1984 [Original recording remastered]

Every review on here mentions the hits on the Album: Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher, I'll Wait. Undoubtedly, these are all very good songs. But the songs that make this album one of the all time greats are: Girl Gone Bad, House of Pain, Top Jimmy, and Drop Dead Legs.

Girl Gone Bad and House of Pain are perfect examples of why Van Halen arguably can be considered the best Rock band ever. Virtuoso performances from everyone with an angry edge...the type of songs that leave you with your mouth hanging open at a loss for words.

Top Jimmy and Drop Dead Legs are at the other end of the spectrum: Virtuoso performances from everyone with a fun "let's party" edge...you can spend countless hours trying to listen to every riff that comes off of Eddie's guitar.

1984 is a Top 5 of all time album. Buy it.

This a great an album from the days when Van Halen seemed to go into the recording studios and just have a blast! The stand-out tracks are the anthemic "Jump" - nonsensical lyrics but a brilliant track with an awesome guitar solo - a real must for the air guitarist! "Panama" is the kind of track that has to be played at ear-splitting volume while driving a convertible at top speed in the summer sun - guaranteed to get you tapping your foot and roaring along with the chorus. As for "Hot For Teacher" no matter how often I hear it, it always makes me laugh and smile at Dave Lee Roth's spoken lines before the rip-roaring verse and chorus kicks in. The other songs featured are great too, but the above three alone are worth the price of the album. Edward Van Halen's amazing skill with the guitar, Michael Anthony's superb bass lines, Alex Van Halen's imaginative drumming and those crazy David Lee Roth vocals... AWESOME! Buy it now!

As everyone knows, their great frontman left after this amidst much recrimination and blaming-each-other on the parts of EVH and Roth. It`s pretty scary that it all happened 23 years ago (I missed it being too traumatising back then, due to my age)...but if only Eddie wasn`t in and out of rehab in 2007 and they could just get along I`d still love to see the classic VH line-up live, and even better, record some new stuff.

I still think 6 amazing albums is a pretty decent output, and can`t think of many other bands who`ve managed that. 1984 isn`t my favourite, but it`s still a stunning, 5-star effort. The band weren`t all that happy with Eddie starting to throw a few keyboard numbers in and I think I agree with them, but "Jump" and "I`ll Wait" are great songs, just not the hard rock we`d learned to adore from the previous albums. "Jump" has one of Eddie`s greatest guitar solos on for sure. It`s not really that song though that makes the album so special. There a three or four others that are a sign of a band at it`s absolute peak. Firstly, "Panama", classic Roth, with the sort of tongue-in-cheek sleaze that VH never showcased again with Sammy Hagar. Classic Eddie too, he just blows me away every song. Alex and Mike are great as ever too. "Hot For Teacher" is wonderful too, funny and loud and a real party song! "Top Jimmy", "Drop Dead Legs" and "Girl Gone Bad" would be career-best songs by any other rock `n` roll band. My favourite song though is one of the less heralded VH tracks and the album closer, "House of Pain". It`s almost as though Eddie had distilled all his anger with Roth`s antics and released it in the form of this huge, monster of an attacking solo. It was one of the earliest written VH songs that missed the cut on all their other albums but Alex insisted it was on this time and thank God. If I could play the solo I would die a satisfied man...it`s amazing and I`m always stunned by it...I know guitar playing isn`t all about speed, and that`s why I love EVH because the feel is incredible too and it`s perfect.

So, buy it. And revel in the greatest four-piece rock band there ever was (and who knows...perhaps they will be again one day)!