| Van Halen II | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Van Halen |
| Cover: | Van Halen - Van Halen II.jpg |
| Alt: | A graphic of the "VH" flying-V style logo |
| Recorded: | December 10–16, 1978[1] |
| Studio: | Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California |
| Genre: |
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| Length: | 31:36 |
| Label: | Warner Bros. |
| Producer: | Ted Templeman |
| Prev Title: | Van Halen |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Women and Children First |
| Next Year: | 1980 |
Van Halen II is the second studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released by Warner Bros Records on March 23, 1979, it peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and yielded hit singles "Dance the Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls." As of 2004, it's sold almost six million copies in the United States. Critical reaction to the album has been positive, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide praising the "feel-good, party atmosphere" of the songs.
Recording of the album took place at Sunset Studio less than a year after the release of the band's 1978 debut album, Van Halen.[2] Recording of the album began on December 10, 1978, just one week after completing their first world tour, and was complete within a week.[3] The band used a Putnam 610 console to record the album, similar to the console Eddie would later install in his home studio in 1983.[3] Many of the songs on Van Halen II are known to have existed prior to the release of the first album, and are present on the demos recorded in 1976 by Gene Simmons, and in 1977 by Ted Templeman, including an early version of "Beautiful Girls" (then known as "Bring On the Girls") and "Somebody Get Me a Doctor."[4]
Compared to the group's debut album, Van Halen II sees the group stretching out their sound and developing on directions only hinted before, and is often seen as lighter and poppier in tone; however, according to author Morgan Brown, it is evenly balanced between radio-friendly songs and "more intense, aggressive material".[5] Eddie said: "I hate it when albums are happy-happy or heavy-heavy all the way through. We had a little bit of both on Van Halen II".
"You're No Good" opens with solo bass guitar treated with a flanger, followed by Eddie gently swelling guitar chords by using a volume control to mute their initial attack, a technique later used on "Cathedral" (from Diver Down, 1982). The hit single "Dance the Night Away" sees the group fully embrace the bubblegum pop idiom, and features calypso rhythms in the intro and after the second chorus, whereas "Outta Love Again" is funkier than any of Van Halen's earlier material, with percussive vocals from David Lee Roth and jazz-funk drumming from Alex van Halen. A more challenging track, "Light Up the Sky" features cerebral, progressive elements combined with an adrenalized energy, leading Brown to compare it to a hybrid between progressive rock band Rush and the aggression of hardcore punk.
The brief interlude "Spanish Fly" is a intricate solo performed on an acoustic nylon-string guitar, with chiming natural harmonics; it is followed by the loud "D.O.A.", which begins with a dissonant intro. Later, "Women in Love..." features themes of female bisexuality and an evocative intro with an ethereal guitar part played almost wholly on tapped harmonics, emboldened by double tracking to the point it resembles an electric piano more than a guitar. During the song's outro, Eddie plays both power chords on his lower guitar strings, and a drone on the open higher strings.
The black-and-yellow guitar on the back of the album known as "Bumblebee" is buried with Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who was killed December 8, 2004. Eddie Van Halen placed it in his Kiss Kasket at his funeral because Darrell had said it was his favorite.[6] Eddie himself stated in an interview conducted in December 1979 by Jas Obrecht and published in the April 1980 edition of Guitar Player Magazine, that the guitar itself was not actually used on the tracking of Van Halen II, as it had only been completed just in time for the photo shoots for the album.[7]
However, the guitar was completed by Charvel, delivered to Eddie by Karl Sandoval in early October 1978 and was photographed in use on the 2nd European leg of Van Halen's 1978 tour. Despite this, there is no conclusive evidence that the guitar itself was or was not used for the tracking of the album. It is likely that Eddie had, in fact, taken the guitar apart and reassembled it just in time for the photoshoot, as there is evidence of swapped parts and a new guitar strap made from a lap-style seatbelt seen in the photos from the shoot.
David Lee Roth is shown in a cast in the inner liner notes, as he allegedly broke his heel on the third try of the spread-eagle jump used on the back cover photo.[8]
In the liner notes, The Sheraton Inn of Madison, Wisconsin, is thanked. On Van Halen's first tour, they stayed at the hotel and destroyed the seventh floor, having fire extinguisher fights in the hallways and throwing televisions out windows. They blamed the incidents on their tour-mates at the time, Journey.[9]
In a 1979 Rolling Stone review, Timothy White writes, "Scattered throughout Van Halen's second album are various Vanilla Fudge bumps and grinds, an Aerosmith-derived pseudobravado, a bit of Bad Company basement funk and even a few Humble Pie miniraveups," adding that the "LP retains a numbing live feel."[10] The New York Times deemed the album "screaming macho rock howlings and power-driven electric guitar attacks."[11]
In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic noted that the album is "virtually a carbon copy of their 1978 debut," though goes on to say it is "lighter and funnier" and "some of the grandest hard rock ever made." Erlewine praises Eddie's "phenomenal gift" and Roth's "knowing shuck and jive."[12]
It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart[13] and No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart.[14] Van Halen II was certified 5× Platinum in 2004. About 5.7 million records have been sold in the United States as of 2004.[15] In 2000, Van Halen II was remastered and re-released.[16]
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[17] | 68 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[18] | 30 |
| Chart (1979) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19] | 47 | |
| US Billboard 200[20] | 38 |