Van Halen - "Live: Right Here, Right Now"

Van Halen was the rock band of my early childhood. I still remember when Brian Waltz got the "1984" lp with the smoking cherub on the cover. We made guitars out of cardboard and garden stakes and practiced Eddie's moves to Jump and Panama. When Dave left the group we were terrified that was the end of Van Halen. Somehow I made it high school before I bought a Van Halen album, that being "Live: Right Her, Right Now". I went with this one because it had most of their songs on it that I really liked. I listened to this album a lot in high school, and a decent amount in college as well. I even learned a few of the songs from it. There are good and bad parts of the album. Some of the solos go on for too long, and a few tracks, such as "Spanked" and "Dreams" and even "Jump" are a little weak. Considering how formative of a song "Jump" was to me, it's disappointing that this version of it lacks any real impact. However, these low points are largely made up for by outstanding versions of "One Way To Rock", "Finish What You Started", "Top of The World", and an amazing cover of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". Hear the rest of the tracks at Amazon.