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)!