VOA (voa)

Description

Product Description Out of print in the U.S. Sammy Hagar's first major success came with the group Montrose in the seventies with their first two albums. 1984's VOA was the last (and eighth) solo album Sammy Hagar (nickname The Red Rocker) recorded before he became the lead singer of Van Halen (on the album 5150), and this effort shows why he was invited to join the band. With songs like "I Can't Drive 55," he adds a simple melody to the song which never distracts from the all- important, hard-driving riff. On "Two Sides of Love," he shows that he has the ability to pull off a power ballad, wrenching every bit of feeling out of the song. Hagar was inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' as a member of Van Halen. About the Artist Sammy Hagar's first major success came with the group Montrose in the seventies with their first two albums. 'VOA' was the last solo album Sammy Hagar (nickname 'The Red Rocker') recorded before he became the lead singer of Van Halen (on the album '5150'), and this effort shows why he was invited to join the band. With songs like 'I Can't Drive 55' he adds a simple melody to the song which never distracts from the all important, hard-driving riff. On 'Two Sides of Love' he shows that he has the ability to pull off a power ballad, wrenching every bit of feeling out of the song. Hagar was inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' as a member of Van Halen. TRACKLIST: 1 I CAN'T DRIVE 55 2 SWEPT AWAY 3 ROCK IS IN MY BLOOD 4 TWO SIDES OF LOVE 5 DICK IN THE DIRT 6 VOA 7 DON'T MAKE ME WAIT 8 BURNIN' DOWN THE CITY. Review: "When I'm Talking - You'd Better Listen!!" - Strange one this for me. I have never particularly liked that feel good, middle of the road, all American 'Rock' that was dominated by, say, Van Halen, Aerosmith and David Lee Roth in the mid 80s. It wasn't heavy metal, it wasn't hair metal and it wasn't really AOR like, say, Reo Speedwagon. If it came on the car radio it was pleasant enough, but I guess that was the point of it. Despite this I happened on this on cassette in the 80s and it has stuck with me for 30 years, now being replaced by this CD. What VOA has is a killer combination of ballsy groovy guitar riffs, great melodic songs and great vocals, with some particularly strong driving rockers and pleasant soaring power ballads. But what marks it out particularly is that it has, I think (hope) a sense of humour and a real joyousness that makes it genuinely uplifting to listen to, even if the lyrics for VOA (Voice Of America) could have been penned by Donald Trump (I will assume it's ironic, even if it isn't). So boggle as Sammy bellows 'You in the middle east, you be on your toes. We're bound to strike, everybody knows. Just tell your friends, the USSR We're gonna, we're gonna crash that party, 'cause they've gone too far, yeah!' and marvel at the cover where he is parachuting into the Whitehouse looking not dissimilar to Ronald Macdonald in a red jump suit sporting that alarming clown's perm (hang on, that's his hair!). Amusingly "We'll get so strong there'll be no war" sounds suspiciously like "We'll get so strong we'll build a wall".... Try and fathom what 'Dick In The Dirt' is actually about ("He always rises to the occasion") and enjoy Sammy's ode to trying to drive his car at 55 and picking up speeding tickets ("One foot on the break and one on the gas, HEAH!"). All of which is great fun, simply due to the strength of the songs rather than the dubious and humorous nature of the lyrics.... It sounds like the band had great fun making it, which in turn makes it great fun to listen to. Review: Solo driftings - Only one great tune , I can’t drive 55… which he soon took to Van Halen. The rest very ordinary songs and Sammy clearly running out of good ideas at this stage