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Do you think Michael Anthony is underrated??

#181
Low-Five said:
Those are two great rock records, but their musical greatness is due as much to the band as to Dave himself. If he’d put together a band with three random bozos, I doubt we’d be rating his early solo career as highly as we do today.
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Those albums were great indeed, with Eat 'Em and Smile being the better one. There was great chemistry between Sheehan and Vai, they really brought their A Game to the studio.

Unfortunately DLR wanted to go in a different direction, and it shows on the Skyscraper album. It's more keyboard-heavy and a bit more pop than rock, which is one of the reasons why Sheehan left the band after recording it.

The following albums also featured great musicians, most notably guitarist Jason Becker, but lacked that special vibe of the first and second albums.
 
#184
MrClassicMetal said:
Those albums were great indeed, with Eat 'Em and Smile being the better one. There was great chemistry between Sheehan and Vai, they really brought their A Game to the studio.

Unfortunately DLR wanted to go in a different direction, and it shows on the Skyscraper album. It's more keyboard-heavy and a bit more pop than rock, which is one of the reasons why Sheehan left the band after recording it.

The following albums also featured great musicians, most notably guitarist Jason Becker, but lacked that special vibe of the first and second albums.
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While I definitely agree that Eat ‘Em and Smile is the better of the two, Skyscraper has really grown on me over the years. It’s definitely more pop, but it’s well crafted, and most of the songs hold up. On the ones that don’t, I just tune Dave out and listen to Billy and Steve.

I’ve never been able to get into A Little Ain’t Enough. The guitar parts — and I don’t blame Jason Becker for this — seem to lack the imagination of not just Steve Vai’s earlier work with Dave, but also of the work you hear from Jason on his solo albums and in Cacophony. I don’t know for sure whether it’s accurate, but I’ve never had a problem with blaming Dave for that.
 
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#188
bassslinger hummer,

maybe... I just like what he does, that's the way I feel about it.

on bass, watt

http://mikewatt.com/


Hummergeist said:
It's that combination, isn't it? Somebody who can sing like that, and play like that, and deliver the showmanship as well.
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#189
MrClassicMetal said:
Those albums were great indeed, with Eat 'Em and Smile being the better one. There was great chemistry between Sheehan and Vai, they really brought their A Game to the studio.
.
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We're they really though? I am a huge Vai fan but those record virtually never get played. Roths schtick was losing steam and there wasn't enough Vai isms to hold interest like his solo records do.
 
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#190
TheArchitect said:
We're they really though? I am a huge Vai fan but those record virtually never get played. Roths schtick was losing steam and there wasn't enough Vai isms to hold interest like his solo records do.
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I had hoped post-VH Roth would be more like his Crazy From the Heat EP, and that he might also explore his love of Tom Waits…
 
#191
TheArchitect said:
We're they really though? I am a huge Vai fan but those record virtually never get played. Roths schtick was losing steam and there wasn't enough Vai isms to hold interest like his solo records do.
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Yes indeed they were. The fans looked forward to Eat 'Em and Smile because of obvious reasons. It got great reviews in various magazines, including Guitar World and other notable guitar magazines. And that album introduced Vai to a wider audience, and gave his career an added boost. From that year onward he started appearing on more and more covers.

DLR started to lose momentum around or after Skyscraper, which didn't sell as well as its predecessor, but still well over 1 million.
 
#192
TheArchitect said:
We're they really though? I am a huge Vai fan but those record virtually never get played. Roths schtick was losing steam and there wasn't enough Vai isms to hold interest like his solo records do.
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I listen to them all the time. Those two albums were where the Roth schtick came into full bloom. Sure, it’s the most Roth I can handle, but fortunately they’re the right amount for me.
 
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#194
bcalbass said:
Off topic, but really curious by what number standard are saying David Lee Roth’s solo career fared better than the Van Hagar albums?

DLR had 2 big singles thanks to MTV videos, then a couple of albums (Eat em & Smile and Skyscraper) that sold ok before dropping off the musical radar. In that same time period, the 3 Van Halen albums sold 6x as much! (just looking quickly at U.S. numbers on Wikipedia). I really enjoyed DLR and bought both his 80s albums when they came out, but in that same time frame Van Hagar was MASSIVE, especially 5150 and OU812.

ETA: On topic, Michael Anthony is a great professional bass player (and excellent vocalist). He strikes me as a rock n roll Tony Levin - has chops he can stretch out if there’s the space and opportunity, but whose playing first and foremost is what the song (or in VH, songwriter) requires.
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No, I was comparing VH DLR vs SH eras really. There was no way DLR ever did as well solo as Van Hagar. I think that had more to do with the core of Van Halen than who belted out vocals. The Cherone VH3 era was at a point where the 3rd iteration of VH had already been replaced with the 1990's next generation of rock & roll. I watch interviews of White Lion, Mike Tramp & everything hair metal of the 1980's were dropped like hot potatoes at a certain point for grunge and anything else that evolved in the 1990's. To me the replacement of MA was like working for any family business. Eddie & Alex were going that direction, because Wolfgang is blood family. That's not to say Wolfgang isn't good enough to have a band or tour, just that MA, like SH were seen as outsiders at a certain point of the VH family franchise, regardless of contribution and being there to build the franchise. Like corporate America can be too. Some labor is brought in long enough for a knowledge transfer. I've had my share of those type of jobs over the decades. That's probably why there is a certain level of animosity between those that went their separate ways for a nastier breakup.
 
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#195
We've been having "is Michael Anthony underrated?!" discussions for a quarter century, so I think it's silly to say that he's truly underrated. Anyone whose opinion you care about likely rates him accurately, as a solid bassist with great backing vocals. A few points.

1. He happened to be in a band with the most influential guitarist of the last 50 years, so the goalposts are always going to be skewed.

2. There's some grey area as to what albums he actually played on. I'd wager this is no different than a lot of rock bands of that era.

3. He's played to bigger audiences and in bands that sold more albums than any of us, so it's funny for anyone behind a keyboard to judge his skills or (alleged) lack therof.
 
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#196
Harper said:
We've been having "is Michael Anthony underrated?!" discussions for a quarter century, so I think it's silly to say that he's truly underrated. Anyone whose opinion you care about likely rates him accurately, as a solid bassist with great backing vocals. A few points.

1. He happened to be in a band with the most influential guitarist of the last 50 years, so the goalposts are always going to be skewed.

2. There's some grey area as to what albums he actually played on. I'd wager this is no different than a lot of rock bands of that era.

3. He's played to bigger audiences and in bands that sold more albums than any of us, so it's funny for anyone behind a keyboard to judge his skills or (alleged) lack therof.
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Regarding #2- I agree but in most cases if the band's bass player didn't play on an album it was usually the first few not later in their run.
Regarding #3- A lot of people with questionable skills have played to larger audiences than a lot of us. That really isn't an indicator of skill. Also, should positive "judgement" of his skills be taken any more seriously or considered any more valid than negative? If the criteria for assessment of anyone's skills is how successful the assessor is we couldn't discuss much. Just my 2.
 
#197
Gluvhand said:
Regarding #2- I agree but in most cases if the band's bass player didn't play on an album it was usually the first few not later in their run.
Regarding #3- A lot of people with questionable skills have played to larger audiences than a lot of us. That really isn't an indicator of skill. Also, should positive "judgement" of his skills be taken any more seriously or considered any more valid than negative? If the criteria for assessment of anyone's skills is how successful the assessor is we couldn't discuss much. Just my 2.
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2. That we know of......

3. That's fair. At the same time, I don't think the list of Van Halen songs that would be improved by a different bass part (again, assuming he played them) or "better" player would be a very long list
 
#198
Harper said:
2. That we know of......

3. That's fair. At the same time, I don't think the list of Van Halen songs that would be improved by a different bass part (again, assuming he played them) or "better" player would be a very long list
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I was just playing Devil's advocate really. I'm a big fan of Anthony and generally sit in the "under-rated" camp and agree that different bass parts or another player wouldn't have been better. It's not like we're talking about Alec Jon Such.
 
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