What to expect nearly three decades since David Lee Roth last thought he might as well, and did in fact, ‘Jump’? Unsurprisingly Van Halen’s new LP is a collaboration with the past. Newly penned tunes (‘The Trouble With Never’, ‘China Town’) are combined with rebooted unreleased songs from old demos (current single ‘Tattoo’) to create an era-spanning synthesis.
Diamond Dave is happily back at the head of the parade as court jester in chief. Throwing mischievous shark smiles and exuding exuberance, he takes us to “Casablanca gin joints” and raps he’s got “Elvis at his elbow.”
What he actually has at his elbow is a reinvigorated Guitar King. Eddie Van Halen’s playing is the most joyful, abandoned and urgent it has been in years. He turns the fretboard into an orgy-istic organ for the intro of the careering ‘China Town’. ‘Blood And Fire’ has the swing-dance-boogie of ye olde VH. And if you want to see what the funk is like when it gets out, see ‘As If’, a riotous runaway train colliding with a paint factory. For its part, ‘Outta Space’ has the interstellar bounce of a psychedelic rocket orbiting between the PT Barnum approved back flips and Cirque du Guitar Soloing. Mission accomplished.