Women and Children First – Van Halen

Producer: Ted Templeman

Released: March 26, 1980

Rating: ***

I’ve always contended that with David Lee Roth Van Halen made better songs, but with Sammy Hagar they made better albums. That might seem like an odd concept to grasp. A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that with Hagar they took a lot more time recording and releasing albums and with Roth they pretty much released an album every year. Van Halen’s first two releases definitely had a commercial edge to them, even if they were defining their own sound and genre. The songs on those albums were meant to be heard on the radio. Women and Children First is not nearly commercial sounding as either of those albums and the songs are quite a bit heavier. It was also the first album they released of totally original material, no cover tunes.

The album kicks off with a classic Van Halen tune, And The Cradle Will Rock… This is a laid-back tune with a somewhat lazy riff, but that’s okay because  Roth steals the show. If the opening track is “lazy”, than the second track, Everybody Wants Some, with its tribal drum intro and somewhat unconventional song structure definitely gets the heart pumping. Tribal rhythms aside, lyrically, this song makes NO sense. Don’t believe me? Here’s the second verse:

I took a mobile light, lookin’ for a moonbeam. Ow!
Yeah, ya stand in line ya got lost in a jet stream

As I said, NO sense. D0esn’t matter, the song kicks ass and is the first in a trifecta of Van Halen tunes with this particular style. If you can’t figure out the other two, stay tuned. Fools is a fairly forgettable track, but Romeo Delight is undoubtedly one of the band’s unspoken gems. Tora! Tora! is a very forgettable “instrumental”, but even worse is Loss of Control. Take Your Whiskey Home has proven to be a fan favorite over the years, but the albums real “treat” is Could This Be Magic. It’s a rare occasion when Eddie picks up the acoustic guitar, but even more rare is hearing him play slide! This song kicks ass in way no other Van Halen song does. Probably the best song on the album. Unfortunately, the album closes with In A Simple Rhyme, which is a completely forgettable tune.

 Van Halen reportedly recorded this album in less than a month. There are pluses and minuses to recording and releasing an album a year. Obviously the fans are happy with getting new material every 12 months, but sometimes that means they are getting lesser “product”. There are moments when this album kicks ass. Unfortunately, the album is somewhat inconsistent which prevents it from being great.