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A Different Kind of Lineup… The band’s final studio album marks Wolfgang Van Halen’s recording debut. An album consisting primarily of old re-worked demos, the band bounces back strong after their last studio album. Episode 12 covers the 2012 album “A Different Kind of Truth” by Van Halen. Alex, Kevin, and Chris take you on a historical journey surrounding the album as well as share our favorite and not-so favorite moments from the album. We go on a deep dive track-by-track listen of this album as well as share personal stories of discovering A Different Kind of Truth, seeing the band on the 07-08 tour, etc.
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Quick Reviews
Chris Has that early-80’s guitar that made us fall in love with the band in the first place. Middle of the record has some of heaviest (some metal moments) guitar tones the band ever laid to tape. Not a fan of Dave’s vocals on a number of the songs due to it having that mid-2000’s pop-rock feel.
Alex Fantastic album IMO, mastering aside. Love the idea of reworking old tunes. Glad I got to see them on this tour as well. Fav tracks: “You and Your Blues”, “Blood and Fire”, “Beats Workin'”.
Kevin A fitting cap to the discography. We couldn’t leave it on Van Halen III, could we? It doesn’t all work, but so much of it does, and there’s nothing like hearing Eddie play like this again.
Love It or Flush It
| M | C | A | K | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Tattoo" | 4:44 | L | F | F | F | |
| 2 | "She's the Woman" | 2:56 | L | L | L | L | |
| 3 | "You and Your Blues" | 3:43 | F | F | L | L | |
| 4 | "China Town" | 3:14 | B | L | L | L | |
| 5 | "Blood and Fire" | 4:26 | L | L | B | B | |
| 6 | "Bullethead" | 2:30 | L | F | L | F | |
| 7 | "As Is" | 4:47 | L | L | L | L | |
| 8 | "Honeybabysweetiedoll" | 3:46 | L | B | T | L | |
| 9 | "The Trouble with Never" | 3:59 | F | L | L | T | |
| 10 | "Outta Space" | 2:53 | F | T | L | L | |
| 11 | "Stay Frosty" | 4:07 | T | L | L | F | |
| 12 | "Big River" | 3:50 | F | B | L | F | |
| 13 | "Beats Workin'" | 5:02 | L | L | B | L |
Love It or Flush It Legend
L = Love. As many as you like.
F = Flush. Must flush at least one track per album.
B = Buy. Purchased for the ultimate LTS “Best Of” playlist for each of us. One per album.
T = Terminate. Should have never even existed. One per album.
The Rules
Each of us must Love, Flush, Buy, and Terminate AT LEAST ONE track on an album, no matter how great or terrible the album is. Whoever wins the “7 for the Buy” section gets an extra Buy or Terminate to use on the album. Because Chris hosts this section and thus cannot win, he gets an extra Buy or Terminate every 4 albums.
Album Information
A Different Kind of Truth is the twelfth and final studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen. Released on February 7, 2012 by Interscope Records, this is Van Halen’s only studio album on Interscope and its first full-length album of studio material with lead singer David Lee Roth since 1984. Likewise, A Different Kind of Truth was Van Halen’s first studio album since 1998’s Van Halen III, as well as their only studio album to feature Eddie Van Halen‘s son Wolfgang on bass guitar, replacing Michael Anthony, who had played bass on all of the band’s previous albums. It would also be Van Halen’s final album before disbanding in 2020, following Eddie’s death that October.
A Different Kind of Truth was recorded at Henson Recording Studios and Eddie Van Halen’s own 5150 Studios and produced by John Shanks. Seven of the album’s 13 songs are musically re-worked and lyrically re-written songs that had been demoed in the late-1970s/early 1980s, but never officially released. The album received positive reviews upon release, with several writers referring to it as a return to form, and multiple publications ranked it as one of the best albums of 2012. It was also a commercial success, debuting in the top ten on numerous record charts. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and, by the end of 2012, had sold in excess of 411,000 copies in the United States alone. The album was promoted with an arena tour.
If production would have been better, and Michael Anthony’s background melodies would have been present, this would have been a legendary album