Van Halen DIVER DOWN Warner Bros. RR1 3677 (2015 180g Audiophile pressing) Mint

$

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Van Halen DIVER DOWN Warner Bros. RR1 3677 (2015 180g Audiophile pressing)

Tracklist

• • • • Manufactured By – Rhino Records
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      • David Lee Roth – lead vocals, synthesizer on "Intruder", acoustic guitar and harmonica on "The Full Bug"
      • Eddie Van Halen – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals, synthesizer on "Dancing in the Street"
      • Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals
      • Alex Van Halen – drums
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      • Additional personnel
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      • Jan Van Halen – clarinet on "Big Bad Bill"
    • Remastered By – Chris Bellman

    Notes

    Remastered from original analog tapes.
  • • Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Etched): RR1-3677-A CB
    • Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Stamped): 13113 1A
    • Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Etched): RR1-3677-B CB
    • Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Stamped): 13113 1B
• 180g Vinyl Reissue! Mastered from the Original Analog Tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering!
  
  Diver Down is the fifth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1982. It spent 65 weeks on the album chart in the United States and had, by 1998, sold four million copies in the US. The 1982 release features Eddie and Alex Van Halen's father, Jan, on clarinet for the song "Big Bad Bill." The album also contains the song "(Oh) Pretty Woman," which was banned from MTV as a video for its controversial content.
  
  Mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums for Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA, was enlisted for these new versions (2015) ....
  
  "...this is undoubtedly the work of a finely honed band who has only grown tighter and heavier since their debut...it's one of Van Halen's best records, one that's just pure joy to hear. Like the debut, it's a great showcase for all the group's strengths, from Eddie Van Halen's always thrilling guitar to the bedrock foundation of Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony's throbbing pulse to, of course, David Lee Roth's strut." -Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic
  
  Features:
  ? 180g Vinyl
  ? Remastered from the original analog tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
  ? Pressed at Record industry, Netherlands
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•      Fair Warning was such a dark, intense record that Van Halen almost had no choice but to lighten up on their next album, and 1982's Diver Down is indeed much lighter than its predecessor. In many ways, it's a return to the early albums, heavy on covers and party anthems, but where those records were rough and exuberant -- they felt like the work of the world's best bar band just made good, which is, of course, kind of what they were -- this is undoubtedly the work of a finely honed band who has only grown tighter and heavier since their debut. As a band, they might be tight, but Diver Down is anything but tight. It's a downright mess, barely clocking in at 31 minutes, cobbled together out of five covers, two minute-long instrumentals, and five new songs. By most measures, this should be the kind of slop that's difficult to muddle through, but it's not: it's one of Van Halen's best records, one that's just pure joy to hear. Like the debut, it's a great showcase for all the group's strengths, from Eddie Van Halen's always thrilling guitar to the bedrock foundation of Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony's throbbing pulse to, of course, David Lee Roth's strut. Each member gets places to shine and, in a way, covers showcase their skills in a way none of the originals does, since they get to twist "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Dancing in the Street," and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" inside out, all the better to make them their own. But this isn't complacent; Van Halen is stretching out in different ways, funneling the menace of Fair Warning into the ominous instrumental "Intruder," playing with the whiplash fury of a punk band on "Hang 'Em High," and honing their pop skills on the bright, new wavey rock of "Little Guitars" and the sweet "Secrets," which displays the lightest touch they've ever had on record. Combine that with the full-throttle attack on the covers, along with Dave's vaudevillian song and dance on "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" -- a shtick that's electrified on the equally fun "The Full Bug" -- and the result is a record that's nothing but fun, the polar opposite of its predecessor.
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