Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

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Your lollipop is in my mouth (right now)

I like it red.

I'd like you to show me how to waltz (with you). And I'd like to have you dress me up. I have a tune I wanna lip synch & air guitar for you. And, maybe if you'd like, I could shave your legs sometime ~ not because I don't think your legs aren't cute (they sure are) but because I believe I could do it well and that would be a moment when you were trusting me.

I like it sweet.

Unpredictable, at least eventually.
November 2, 2008

Eat poundcake, go bob!

For
Unlawful
Carnal
Knowledge
Eddie's
Downside

Under
Pressure September 5, 2008

Best Sammy VH and better then most of even the Classic Lee Roth stuff

I love this album! In the Sammy/Le Roth wars I tend to strongly lean on the Le Roth side. That being said this might just be my favorite VH album. Astounding guitar opening with Poundcake and onto a mostly upbeat with dark corners and listening to it feels like being a kid again first time on Disney Rollercoaster Ride. Their is pure rocking fun, light hearted upbeat jams, shet talking, made solos and outstanding song sound production and punctuated with rather prophetic social commentary. The album is best listened to it on its own to be best appreciated as opposed to pulling out single songs onto a mixed greatest hits compilation which I feel damages the overall effect.

If you are gonna get any of the Van Hagar Albums this one is clearly it!
April 12, 2008

Van Halen slams into the 1990's!

In 1991 rock & roll was about to undergo a massive turnaround, gone would be hair-metal, which ooozed out California sunshine and sex while letting us know we did'nt need anything but a good time and keeping us entertained for the better part of a decade. In would be the meloncholy sounds of grunge, which hammered despair and nothingness as if to pound a hypothetic nail in the coffin of pop-metal. Looking back at the early 1990's from a 2008 point of view I have absolutely no idea why or how grunge killed pop-metal? I mean come on who wants despair and a glance at everyday life when you can stand up and shout to the sounds of Girls, Girls, Girls? By this time in 1991 most hair-metal bands had seen their flame start to fizzle, bands like Poison, Motley Crue, Cinderella and Def Leppard had ruled the relms of Mtv for the last decade and now a new generation was ready to sweep the old aside and bring in the new, well hold on just a minute cause in early 1991 when all seemed lost for 80's metal fans, here came Van Halen slamming onto the charts like nobody's business. "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" was Van Halen's ninth album and in my mind is their third best with Sammy Hagar, following 5150 and Balance. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, was also a reckoning of sorts for the band, they dropped the over the top synth rock of the first 2 Sammy albums for a more straight ahead rock sound, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge also has some of the most memorable Van Halen tunes that the guys ever churned out.

1. Poundcake 10-10 Van Halen starts For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge off with an arena rock anthem, complete with Eddie motoring a drill up the neck of his guitar, catchy lyrics and sing along chorus.

2. Judgement Day 10-10 Good solid rocker that keeps the pace of the album flowing, catchy chorus and good lyrics by Hagar, I think most people underestimate Sammy's ability to write clever songs.

3. Spanked 10-10 This song is pretty impressing, this is probably why most people don't respect Hagar the song writer, because of the really cheesy lyrics and chorus, but Eddie plays a rocking riff, and this song gets in your head and stays forever. It almost reminds you of some S&M song you'd hear on a porn...All you bad bad boys...call her up on the spank line!!

4. Runaround 10-10 Runaround is one of my favorite Van Halen songs ever, its one of the first tracks I liked from the band, it has an amazing catchy chorus and the riff and solo from Eddie is totally wailin'.

5. Pleasure Dome 8-10 Interesting song here, I have heard this song pertains to masturbation, I myself cannot validate those claims, but listening to the lyrics one could not find it to hard to assimalate the two. Good song though just kinda long for my taste.

6. In 'n' Out 10-10 This song sort of lays the groundwork for a sexxed up party tune, but I think maybe the guys were going for something a little different here than just another romp in the hay song, good track though.

7. Man On A Mission 10-10 My absolute favorite track off the album, this song is pretty generic late 80's early 90's rock song, but I love it anyway, really catchy and Eddie just kills this riff with an awesome solo just to ice the cake.

8. The Dream Is Over 10-10 Another very catchy rock and roll song here from the guys, and another faavorite of mine the chorus gets stuck in your head and man it takes forever to get out.

9. Right Now 10-10 Well here it is the big hit off the record, and surprisingly its a piano driven power ballad of sorts. This is the song everyone notifies with For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and for good reason its an awesome song. I also think this song was used in some cola commercials back in the early 90's.

10. 316 10-10 Anyone who has ever read one of my reviews knows I do not particularly like instrumentals, but this is sort of a guitar lullaby to Eddies son Wolfgang, its ok.

11. Top Of The World 10-10 The last song on the album is another single, and was pretty big on rock radio as well, really catchy and had a kickin' video to boot. great great song.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, maybe not Van Halen's finest work with Sammy Hagar, but its a great listen and is probably right beside 5150 and just below Balance. Eddie's guitar work is top notch as usual, I mean what would you expect from the man most rockers consider ZEUS of the six string, and Alex's drumming is one of a kind, nobody pounds the skins like AVH, and last but not least Michael Anthony the un-hearalded one of the band plays his bass like somebody told him his life depended on it, and his backing vocals are always a contributing factor to Van Halen's sound. If you've lived under a rock the last 17 years and have not heard anything off this record go buy it right now, if your already a Van Halen fan, well, then I am just preaching to the choir.

March 29, 2008

Basic Rock & Roll, not as interesting as the other Van Hagar discs

The third Van Hagar album, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, is the most pedestrian of all of Van Halen's albums. This is easily the worst Van Hagar album. Not that it's bad, just rather average. Of the four Van Halen albums with Sammy, this one sounds the most like his solo career, with the only difference being some good guitar licks from Maestro Eddie

In many ways, this album marks the end of an area. Though no one knew it at the time, alterative was poised to overthrow hair metal and was about to become a dominant, musical cultural force. Van Halen released this album in June of 1991, a mere three months before Nirvana released NEVERMIND, the album that would change everything in the rock landscape. Van Halen's catalogue up to this point has always been primary had a party atmosphere, and this album is the last in the celebration line. Balance, the 1995 followup to this album, is a much darker affair, and VAN HALEN III Eddie changed directions both for the band image and the lyrical direction completely. In many ways, this is the last feel-good, everything's a party atmosphere that so dominated Van Halen as a band. Sammy Hager, however, is still cashing in on that atmosphere (just like at his hard-rock send up of Jimmy Buffet in "Livin' It Up" from 2006).

The album title is a well known acronym. Originally, Sammy Hagar just wanted to call the album "F--- " in a attempt to press the censorship issues, but after being told by his boxing friend Ray Boom Boom Mancini that word is an acronym for "for unlawful carnal knowledge," he back away from this flat vulgarity and went with this title. Promo material made a big deal out of this, with T-shirts sold during the 1991 tour having the title written vertical on the t-shirt with the first letter written in bright red.

Coming off the heels of OU812, which opened up the Van Hagar template to include instrumental flourishes and strong craft never before heard on a Van Halen disc, the band instead pares down their sound and instead churns out basic rock and roll. They take away the synth that was featured prominently on their proceeding albums and replaced it with guitar and piano. While basic rock and roll never hurt anybody, given its predecessor, it would help if the album branched out more. Make the music worth returning too. As is stands, however, FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE is your basic meat and potatoes rock and roll.

The music is rather straightforward (sometimes to the point of being dull). In many ways it feels like the band is rather running on empty. While Eddie's guitar heroics are always impressive, unfortunately, the song-writing simply isn't that strong. The music sounds like generic 1980s rock, with only the guitar to distinguish it. But, as I've long maintained, guitar is only one portion of a great band, and it can become an Achille's heel if you rely on it to carry the album through to hide average or weak songwriting.

"Poundcake", along with "Right Now" is probably the best known songs on the album. Poundcake features some smoking playing, with the band really sinking their chops into the music. The drill intro is great. Eddie finally put "Right Now" onto a Van Halen disc, a song written in the early 1980s (around the album 1984 or Diver Down). He felt Roth wasn't the right singer for the song. An uplifting song, and one used at a lot of Chicago Bulls games during the 1990s (the intro at least), Right Now was a huge hit for the band, and is one of Van Halen's most well known songs. Their "Hey Jude", if you will.

"Man on a Mission," "In and Out" (even though the title would appear to be about sex, it's about taxes, economic oppression, and being ripped off by the "system") and "Dream is Over" don't really have anything to distinguish them as notable songs. "Spanked" is, crudely enough, about phone sex and masturbation (call her up, on the spank line!). Sounds like a bad DLR parody, actually.

"Judgement Day" is a lyrically bad song for those with religious sensibility. Here Hagar makes it quite clear he has "no faith, no religion", and he will live his life as he pleases and put off righteous living until "judgement day". That will be the biggest mistake of his life, and Van Halen's and anyone else's who really lives that life thus. You would think Eddie would think about spiritual matters given he had a child just born when this album was released but apparently not.

"Runaround" has a catchy, sing-a-long chorus and is pleasurable to listen too. Eddie on several of VH's albums has a guitar instrumental, and this is no exception. Always liked the guitar instrumental 3:16 (titled for Eddie's son's birthday, Wolfgang), especially the tap playing at the end of this brief song. "Top of the World" was a moderate hit, and deservedly so. The main guitar riff from "Top" can actually be heard at the end of the 1984 track "Jump".

That about accounts for all the songs, except one. "Pleasure Dome". Easily the best song on the album, Van Halen does things lyrically that they would never do before or since. Rather than going with women and sex and their usual (oft times boring by this stage of their career) subject matter, instead they turn in an abstract poem that always gets me going whenever I hear it. For once on the record, the music is also a large contribution to the success of the track over all. While Pleasure Dome references Coolidge's "Kubla Kahn", overall the song just drives its meaning and imagery home like any good epic rock song will. I love wrapping my mind and thoughts around Hagar's words - unlike Bob Dylan or Jim Morrison, this is one of the very few songs where his lyrics create a rather otherworldly, poetic effect or epiphany. While Hagar is no great lyricist, here he manages a nice song. The opening riff is also a homage to the Rush song Xanadu from the 1977 album A FAREWELL TO KINGS, which is also about those fabled pleasure domes.

Overall, a rather lackluster affair. The songs are decent, and there's not a single "bad" song here. Just not really any great songs either, save for "Pleasure Dome" and "Right Now". I'll be generous and include 3:16 as well. Easily Van Halen's most "average" album. Still worth a listen if you're a fan. If not, make this the last of the four Van Hagar album you buy. September 26, 2007

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