Released March 17, 1998 Length 65:18 Release date 17 March 1998 | Recorded March–December 1997 Label Warner Bros. Records | |
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Similar Van Halen albums, Heavy metal albums | ||
Van Halen III is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on March 17, 1998 by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Mike Post and Eddie Van Halen, it is the band's only studio album to feature lead vocalist Gary Cherone, and the last to feature bass guitarist Michael Anthony before he was replaced in the band by Eddie's son Wolfgang in 2006. Work on a follow-up album with Cherone commenced in 1999, but never advanced past a few demos.
Contents
- Van halen neworld
- History
- Critical reception
- Track listing
- Van Halen
- Additional musicians
- Production
- Chart positions
- Songs
- References
Van Halen III was the band's last album for nearly a decade and a half, and their final album of the 20th century. It was also the final album the band released on Warner Bros. When they returned in 2012 with A Different Kind of Truth, it was with Interscope Records.
Van halen neworld
History
The album's title refers to the fact that it was Van Halen's third recorded line-up, and the band's first two albums having been titled Van Halen and Van Halen II. None of its material is featured on The Best of Both Worlds, the band's 2004 greatest hits compilation.
The album's only significant radio hit was "Without You", which reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on the March 7, 1998 issue of Billboard, and remained there for six weeks. Other songs receiving airplay on rock radio were "Fire in the Hole" and "One I Want". The album's final song, "How Many Say I", was an unusual acoustic piano ballad featuring Eddie on lead vocals with Cherone on backing vocals.
Another song entitled "That's Why I Love You" was dropped at the last minute in favor of "Josephina". This album also contributed the song "Fire in the Hole" to the Lethal Weapon 4 film soundtrack.
The album is also known for its minimal use of Michael Anthony on bass guitar. Anthony only played bass on three songs on the album; "Without You", "One I Want" & "Fire In The Hole". Eddie Van Halen recorded bass for the rest of the album.
After Michael Anthony's departure from Van Halen, he was asked whether or not it was true Eddie Van Halen dictated to him how to play bass on this record and Anthony confirmed this was true. He said by the time of making this album, Eddie was playing the bass more as well as some drums. "I don't know if Eddie was basically making a solo record, which is what Van Halen III seemed like to me."
The album cover is a still picture from stock footage of Frank "Cannonball" Richards.
Critical reception
Reception for Van Halen III was mostly mixed to negative. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic stated the album, "suffers from the same problems as Hagar-era Van Halen – limp riffs, weak melodies, and plodding, colorless rhythms." Entertainment Weekly gave it a B grade rating, saying, "judging from the renewed intensity of Eddie’s guitar playing throughout much of III, having a merely competent, relatively ego-free singer seems to have reinvigorated his muse" but goes on to say "How Many Say I", a song Eddie sang lead vocals on was, "cringeworthy" and "unintentionally hilarious". Greg Kot from Rolling Stone gave it 2 stars out of 5 noting, "Cherone sounds disconcertingly like Hagar, full of spleen-busting bluster and incapable of understatement", and "When the band plays it heavy, it mires itself in a Seventies tar pit, with only the chorus of "Without You" achieving any sort of pop resonance." Kot compliments Eddie's vocals saying, "'How Many Say I' finds the guitarist singing in a disarmingly appealing, nicotine-stained voice over a moody piano melody."
Track listing
All songs credited to Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone and Alex Van Halen.
Van Halen
Additional musicians
Production
Chart positions
Album Billboard (North America)
Singles Billboard (North America)
Songs
1Neworld1:46
2Without You6:30
3One I Want5:31