I read a lot of reviews of Fair Warning coming in to do this, both fan reviews of people like me, and then journalists reviews from back in the day when the album was first released. And the reasoning behind that was that I just wasn’t sure if anyone else had the same reaction to the album as I did, and whether that was a good thing or a true indication of the general populous view of the album. Because, and my research tends to prove this, Fair Warning is an album that divides fan's opinion pretty much at 50/50 - and I’m talking huge fans of the band not just casual listeners who might only be interested in the popular songs or the big selling albums of the mid-1980's. In essence, it is an album where people think it is the greatest of the Van Halen discography... or one of the worst. Now, that seems like a difficult thing for an album to do, considering the vast array and number of releases that Van Halen managed in their career. And in some ways, perhaps it was the changing of the style of album that Van Halen have attempted here from their first three albums that has provided this range of opinions.
One phrase that is used heavily when it comes to reviews and descriptions of Fair Warning is “their darkest release”. Now, I understand that the first two albums came across as fun-loving, sunshine-filled anthems with bright guitar riffs and vocals and melodies that sounded like everyone was enjoying themselves, which no doubt was the case. And certainly some of the songs here seem more languid and dark-back-alley type of atmosphere than banging out bright hard rock. But “dark?!” “Sinister?!” I think some of this is a bit of a throwaway in order to describe away what some may think are lackluster songs than to actually call them out for that. I’m happy to do that for a couple of them. “Push Comes to Shove” is a change of scene for Van Halen, it’s almost a blues track being sung in a low key night club rather than a stage filled with noise and thousands of circling spotlights. I don’t hate the song, but it certainly doesn’t match up with what I see as a Van Halen classic track. And I’m happy to put my hand up for a similar observation with “Dirty Movies”. It also strides a similar path, one that has forked away from the usual path that Van Halen had trod. Dominated by the 16/4 rhythm of Alex Van Halen’s drumming and the thumping bass line of Michael Anthony, the sludgy pace and slightly monotonal vocals of David Lee Roth generally leaves me bored. Once again, I don’t hate the song, but it is different, it is a change, and you can see why lots of early fans of the band didn’t enjoy where these two songs in particular headed. But having opened with the excellent "Mean Street" the album then follows it up with another cracker, the harder faster rocker “Sinner’s Swing!”, which contains all of the best elements of Van Halen – hard hitting drums, great bass riffs, Dave’s duelling bright vocals and Eddie’s brilliant riffing guitar.
I wrote a review of this album about 14 years ago, and what I had written at the time didn’t marry up with what I think of the album now. Some of it was still true, but for the most part I had taken a rather negative view of most of the album, apart from probably three songs. It was interesting, because during that time I was heavily invested in listening to European power and speed metal, something a long long way from what Fair Warning is offering up, and I don’t have any doubt that this clouded my opinion as I wrote it then. What I have said here earlier was at the forefront of that, and also with “Sunday Afternoon in the Park” which has never really done much for me. And reading that review made me understand why there were some absolutely hammering reviews of this album that I read in my research. But I think a lot of that is misplaced, as was my own opinion all those years ago. I didn’t listen to this album until well after its release, a few years into the Sammy Hagar era I suspect, and at that time the only song I really cared for is "Unchained". Eventually I got the album and actually gave it a decent listen, and my memories of that is that I thought it was fantastic, which only made my review later on strange even to myself. And while the first single from the album, “So This Is Love?” might seem a bit predictable and completely the opposite of the reaction to some of the albums so called darkness, it was always part of the love I had for the album as a whole.
So what do I really think about the album? Honestly, I think I’m an idiot for whatever I was thinking back in 2006 or whenever it was that I penned that previous review. No doubt I was listening to a lot of stuff that wasn’t related to this at all.
Because, quite simply, this contains all of the great elements of Van Halen. I thoroughly enjoy Alex’s drumming on this album, he is synched into the groove and his drum sound is just perfect, and uses every form of timing at some stage during the album. I’m not sure his drumming ever sounded better than it does here. Michael’s bass thumps through the speakers, and his backing vocals are as ever such a massive part of the band’s sound. Dave's vocals are as sensational as ever, and Eddie is just Eddie.
Not every song on here is a winner, and that’s okay because that’s the case with about 95% of all albums ever recorded. And perhaps the greatness of the good tracks is what weighs so heavily on the couple of tracks that are not quite up to that standard. I don’t know. But 40 years on, this album still rocks the house, and holds its place – in MY opinion – as one of the best the band released. And the major reason for that? It’s because of the song that will, in my opinion, always be arguably Van Halen’s best song, with the opening guitar riff that still send shivers down my spine each and every time I hear it.
Rating: "Maybe enough ain't enough for you..." 4/5
(Updated April 2021)
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