With a reunion based on the notion that there’s no need to leave money on the table just because you hate each other, Van Halen brings us A Different Kind of Truth. Kicking off the album is “Tattoo,” which draws on the “teachers can be hot” vibe of Hot for Teacher to describe the process by which a tattoo applied to a mousewife can turn her into a momshell. These new terms are clearly worth 5 minutes of your time.
The album has received some criticism because apparently it borrows from demos recorded 30+ years ago. Personally, I think that’s great — what better way to make sure the album you record at age 56 is as good as the album from age 21 than by using stuff you did when you were 21?
ADKOT (which lacks the acronymical elegance of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge but is quicker to type) is a fun album that doesn’t try too hard. Too often, “comeback” albums released decades after peak try too hard to reflect the current times (like John Fogerty’s 2004 Nobody’s Here Anymore which contains the appalling line He’s got the latest software. He’s got the latest hardware, too. See how modern and hip John Fogerty is? With ADKOT we get Diamond Dave being his sarcastic, mildly gross self. He doesn’t pretend to be young and drives this point home by including no high notes that he could fail to hit. But who else has the tongue-in-cheek skill to deliver lines like “When was the last time you tried something for the first time?”
After the stuck-in-your-head-with-just-one-listen Tattoo, we get the familiar sounding (in a good way) She’s The Woman, which sounds a lot like Mean Street, and about a dozen other classic Van Halen tunes. In fact, there’s something here for every kind of Van Halen fan (except, uh, the ones who liked Sammy). A big fan of Unchained? Give Blood and Fire a try. Prefer Ice Cream Man? I refer you to the strikingly similar in tone, topic, and tempo Stay Frosty, a true highlight of the album.
The only dud on the album is Bullethead, which is unfortunate because it contains the album title as its only lyric of any real substance. It’s an empty song with a machine gun style guitar that sounds like your high school’s “Battle of Bands” winner who everyone thought was going to become a famous metal band and nobody ever heard from again.
Suitable while working or working out, A Different Kind of Truth should have a place on your playlist.