Van Halen III

Van Halen III
Van Halen's studio album
Publication (s)	March 17, 1998
admission	March - December 1997
Label (s)	Warner Music Group
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Hard rock
Title (number)	12 ( Europe / USA ) / 13 ( Japan )
running time	65:22
occupation	Singing : Gary Cherone Guitar , keyboard : Eddie Van Halen Bass : Michael Anthony Drums : Alex Van Halen
production	Mike Post , Eddie van halen
Studio (s)	5150, Hollywood , California ; Renegade Studio & Westwind Studio, Burbank
chronology Balance (1995) Van Halen III A Different Kind of Truth (2012)

Van Halen III is the title of the eleventh studio album by the American hard rock band Van Halen , released in 1998 . It is the only album the band recorded with Gary Cherone as singer and the first since 1986 that did not reach the top spot on the US album charts . It is generally considered a flop , although it has been sold over 1 million times worldwide.

background

After the last great success of the band with the album Balance , the three platinum records excellent and whose first single The Seventh Seal for a Grammy nominated was, was the now dysfunctional working relationship between the van Halen brothers and singer Sammy Hagar on 16th June 1996 ended by a phone call. Eddie van Halen had informed Hagar that David Lee Roth would return for a planned compilation album and record new songs with the band. Hagar had recently recorded the song Humans Being for the soundtrack to the film Twister with the band. Roth's last work with the group was in 1985 and was to tour the 1984 album .

After Extreme broke up, became singer for Van Halen: Gary Cherone

The best-of album with two new songs recorded with Roth ( Me Wise Magic and Can't get This Stuff no More ) was released in October 1996. Eddie van Halen had already spoken to Gary Cherone several times over the summer and invited him to join him Coming to the studio to write songs, and Cherone had done that. This was made easier by the fact that Van Halen and Extreme had the same management at the time. On the second day they were together, van Halen offered Cherone the job of the band's singer. Cherone was asked not to reveal his involvement to the press and kept a low profile. On September 4, 1996, the band took part with Roth at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony and presented an award to Beck . At that time, Roth was evidently of the opinion that he was a member of Halen again and during the laudation repeatedly drew the audience's attention to the fact that the original Van Halen cast were on stage together. In an interview with MTV , Alex and Eddie van Halen later stated that there had been an argument with Roth backstage afterwards and also said that Roth had known beforehand that he should only record these two songs for the best of album with them and further collaboration would only be an option if you were to write and record a new album.

The recordings with Cherone, which began in March 1997 and continued until December of the same year, took place mostly in Eddie van Halen's 5150 studio, but some also in the Renegade and Westwind studios in Burbank . The album was produced by Mike Post and Eddie van Halen.

“When we were writing Van Halen III we were writing songs that seemed like they were in the Sammy key. So I was reaching for notes I would have never done with Extreme. I think it made me a better singer. "

“When we were writing Van Halen III , we were writing songs that seemed to be in Sammy's key. So I had to sing notes like I would never have done with Extreme. I think that made me a better singer. "

- Gary Cherone : rollingstone.com

In Eddie van Halen's opinion, Cherone's entry began the third phase of the band, so he decided to name the album Van Halen III . The release took place on March 17, 1998, the subsequent tour also took the band to Europe, where they played at festivals such as Rock am Ring and Rock im Park .

Three singles were released from the album: Without You, Fire in the Hole and One I Want . Fire in the Hole was made available for the soundtrack to the film Lethal Weapon 4 , and music videos were made for the first two titles .

After the end of the tour in 1999, the band took up work on another album with Cherone, in which the producer Patrick Leonard was involved. The written material was moving in one direction, but over time the members of the group seemed to be moving in different directions. Van Halen fired manager Ray Danniels, and at the time there was also a conversation with Cherone, and the journey together ended by mutual agreement.

Track list

Van Halen III
No.	title	Songwriter	length
1.	Neworld (intro)	Gary Cherone , Eddie Van Halen , Alex Van Halen , Michael Anthony	1:45
2.	Without you	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	6:30
3.	One I want	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	5:30
4th	From Afar	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	5:24
5.	Dirty Water Dog	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	5:27
6th	Once	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	7:42
7th	Fire in the hole	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	5:31
8th.	Josephina	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	5:42
9.	Year to the Day	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	8:34
10.	Primary	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	1:27
11.	Ballot or the Bullet	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	5:42
12.	How many say I	Cherone, E. Van Halen, A. Van Halen, Anthony	6:04
Overall length:			65:22

reception

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Van Halen III   US 4th 04/04/1998 (12 weeks)   UK 43 03/28/1998 (2 weeks)   DE 13 03/30/1998 (5 weeks)

Thomas Kupfer wrote in his review for Rock Hard that in addition to Eddie Van Halen's groundbreaking guitar playing, it was "always the front man who played a decisive role in the quartet's songs". David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar would both have “mastered the art of putting their own stamp on Van Halen compositions”. Gary Cherone may have "felt the pressure" when it came to singing "Van Halen III", but apparently "took the strain off quite well". The "newcomer to the band" does "his job more than well" and reminds "of the pitch of his voice over and over again of his slain predecessor Sammy Hagar". Unfortunately, Van Halen III does not fit “seamlessly into the endless range of VH classics”, but this is not due to Cherone. “The big difference” is “mainly the poor song material”. Refrains opened up to the listener “only after several runs”, and even the first single Without You , which “could well come from extremes in terms of guitar playing and structure”, “did not convince straight away”. The band "sounds" more mature than on previous releases ", but it seems" more than questionable whether the Van Halen crowd, which is fixated on single hits, sees it similarly ". Especially since tracks like Dirty Dog , Fire In The Hole or Josephine, which are “quite miserable” , “at best served as fillers”. “In addition to Cherone's vocals, the most solemn, very atmospheric” Once could “positively surprise” . The rich "according to rock-hard standards but not for a grade in the upper range ..." Kupfer awarded 6.5 points.

In Metal Hammer , Henning Richter wrote, "soft piano and acoustic guitar sounds" opened "certainly the most ambitious work" of Van Halen. "Krasser" is still the last song, How Many Say I, in which "Eddie van Halen with his scratchy nicotine voice" sings in a duet with Gary Cherone and accompanies each other on the piano "before gentle strings" joined in. The remaining ten tracks lie “between familiar party hard rock and fresh tones”. Cherone sounds "sometimes like Sammy Hagar", but then reminds me of "old extreme times". “Outstanding” is “the dreamy Once with its sunny groove and easy guitar playing”. Rock fans should also be “satisfied with the new album”, in several places Van Halen “let it rip”. The “unmistakable fun” of the quartet in its “new constancy freedom” is carried over to the listener.

The most successful chart placement for the album was number four in the USA, in Germany it came to number 13, in Great Britain to 43. None of the singles released could reach the charts in one of these three markets.

Van Halen III was awarded a gold record on August 19, 1998 in the USA for 500,000 units sold.

Web links

• Van Halen III at Discogs
• Without You on YouTube , accessed July 1, 2020.
• Fire in the Hole on YouTube , accessed July 1, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Flashback: Gary Cherone Sings 'Jump' With Van Halen in 1998 , rollingstone.com , accessed July 1, 2020
2. ↑ Worldwide album sales on statisticbrain.com, March 17, 2015, English. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b} award database of the RIAA , accessed on July 1, 2020
4. ↑ Van Halen nominations and awards list on grammy.com , accessed June 21, 2020
5. ↑ ^{a b} Sammy Hagar: Red - My Uncensored Life in Rock , HarperCollins, 2011
6. ↑ ^{a b} Liberation in: Metal Hammer, issue 03.1998, pages 44-46
7. ↑ ^{a b c d} Gary Cherone Reflects on his Three-Year Stint In Van Halen , rollingstone.com , accessed July 1, 2020
8. ↑ Van Halen's appearance with Roth at the MTV Video Music Awards 1996 , accessed on July 1, 2020
9. ↑ Interview on the VMA appearance and the consequences (English) on youtube.com , accessed on July 1, 2020
10. ↑ Booklet of the CD
11. ↑ Chart sources: UK US DE
12. ↑ rockhard.de , accessed on July 1, 2020
13. ↑ Metal Hammer, No. 4.1998, page 96