David Lauser

REVIEW: Sammy Hagar – Three Lock Box (1982)

SAMMY HAGAR – Three Lock Box (1982 Geffen)

Sometimes it is fun to review an album on its first listen, so that’s what we’re doing today with Hagar’s Three Lock Box.  I only know a handful of tunes so this will be mostly brand new to me.  Released December 6, 1982, Three Lock Box was Sammy’s seventh solo album.  Jon Cain (Journey) and Mike Reno (Loverboy) make guest appearances, and it contains Sammy’s biggest charting solo hit.  Let’s give it a spin, on this fancy Japanese CD pressing.

The title track is familiar, with its slightly funky riff and rich organ backing.  I don’t know why, but that refrain of “One, two, three lock box!” reminds me of the kind of melody and simplicity of a children’s song.  But child’s play this is not!  A couple minutes in, and the gears shift to full blown hard rockin’.  This is a catchy and rhythmically clever little tune.

“Remote Love” might have a bit too much keyboard in the mix, but this is a cool laid back rock ballad.  It sounds like something from a past age perhaps.  Loud keyboards aside, there’s something purely classic about it, especially when you get to the soulful chorus.

Cain and Reno appear on “Remember the Heroes” (co-written by Cain).  Very Journey-esque, but Mike Reno sounds absolutely brilliant!  What a powerhouse singer, and when he and Sammy team up on the chorus, it’s mighty great!  You could easily imagine Journey doing this song, and perhaps they should have.

“Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” (#13 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock songs) is clearly hit material.  It’s all melody, smooth and polished.  The production has the bells and whistles and the track is just really hard to resist.

A haunting tone enters on “In the Room”, a completely different vibe.  It almost sounds like a lost Alice Cooper number from the same time period.  “I’ve been caught in the room, that moment of sleep when you think you’re awake.”  The lyrics match the music perfectly.  This is one of those must-have deep cuts, a song that absolutely deserves more attention.  It’s so different for Sammy.  “Rise of the Animal” follows with spooky sounds, and then a synth pulse.  “I just came out from the room…” sings Sammy, continuing his thoughts from the prior song.  “I saw the rising of the moon.  This ain’t no ordinary night!  Look to my left, look to my right.”  It starts slow and picks up the pace, and ends with some brilliantly frantic soloing from Sam.

Another great deep cut is the pop rocker “I Wouldn’t Change A Thing”.  A radio-ready corker, it could have been a hit in an alternate universe.  Let’s call it the Sammyverse.  A universe where everything is bright, colourful and shiny.  I wouldn’t mind hanging out in the Sammyverse, and “I Wouldn’t Change A Thing” could be its anthem.  Wave your red flags high!

“Growing Up” has a highschool-tough sound, while Sammy sings of the girls in their summer clothes.  The Sammyverse only has short skirts and high heels.  It’s probably the filler track of the album, as it doesn’t seem to have the hooks of previous tracks.  Fortunately “Never Give Up” is all hooks.  Another pop rocker with memorably melodies and smooth guitars, it’s just a fun song.  Easy singalong in the car.  Speaking of cars, the Sammyverse is fond of ’em, and the closing track “I Don’t Need Love” races like one of Sammy’s Ferraris.  It’s a brilliant rocker and probably the heaviest track on an otherwise pretty mainstream rock album.

Sammy Hagar albums don’t have a lot of pyrotechnics.  They are often meat and potatoes, workmanlike and easily accessible.  Three Lock Box has its strengths not in the production or flashy performance, but in the songs and the singing.  It’s a satisfying listen and I understand why it is so well liked.  It may not have a lot of edge, but it’s a fun, feel-good listen.

4/5 stars

REVIEW: Sammy Hagar – “Give to Live” (12″ single)

SAMMY HAGAR – “Give to Live” (1987 Geffen 12″ single)

Sammy Hagar released his solo album I Never Said Goodbye in 1987, right when he was still in Van Halen.  It was co-produced by Sammy and Eddier himself.  It was a mixed bag, with some killer tunes and a few things that were far too wimpy.  A couple singles were released, and “Give to Live” was the best.  As a power ballad, it probably could have suited any of the Van Hagar albums except For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.  That’s Eddie on bass, by the way, and listen to how great he is.  No surprise, right?  When you’re as great at music as Eddie Van Halen is, it must be hard for other musicians to cut it in his eyes.  (Cough cough Michael Anthony cough.)

Also on the A-side is album opener “When the Hammer Falls”, an OK rock track.  As discussed in the album review for I Never Said Goodbye, “When the Hammer Falls” has a good riff but not much of a chorus.  That’s too bad since it was one of the hardest rockers on the LP.  (And just listen to Eddie’s bass…again!)  you can’t hit a homerun every time, though there’s nothing here to be embarrassed of.

If you buy the single, there’s no point unless you get the 12″ with the non-album bonus track.  On the B-side you will find the full-length version of “Standin’ at the Same Old Crossroads”, which was only 1:46 on album.  It served as an introduction to the song “Privacy”, but on this single it’s unedited.  This is a real treat for fans of Sammy’s underappreciated guitar playing.  The song is just Sammy and an electric slide guitar, bluesing it up.  The intro is longer and there’s a lot more playing than the album version.  Stuff like this is the reason to have B-sides and buy singles in the first place.

3.5/5 stars

REVIEW: Sammy Hagar – Sammy Hagar / I Never Said Goodbye (1987)

Scan_20160705SAMMY HAGAR – Sammy Hagar / I Never Said Goodbye (1987 Geffen)

Remember when everybody in the Van Hagar camp just loved each other?  Things were so happy in Van Hagar, that Sammy released a solo album in 1987 and nobody got mad.  Hell, Eddie himself co-produced it and played bass!   Hagar was obligated to do another solo album to get out of his contract with Geffen, and so the self-titled Sammy Hagar was recorded quickly.  Sammy apparently forgot he released another album also called Sammy Hagar in 1977, so this one was re-titled I Never Said Goodbye.   (I still call it Sammy Hagar.)

There was something particularly weird about this release on cassette. I had a version, purchased from Columbia House around 1989-1990, with a bizarre cover. The J-card was designed to fold around outside the cassette shell. I’m not sure why to this day, and I’ve never seen another copy like it. The artwork was obviously designed to fold on the outside rather than the inside, but I’ll never figure out why.

All the members of Van Halen even appeared in Sammy’s video for “Hands and Knees”.  The plot was simple, and perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come.  A bored Hagar calls his bandmates (including nextdoor neighbor Eddie) to jam, but nobody’s interested.  Instead, Hagar jams with a group of robots!  “Hands and Knees” was an odd choice for a first single, being a dark and slow mood tune.  The video guaranteed attention, and still garners a chuckle today (albeit a sad one, knowing these guys aren’t pals anymore).  I love Michael Anthony’s huge brick of a cell phone.  The video was better than the song, though it does have a killer of a chorus.  It’s clear if you listen that Eddie Van Halen is one damn fine bassist too.  Are you surprised?

One thing about this album, though:  it’s really commercial.  Like way, way more pop even than 5150.  It’s no surprise that some writers like the esteemed Martin Popoff have slagged this album.  The production has an airy 80’s feel, not enough oomph.  The opening track “When the Hammer Falls” is a hard rocker, but it could have been thicker with more meat.  Not that it would have helped too much.  The chorus on this one is pretty weak, which is too bad since the riff is good enough for rock and roll.

The second single, which Van Halen used to let Sammy play live acoustically, is “Give to Live”.  Van Halen’s version can be found on 1993’s Live: Right here, right now.  Hagar’s studio original is unabashedly pop, bombastic…and good.  I admit I still enjoy this very cheesy ballad.  Hagar is rarely profound, and neither is “Give to Live”, but it’s a nice song indeed.

A shitty synth (?) horn section urinates all over “Boy’s Night Out”. Speaking of synth, “Returning Home” is all but unpalatable. This is one of Sammy’s UFO yarns, a story of a guy returning back to Earth to find it wrecked. “I saw the ruins, once the smoke cleared, once upon returning home.” It’s just sunk by all this terrible synthesizer junk and programming. The UFO has crashed into the damn mountain!

ALIENS

The second side surprisingly opened with some blues jamming:  “Standin’ at the Same Old Crossroads”.  And that would be Sammy on the slide guitar.  “Crossroads” leads directly into “Privacy”, a “Radar Love” re-write that is better than “Radar Love”.  Maybe I’m just sick of “Radar Love”, but “Privacy” has some smoking playing on it, proving again that Hagar is actually a pretty badass soloist.  Side two on a whole is actually much better than the first.  “Back Into You” is a vintage-style Hagar radio rocker.  Journey must have wished they wrote “Back Into You”.  The keyboard overdubs aren’t necessary but hey, it was the 80’s and this is a great little AOR rocker.

Another tune that Hagar played live with Van Halen was “Eagles Fly”.  He actually presented the song to the band for 5150, but it was turned down.  A live Van Halen version can be found on the 1993 single for “Jump (Live)”.  He did it acoustically on stage, but the studio version is bombastic and big like “Give to Live” is.  It’s a pretty impressive tune, for pop rock.   David Lauser’s drumming makes the song, I’m a sucker for that rat-a-tat-tat!

The album ends on a ho-hum note, the soul-funk of “What They Gonna Say Now”, sort of this album’s “Inside” to close it out.  Just not good enough.  If you want to hear Eddie Van Halen playing bass up close and personal, he’s very audible here, but he’s not a flash bassist.  He plays with the groove for the song.

It’s tempting to think of this album as a collection of tracks that were not right for Van Halen, and that’s mostly true.  A lot of it, however, just wasn’t good enough for Van Halen.  “What They Gonna Say Now” could have been a Van Halen track, but it would have been the weakest tune on 5150 if so.

2.5/5 stars