Fair Warning.....

I surrender! Remember listing to this repeatedly with my VH obsessed friends and discussing how different it sounded - more refined, but still the Van Halen we knew. Each of the 1st 4 albums were new discoveries and span (spinned, spun) endlessly on our turntables. This was the peak for us - Diver Down, 1984 ... still big fans, but never quite reaching the heights of the 1st 4 to us. And this one has held up well over the years - I'm listening to it right now - still sounds fresh.

Best song on this album! Hard to pick but: V V : Fight Me!!!

Saw this tour - blew my ears out, - worth it!

 
I agree. Mostly. :)

Fair Warning was so fresh and funky. That Mean Streak opener just sets the tone
for the entire album---an album that has not a single clunker on it. And it is all over
in a brief 31 Minutes so you have to play the entire album again. :)

The clean tones on Push Comes To Shove. Droooooooooollll!!!!
 
In 79/80 my parents lost the house to the bank when interest rates went nuts (19%) - we moved to a dumpy rental but the silver lining was that I got the semi-finished basement room to my self (I was 19 - paarrrtyyyy!!). Anyway, I needed to paint the crappy walls (3 panelling / 1 bricks) n one of my VH obsessed friends, who was also a decent drawing artist jokingly says: "hey why don't you paint one wall with the VH logo!" - sounded good to me, so we proceeded to paint a perfectly proportioned 7' VH logo replica (2nd album cover) on one wall, Jimmy Page's ZoSo logo on the 2nd wall (tough, needed one of those wavy rulers), and, just for contrast put up my 6'x6' Gordon Lightfoot "Endless Wire" poster on the 3rd wall. I don't recall taking any of this down when we moved again a few years later - the new renters mustv been like wtf! - those were the days..
 
No argument here. Long time ago I worked for a guy who was a product of the 60's, and loved Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit. He used to say the only thing wrong with that song is it's too short. That sums up FW for me!
 
sprint said:
In 79/80 my parents lost the house to the bank when interest rates went nuts (19%) - we moved to a dumpy rental but the silver lining was that I got the semi-finished basement room to my self (I was 19 - paarrrtyyyy!!). Anyway, I needed to paint the crappy walls (3 panelling / 1 bricks) n one of my VH obsessed friends, who was also a decent drawing artist jokingly says: "hey why don't you paint one wall with the VH logo!" - sounded good to me, so we proceeded to paint a perfectly proportioned 7' VH logo replica (2nd album cover) on one wall, Jimmy Page's ZoSo logo on the 2nd wall (tough, needed one of those wavy rulers), and, just for contrast put up my 6'x6' Gordon Lightfoot "Endless Wire" poster on the 3rd wall. I don't recall taking any of this down when we moved again a few years later - the new renters mustv been like wtf! - those were the days..
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Wow! That's awesome! I think the eventual outcome of that place needs to be investigated further!! :)
 
I always felt like Fair Warning had the most interesting guitar parts/solos. It seemed most wildly free form vs their other records. Like Ed was on Ayahuasca this album or something. That quote Edward was famous for re: solos , about 'falling down the stairs but landing on your feet' to me was epitomized all over this album.
 
la szum said:
Sammy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I still can't believe he wanted to play guitar on stage when he was in VH!!! WTF dude... check yourself. ;)
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I saw them on the Live album tour in 93...man....his 316/eruption solo mid show was soooo freaking cool. Micheal Anthony set his jack Daniels bass on fire during his bass solo...what a show.
 
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TSJMajesty said:
No argument here. Long time ago I worked for a guy who was a product of the 60's, and loved Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit. He used to say the only thing wrong with that song is it's too short. That sums up FW for me!
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the "Leave em wanting more" thing actually works
 
Turned 16 in 81 and got my driver's license. I drove my dad's 64? Ford Falcon and had built a Frankenstein stereo system with speakers laying all over the back. Cassette sound track of my life for that year was: Van Halen - Fair Warning, Journey - Escape, Billy Squire - Don't Say No, Ozzy - Blizzard of Oz, Loverboy - Loverboy, Rush - Moving Pictures, Led Zepplin IV and a few others, but none touched these. As an aspiring guitar player no one else blew my mind like Eddie.
 
la szum said:
Another great thing about Fair Warning: No covers!!! :)
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Eddie was trying to get away from that and thinking of quitting the band at that time. He took his frustration out on the those recording sessions and it shows. Love every song on that album and the guitar sounds he gets are unearthly for that time. More aggressive than most Van Halen stuff.
 
Remember reading an article back in the day about Fair warning. Eddie said he would sneak into the studio at 2 A.M. so he could record his guitar sounds the way he wanted.;)
 
I guess I'll stick up a hand and be a little bit the contrarian. For sure some of my favorite VH material ever is on Fair Warning! That's the one with Mean Streets! Dirty Movies! Sinner's Swing! Unchained! Uh, and some other other songs that I just don't get nearly as excited about. For me, VH1 is the one that stays hot all the way to the end.
 
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