Van HalenBest Van Halen Albums Ranked
7.1
Avg Score
27
Opinions
18
Albums
10
Reviewers
Summary from 27 ratings
On Wavelength, fans have rated Van Halen's catalog across 18 albums from 27 opinions, with an overall average of 7.1/10. The top-rated Van Halen album is Van Halen (1978) with a 8.9/10 average from 7 ratings, followed by Women and Children First and 1984. The discography on Wavelength spans 1978 to 2012. Jump ranks as the highest-rated Van Halen song on Wavelength with a 10.0/10 average.
Van Halen
“Van Halen were veterans of the Pasadena, California, bar circuit, but on their 1978 debut their sound was already large enough to fill football stadiums. Singer David Lee Roth yowled like a Vegas performer in heat, Michael Anthony played the bass lines that let Eddie Van Halen go wild on guitar, and Eddie crammed a […]”
1984
“This album confirms what a lot of Van Halen fans have suspected for some time: this is no mere arena-rock band. Beneath all the strutting and heavy-metal antics lies a band with more pop savvy than a dozen Journeys, as well as the chops to pull hooks from the most unlikely places. And 1984 is […]”
A Different Kind of Truth
“We’ve earned this, right? When David Lee Roth and Van Halen went down their own separate mean streets in the Eighties, who paid the price? We did. Van Halen fans everywhere have suffered through the years, waiting for this reunion. We don’t need it to be Fair Warning or Van Halen II. We don’t even […]”
The Best of Both Worlds
“Sixteen of the thirty-six tunes here are powerful examples of the greatest party band of the past twenty-five years. From 1978 to 1985, Van Halen were a showcase for impish, groundbreaking guitarist Eddie Van Halen as well as for David Lee Roth, whose gifts included being a frontman nonpareil and driving Eddie bananas. The latter […]”
Balance
“Van Halen’s 11th album brings a few surprises. While Eddie’s new look, a goatee and chopped pompadour, may seem a nod to the plaid-clad ranks, there’s nothing alternative about Balance. Nor, despite the Buddhist chanting that kicks off the disc, is there anything otherwise chic. Balance is pro forma pomp rock — but with VH […]”
OU812
“Okay, first things first. Before you do anything else with OU812, flip it over and cue up "Source of Infection," the opening salvo on side two (you CD fiends can just program track 5), and let ’er rip. While Eddie Van Halen sprays you with a machine-gun succession of speed-metal-guitar arpeggios, Sammy Hagar sends out […]”
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