The reunion tour is off, no it's on?
Who knows?
It doesn't matter - we've got Van Halen live from 1978!!
The first half of this release from Bondage includes a high quality soundboard from
England
on
June 1, 1978
.
As we know, there are not many good quality live shows from the Dave era.
Is the sound and performance perfect, no but it's one of the best I've heard from the early incarnation of the band.
First of all, you can tell the boys are fired up.
After all, they were opening for Black Sabbath!
The song selection includes tracks from VHI as well as VHII which would be released the next year.
The boys play every song with great energy.
The sound is not as tight as the records but like I said, the boys are fired up.
My major complaint is Dave forgetting the words in more than one song.
Listening to Eddie takes me back to why I wanted to play the guitar in the first place:
Eruption.
The first time I heard it, I was never the same.
Michael Anthony can be heard on backup and various screams throughout the recording.
It has always been obvious that his harmony vocals have a lot to do with the band's sound.
Alex's drumming sounds great as well.
In fact, every member lets loose on a solo.
The second half of the release features all cover versions from Gazzari's in
West Hollywood
,
CA
from 1974.
The sound is pretty rough although as indicated on the packaging, it is an improvement from tapes in circulation.
Even though the sound is pretty tough to listen to, it is still amazing and interesting to hear the boys charging through not one but two Deep Purple songs in addition to songs by ZZ Top, Edgar Winter, James Gang, Bad Company, The Stones and Montrose (that last one is ironic).
The packaging is excellent and typical for Bondage.
Two sided color insert and good quality photos.
Hey Bondage, a booklet wouldn't hurt!
For all the guitar geeks, if you look closely at the cover photo, you can see Eddie playing a Les Paul.
