the ratio is off
Here’s another thing that exists, the new single from Van Halen (featuring David Lee Roth), “Tattoo”:
My reaction? Meh.
Yeah, Dave’s back, and that’s kinda cool, though I was always kind of agnostic regarding the one true front man – all three brought something interesting to the table, even Gary Cherone, who I’ve always felt the need to defend, as I thought 3 was kind of invigorating, or could have been, had the rest of the band not been so damned dysfunctional.
However, this track, to me, proves that the secret to Van Halen success isn’t who’s out front, it’s the ratio of Van Halens – go above fifty percent, and something’s just off. Really, though, what’s missing is Michael Anthony – his backing vocals were more of a foundation for the band’s sound than his ability to play human metronome on the A string. No slight to Wolfgang, who I’m sure is a perfectly nice kid, but take Mikey’s voice out of the equation, and the magic is just gone.
The rest of it just kinda, well, meh. Alex clangs on cymbals really nice, Eddie noodles some more of the same impressive, but kinda samey noodling he’s been doing for decades, and Dave does his raspy Diamond Dave thing with what’s left of his voice, croaking out pedestrian lyrics trading on a current “It” movie and book trend.
It’s there, but I kind of wish it was better, you know?
[…] of Truth: Despite my general indifference to the lead single, “Tattoo” (as documented here), there was never really a question of whether I was going to track this one down or not – […]
February 13th, 2012 at 2:14 PM