Every David Lee Roth solo album isn’t better than every Van Hagar record. Not by a long shot — “5150” is often very fun, very catchy or both, while Roth’s “Your Filthy Little Mouth” is blah. But every Roth album is more Van Halen-y than his old band’s work with Sammy Hagar.
Thankfully, vinyl lovers no longer need to speculate about my theory. Rhino recently released “The Warner Recordings 1985-1994,” which reissues Roth’s first four LPs and one EP in one handy box. The EP, “Crazy from the Heat,” is excellent but all covers — see “California Girls” and “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” — so I’ll skip that and dive right into that Van Halen-y goodness.
1986’s “5150” kinda turned Van Halen into Journey with a better guitarist and worse singers. Released the same year, “Eat ‘Em and Smile” had all the charm, cheek, absurdity, and guitar solos of classic Halen. Roth recruited an ace band — guitarist Steve Vai, bassists Billy Sheehan, drummer Gregg Bissonette — and went full Diamond Dave. He turned the Statue of Liberty into a sex symbol on “Yankee Rose.” He conjured a lounge lizard version of Prince complete with epic guitar shredding on “Ladies’ Nite in Buffalo?” He spun wild yarns such as “Big Trouble” with the lyrics, “Cherry Blue and Mighty Mouse/Kinda quiet dude and she was ‘sposed to be back at the house/With the kids and the dog/’And ‘Tonight we’re Rocketeers,’ said Mouse.” Taken as a whole, the album is the best thing Roth ever did (possibly including his work with his old band).
People slag 1988’s “Skyscraper” for not being “Eat ‘Em and Smile” part two. The thing is… it mostly is. Where Van Halen’s album from the same year, “OU812,” relaxes into a lesser version of “5150,” “Skyscraper” is all over the place in the best way. For fans of hard-charging, big-guitar Van Halen there’s “Knucklebones,” “The Bottom Line,” and “Hot Dog and a Shake” (which features Vai’s most wonderfully gratuitous solo). But the weird stuff is what’s memorable — a title track that feels like Steely Dan doing psychedelic rock, “Damn Good” splitting the difference between “Stairway to Heaven” and “Jack & Diane,” “Hina” a heavy, hot step beyond the lounge vibe “Ladies’ Nite in Buffalo?”
As the ‘90s dawned, both Roth and Van Halen seemed out of step. Van Halen tried to go straight with the rock album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” but often it’s just boring. “A Little Ain’t Enough” has some boring bits — Vai and Sheehan’s absences are felt — but many of the misses are a hoot. And the hits are pure Van Roth. “Lady Luck” would have fit on Van Halen’s debut. “It’s Showtime” belongs on “Eat ‘Em and Smile.” “Baby’s on Fire” would have been a nice addition to “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.”
Here’s where the differences get obvious. “Your Filthy Little Mouth” is nobody’s favorite Roth record. But “Balance” is everybody’s least favorite Van Hagar record. By the middle of the ’90s, the band had no new ideas. Meanwhile, Roth had a million — oddly enough two were country and reggae duets. But Roth stuck in first gear can be a blast. A decade removed from his original band, he’s still pumping out bullhorn rockers that could have been thrillers with Eddie, Alex and Michael, see “She’s My Machine,” and “Big Train.”
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