Fair Warning Remastered

album as advertised

Amazon ships vinyl records in a plastic bag with no protection at all, Yet they bubble wrap unbreakable items. The vinyl itself played and sounds great. The cover is banged up and creased everywhere however.

Fair Warning is Van Halen's 4th studio album and released in 1981. It sold extemely well back in it's day with "Unchained" being on heavy radio rotation. But there are other excelllent tracks like "Mean Street" and "So This Is Love?" this later track was a minor hit. This remastered vinyl version sounds great but is not colored vinyl as is advertised on Amazon's website. It is 180 gram vinyl which is one reason for my purchasing it, and the price under twenty dollars incl. tax was a decent deal. Classic Van Halen.

This is my favorite Van Halen album, and I loved hearing it on vinyl again. It is easily a 5 star album, so why did I knock it down a notch? Well, my complaint is with the description which clearly says "Color vinyl, Remastered" and although it does seem remastered, the color it came was plain old black. Yes, I know black is a color (or a value, or whatever) but I thought based on the Amazon description that it would be a more creative color, like brown, or mud or something more interesting than just black. So I hope the description could be updated, as it is probably "180 gram black vinyl, remastered" or something like that, instead of getting my hopes up for a color.

I am very pleased at the price point at which I purchased this. At $14 this is one of the finest 180g reissues that I own. This is the first of the VH vinyl reissues that I decided to try and am greatly amazed at the attention detail put into this project. First, the cover sleeve is made with high quality card stock. Next, there is an audiophile vinyl lined white paper sleeve over the record itself, and yet included inside is the extra original inner sleeve as well with all of the liner notes. The vinyl itself is well pressed, high quality and dead quiet. The first 4 Van Halen projects were just fantastic recordings in the first place so the remaster just kicked the clarity up a notch. The drum mix on Alex alone is just incredible and Michael Anthony has never been clearer. As far as Dave, not much changes here, he’s straight down the middle as he should be. But Eddie...we get to hear some actual power amp hum and hiss. Truth is, these recordings were made for analog moments like this. Fair Warning has always been my favorite of all of the VH projects. It’s a little more dark and colorful with no covers. Mean Street is unmatched, Unchained, well it’s Unchained and the songs that follow on both sides are loaded with creativity. It’s classic Van Halen laid down at a time when Rock innovation and creativity were on the rise. A solid piece of music history at a great price...

As a eighties reject, one of my go to bands was Van Halen w/ David Lee Roth. I would hear the large boom boxes blasting out the great rock that the boys were cranking. This was a great leap I think for the band and really had a great mix of there sounds. Always and forever a Van Halen fan. Roth - not Hagar or especially not Cherone, stay with Extreme where you were great.

This album rocks!!! All the songs flow together, fit together, and are rockin', funky, grooving, and on fire! By far the best Van Halen record in my book. The songs are great too, but who really cares when the vibe is there and never let's up. Whenever talking Van Halen or just great music in general with most anyone it's Fair Warning that always comes up as one of their best moments. This record is hard rock at it's best! There's something magical about all the first 5 Van Halen records mostly tonally and in the overall vibe area that didn't translate to the 1984 album, which is still a good record but doesn't have that organic vibe and feel the first 5 did, and Fair Warning is at the top of the pile.It's always baffled me when people say "Heavy Metal" when referring to Van Halen... There's nothing ominous and overtly dark or menacing about any of their music. Even Fair Warning which some say is a dark album... if you put this record on at a party folks are gonna be getting down, grooving, and dancing around. There's not gonna be any head-banging or sitting in the corner with heads hanging low! There is gonna be some Head-Bobbin' goin on though!As far as "Hair-Band"... are these people really serious? You gotta be kidding me?? Van Halen (with David Lee Roth ONLY) is in the same school as Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. There not in league with Warrant, Bon Jovi, or Poison!Anyway... Fair Warning is a great record and a musical masterpiece! My personal favorites are "Dirty Movies" and "Mean Street" dirty, nasty, funky, and rockin' like no other! "Pictures on the silver screen, greatest thing you've ever seen'"!!!

Fair Warning is what I'd describe as Van Halen's brilliantly dark flawed masterpiece (we'll get to the flawed bit). One look at Eddie's choice of album cover and you know this isn't going to have an update of "Dance The Night Away".  I bought this album when it was released and was blown away by the approach - although similar to the previous album (Women and Children First) having all original tracks, it was much darker.  The opener "Mean Street" is one of VH's longest numbers (at 5 mins.) - what an intro, with Eddie's guitar tone now razor sharp and David Lee Roth's lyrics as bleak as can be.  "Dirty Movies" is sheer sleaze and "Sinners Swing!" shows why Eddie is the riff and rhythm king.  "Hear About It Later" ended the LP side 1 - with its gentle intro and chorus it comes as quite a surprise after the onslaught but turns out to be only a brief pause in proceedings as side 2 carried on the metal meanness with "Unchained" - Ed's drop D tuning and flangerized (is that a word?) riff dimming the already dark tone even more.  The mood lightens slightly with the reggae-infused "Push Comes To Shove" and more so with "So This Is Love?", a typical VH party number, with great bass from Michael Anthony, Eddie ripping into his solo and a familiar DLR tale of female fancification (not sure if that's a word either!).And now for the flawed bit.  Fair Warning ends with two tracks which are both 2 min numbers - "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" and "One Foot Out The Door".  Van Halen albums had always been short (30 - 33 mins) and this one was no different, but the instrumental "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" is a synthesizer-driven sonic splodge - not somewhere I want to spend a Sunday afternoon (or any afternoon).  Then there's the throwaway "One Foot Out The Door" - apparently they were being rushed to finish the album (which had taken over a week to record!).  Although Eddie's superb extended outro solo comes to the rescue, the damage had been done.  So, for me, there's only 28 mins of worthwhile material here - albeit very worthwhile material.  The album was not as successful commercially as it's predecessors but artistically is arguably the band's best.  No big hit singles this time, although "Unchained" would become a firm live fave. So a flawed masterpiece is how I'd describe it. Arguably Van Halen's finest hour (or half-hour).  VH records always sounded great due to producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee's skills in the studio but also because they were so short (which suited vinyl) - although they never seemed short to me at the time.  The remaster sounds great - just like the LP and like the rest of the 2000 remaster series it has a 3 page fold-out inlay with the original artwork from the album inner sleeve.  Although sometimes it can be good to have bonus tracks and a booklet with an essay, photos and reviews etc., I'm more than happy to have this 'just as it was' and let the original product do the talking.  It's more than capable.

Prior to buying this album (in the remastered form - which is essential), I'd only ever heard Unchained (itself one of VH's best songs). Many reviews had put me off stating this to be a darker album with less party style anthems we/I had become accustomed to. Now I have heard it in its entirety (and this is an album that works better by listening in one sitting than as standalone tracks), it ranks as my joint #1 album by the band (alongside VHII).Every song is a winner. The opening Mean Streets is full of streetwise sass, you can imagine it scoring the opening to a New York Scorsese movie. In fact, where Women & Children First was the soundtrack to many a summer BBQ along the American West Coast in 1980, a year later this soundtracks the dark neon lit underbelly of the East Coast. It is a darker album without a doubt but not darker in a sombre way.It's possibly the most `heavy metal' Van Halen have ever been......And it totally Rocks!

You can read a lot about the politics within the band at this point in Van Halen's career, but they still made great records together. This album has some fantastic playing, writing and hooks on it. In some ways the cracks in the band that were appearing by then, may have contributed to the slightly aggressive and blistering sound of this album, which makes it so great. "Unchained" is a VH classic and "Mean Street" is arguably some of Eddie's finest playing. One for the collection.

Excellent album, tunes vary from the bludgeoning Unchained / Mean Street to less heavyweight deliveries, Eddie Van Halens startling guitar work accompanied by a driving rhythm section and Dave Lee Roths charm at the vocal helm ..one of the best rock albums ever ...

Excellent performance, song writing and production throughout. The band is on fire and there's even a proto-trip hop track thrown in for good measure in the shape of Sunday Afternoon In The Park. DJ Shadow take note! The debut, Van Halen, beats this for sheer impact and 1984 has the best overall selection of songs, but this one wins in the full package stakes. Buy it and unleash the tennis racket!