Dweezil Zappa

Ok Blues. I'll take VH3 over your TRANSMISSION OK any day of the fucking week. Two seconds of "swimming"... Marcus Is Out. Peace Brother. 

Following up on some of the comments here, it's no surprise that VH 3 was different and surprising to so many. But, over time, as I was a fan of it when it first came out, there are so many experiences to draw from that it would be wrong to exclude of all of them ( and that includes Blues' and James' feelings ). Some laughed at it, some thought it was genius. For me, I liked it but as the album grew on me, the more I saw where Edward was going for the MUSIC. And, in some cases, the critics of the album missed the point of the music while the fans grew to like things that were darker than most people realize ( the recent Chris Gill/Brad Tolinsky EVH book explores the emotional terrority Edward was dealing with when VH 3 was being made-pretty insightful stuff ). 

In some ways, Edward and Frank Zappa were so similar in terms of the alignment of making music for personal reasons: If you liked it and no one else cared for it, then it was good. I can't tell you how many people laughed at me when I used to play " St. Etienne " in my car stereo, hearing my friends state that it " sounded like a beginning guitar player not playing right " whereas I heard a composer exploring new sonic territory in a deeper way. And, truth being told here, most folks simply don't have a musical education: It's either good or bad for these folks. But, for those who like to explore new musical sounds with a large amount of musical knowledge, there is no such thing as good or bad. VH 3 fits into that last category. I truly believe that if more folks explore the album in deeper detail, there is A LOT of grand musical information there ( the overdubs to " From Afar " to the solo/ rhythm parts to " Dirty Water Dog " are just AMAZING ). 

I enjoy Blues' and James' feelings because they weren't that much different to the feelings I heard when I first listened to VH 3 ( let alone listening to Frank's music ). In fact, VH 3 isn't the first time Edward caused people to scratch their heads. In 1988, after OU812 came out, guitarist Robben Ford was asked what he thought of " Finish What You Started " in a 1990 Guitar For The Practicing Musician Magazine issue ( they used to have a spot where artists were asked what their thoughts were on a select group of tracks ). Ford's reaction wasn't too dissimilar to Blues' and James' reactions, as I recall ( Ford said something to the effect that his idea of Van Halen was loud guitar playing via " Eruption " and was surprised with the 1988 track ).

I find it's important to include all feelings to any music because it's all part of the human processing experience of hearing/seeing something DIFFERENT. However, if Blues and James take some more time with VH 3, I'll bet they'll change their minds. 

Okay that was one way to go… To be honest, done this way, I would have rather skipped the VHIII episode altogether. What’s the point of all the ridicule?  This almost makes me feel stupid for liking the album. I can understand that it disappointed the Roth-era fans who had come to idolize Eddie’s early approach and output, but hey, cut your losses and move on. No need for all the negativity. Come on, comparing the opening of the YTTD solo to drunken uncle on stage? I for one liked the gradual shift in Edwards solo-style towards more bluesy melodic lines away from the singularly unique jazzy/beboppy phrasing of his earlier years - which I also absolutely love!  Clearly the album is not perfect and suffers greatly from the absence of a strong independent producer, but it holds some very inspired material, at least in my view. Dirty Water Dog, Once and How Many Say I are actually among my all-time favorite VH tracks. It’s pretty condescending to say it’s “sad” that “he thinks he is at his creative peak” when “his creativity is not at his peak right now”, and that “that’s when you go to therapy”. Wow. In reality, according to his interviews, this album actually was the result of a creative burst following therapy. Indeed, it’s different, it's dark and it’s all over the place. Clearly too much so for some. Oh well, at least we now have some more insight as to why many early EVH fans really don’t (want to) like this album.

I would much rather have had a podcast featuring Gary Cherone, who may not be a guitarist, but would have offered a more interesting take on (the making of) the album.

Blues and James: "In all fairness, IN ALL FAIRNESS, (I mean we haven't really listened to this album all the way through, and I have an attitude), this could have been a great 20 minutes")

Ok, I was about to post about how brilliant the episode on Balance was and then logged into see this was really excited at first, especially such high exalted players, but this feels like all of you set the phasers to destroy, not mono, and, even with objective insightful comments that are insightful, as soon as an audio clip is played, it's basically attacked, especially out of context, without letting the song breathe. This is plays like a big FUCK YOU to this album and feels like where this series jumps the shark. I don't love this album but it doesn't deserve this thrashing.