview and cited the ‘Van Halen II’ deep track “Outta Love Again” as among his favorites.
“There’s a song on the second album, ‘Outta Love Again’. Edward and Alex’s playing on that, it’s just one take, you can hear it. It’s sick,” said Malmsteen. “It’s ridiculous. It’s just so good. That spirit inspired me immensely.”
Malmsteen added that Van Halen’s first two studio albums have inspired him the most.
“When I was 7 or 8 in Sweden, I was listening to Deep Purple’s ‘Made in Japan’ and stuff like that, and I was very into that type of guitar playing,” he said. “Then by the time I was 12 I was listening to classical violin and I already had a very clear vision of what I was trying to do. So whatever was out there when Van Halen came out, I wasn’t really paying much attention. But in 1978 I was playing in a band called Powerhouse, and one day the drummer came in and he brought ‘Van Halen’. And I was like, ‘What is this? Another band? Whatever.’ But he put it on and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was so fucking blown away.”
“They made me so inspired because I had a power trio, too,” continued Malmsteen. “All the albums are great — I think the first and the second ones [‘Van Halen’ and ‘Van Halen II’] almost feel like part one and two of the same album. They have the same feel — no overdubs, just go for it. And the whole band, Alex and Dave and Michael, all of them are in-fuckin’-credible on those.”
The 42nd anniversary of ‘Van Halen II’ isn’t far off. The band’s second studio album was released on March 23rd, 1979.
You can read Malmsteen’s entire interview with Guitar World‘s Richard Bienstock HERE.