David Lee Roth "Strumin with the Devil" videos

[mr51]

Follow this link to view some videos from the new David Lee Roth bluegrass album.

http://www.cmt.com/music....eatured (http://www.cmt.com/music/studio_330_sessions/performance/roth_david_lee/1534177/performance.jhtml?performHeader=featured)

I'm sorry, but he just looks soooo un-natural doing bluegrass.

[JEStanek]

Wow. I hope the band got well paid. This stuff is just too painful with DLR singing in it. The music, like the mando solo in Panama is pretty cool. I just can't handle Dave. However, I never really was a huge DLR fan. If you could edit out the lyrics this stuff would be alright.

The interview about What Prompted You to Make a Bluegrass Album had explored an interesting reason for the shift of genres. That clip alone is worth a listen!

Best of luck to Dave and the Boys. I don't see this as a threat on tradition anymore than the other Pickin' on music. Just not my cuppa chickory in the morning.

Jamie

[TrippingLily]

It may take him some time, you never know a few trips to the station inn may knock the the L A right out of him......

[newbreedbrian]

These CMT videos never work for me. The new window will pop up, then i get to watch whatever stupid ad they have (razors in this case) and then nothing. The player says ready but no video or sound. If I hit play I get to watch the ad again and then the same nothing after it. Anyone else have this problem?

[B. T. Walker]

Dreadful.

[TrippingLily]

Not that I havent heard good bluegrass in LA! you know what mean.

[ms amanda jones]

I had the same experience as newbreedbrian. I'm using Firefox if that makes a difference. Honestly, if they can get the ads to run, shame on them for not running the real content. I'll never buy that razor now!

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[JEStanek]

And you were their target demographic....

Jamie

[newbreedbrian]

Yeah, i'm using firefox as well. Just tried it in explorer and it seems to work fine. Still can't figure out why the ad runs but not the rest, weird. Now that i've seen them, i can say that I feel the same way as I did about the Leno appearance. He seems very out of place. Jamie's Cryin' was the only one that was bearable. He's seems like such a phony schmuck as well, which sticks out like a sore thumb in this context. It might not as much in the Van Halen context, but in a rootsy down to earth setting it's a total clash. Although i will say it was worth it just to see Andy Leftwich on there. He tears it up as usual, as do the others. Great players, lousy frontman.

[JimRichter]

For CMT, there is an entire issue surrounding the Mac platform. None of those videos run on my Mac using either Safari, Opera, Firefox, or IE. I think I remember seeing on their site awhile back that they don't support the Mac platform, though I could be wrong.

Jim

I stood in amazement at the Windgap Bluegrass Festival last week as one of the announcers went on and on about how great the new David Lee Roth Bluegrass songs were. I must be missing something. I'm not a traditionalist by any means, but I'm just not seeing this as even good. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[Ken Sager]

The musicianship is terrific. These songs would have been a LOT more interesting with someone else singing them. Here's a list of folks I'd rather have heard sing these songs than DLR:

Dan Tyminiski
Tim O'Brien
Del M (and we know how I feel about Del's voice)
Alison Kraus
Julie Elkins
John Lowell
Ken Meyer
Bob Geldoff
Bono
Anderson Cooper
Sammy Haggar
Ralph Stanley
ANY of the Cherryholmes

That's a good enough list. I'll not be listening to the Strummin' With The Devil songs until they're played at jams, or on stage by anybody else.

Apologies to DLR fans.

Love to all,
Ken

[an uncalloused fingertip]

Nevertheless, it is good to see Dave up and about, always the showman and ready for any adulation you are willing to give. Someone above posted that DLR was a phony schmuck; yet wasn't that always his act? Kind of shallow and cheesy and appreciative of it? Didn't these guys, Van Halen, help usher in glam rock in a big way? I have to think (and hope) that DLR is doing it tongue-in-cheek ... kind of like U2 is with the whole POP thing.

Ultimately, just like when listening to VH albums, when it comes to this bluegrass tribute I tend to pay more attention to the instruments. I wish bands in multiple genres would more frequently forgo the singer completely and just play their instruments - and I (vainly) await Eddie's solo album and tour with G3. He can play awesomely on the acoustic guitar as well. If you can listen past the sometimes uncomfortable DLR vocals, the musicians do a great job of covering Classic (DLR) Van Halen tunes. And the other vocalists do seem to do a better job of fitting the songs into a bluegrass frame.

Maybe bluegrass music will be the savior of contemporary music. Technical, tight, fast and clean - that is what I used to enjoy in rock and metal. And I am still amazed at how the little mandolin can cut through it all and makes it presence known, though I became interested in the instrument through a different style of music.

Long live bluegrass and Dave's voice.

ROok http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Tom Smart]

Ken, About half-way through your list I had my biggest laugh of the day.

[newbreedbrian]

Definately not trying to start anything (you are certainly welcome to your opinion), but I think i qualified my comment about DLR just fine. I certainly stand by it, but please read the rest as it essentially makes the same point as you. And maybe i'm nitpicking but I'd credit Mott the Hoople/Sweet/Bowie etc with ushering in glam. As far as showmen, being a "phony shmuck" definately doesn't do anything for me. Just got back from a Fred Eaglesmith show. I make a point of seeing him everytime he comes through town, and I think he's one of the best frontmen in music today. He's funny, down to earth and most importantly real. Hence the devoted following that he deservedly has.

[Ted Eschliman]

For what it's worth, the videos with Roth don't do much for me, never been much for the DLR schtick, even in the old days with Van Halen, but that's just personal taste.

The CD is a different story. He's only on a couple of the vocals; the rest of the project is really sensational. The instrumentalists are drop dead good. There's a fine line between "tribute" and "parody," and I guess it's up to the listener to figure out where this sits. I'm enjoying the CD immensely.

[F5G WIZ]

Big Van HAlen fan in the eighties! Bigger Bluegrass fan now! Not a fan of the two mixed up. There has been some great rock stuff done bluegrass. Lonesome Standard Time playing Skynard comes to mind. But I don't think this DLR stuff as very good. Top notch musicians though! Van Halen's Big Bad Bill (is sweet William now) would be good grassed up I think.

[Brady Smith]

Disturbing! Not sure what that junk is..,.but it's definately not bluegrass.

[an uncalloused fingertip]

I guess Dave accomplished something. Perhaps as a response, EVH and his brother recently joined that Kenny guy for a couple of tunes. Maybe the boys will get the country out of them soon and reemerge, remarry for the classic lineup (followed by outrageous ticket prices).

Personally, the whole Van Halen soap opera had gotten old ten years ago. I don't know about you guys, but when I'm listening to VH I'm primarily paying attention to the guitar; I'm not concentrating on the lyrics. It's the same when I'm listening to Yngwie Malmsteen, though he and EVH are very different creatures. When the solo instrument is to that level, the singer's role is not so critical. Maybe some here feel the same about Chris Thile; are you really listening to the words or the stings?

[catmandu2]

Hardy-har! Please do not read the following if you're related to Mr. Roth or are a devotee of modern "Country" music:

I occasionally catch a glimpse of CMT at work (isn't it more aptly "Commerical Mawkish Tripe" anyway?) But I digress. I think it's perfectly suitable for David Lee to perfrom his specialty in this genre. Isn't the trend toward WWF-Glam-rock anyway? Who is better at this than DLR? I presume he/this piece will be hugely successful. I am looking most forward to viewing it!

[Mikey G]

What a train wreck!

[Keith Erickson]

....wasn't this subject covered? #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[williebruce]

I just listened to the album. I admire some of the creativity in the musical arrangments. The DAWG did a snazzy job on "Hot For Teacher".

I also liked Mountain hearts version of "Dance the Night Away", Something different for the group I'm sure, but I think it really brings out a vocal side of them that no one knew they had.

In my opinion, the best cut is "I'll Wait" performed by Blue Highway. It's also the only song that doesn't sound like a novelty. Wayne Taylor sings his but off on it.

I guess it doesn't say much for Dave, since the ones I like doesn't include him in any way. I think he was just meant for screaming guitars and distortion, that can hide alot of flaws in ones vocal performance. Don't get me wrong, he was good at what he did in his day. But he definetley cut himself a huge injustice by getting John Cowan to perform on this album, since it appears that John can really out sing Diamond Dave. All in my opinion ofcourse.

[Tailspin]

Musicians good. I loved Dave in the 80's. Wathcing him makes me think of a really feminine cross between Frasier Crane and Robin Williams. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[groveland]

Beating a dead horse, I know, but it is relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/15/arts/music/15roth.html headines "David Lee Roth Takes the Stage (and Doesn’t Want to Give it Back)"

Apparently he overstayed his welcome on stage and, too bad for the bluegrass part of the act, he left that part for last:

"And when he brought out a bluegrass band to play two songs from 'Strummin’ With the Devil,' a countrified Van Halen tribute album, there was a mini-exodus from the main floor."

[chirorehab]

I remember hearing a long time ago, that one of the reasons he left VH was because he wanted to do more of a vegas style show.....

Looks like he's doing just that on Dance the night away...

[an uncalloused fingertip]

If I were Diamond Dave I could care less about what anyone thought of me. He's fifty, still positive, full-of-energy, has a hand in many different cookie jars, and is thick-skinned to the point where negative vibes scurry away before they come close to touching him; the waves are strong right now, yet Dave goes on. A lot of people were writing him off fifteen years ago, though he continues to try new stuff and isn't discouraged by others' opinions.

As for the young woman who tapped the journalist on the shoulder and asked that he remark how sad this all is - you know what ... just take a look at a lot of the young "ladies" today. They dress and act like tramps, smoke, swear like construction workers and often have tatoos. Small wonder a good part of the rest of the world has no desire to emulate us. A hundred years ago, your frontier prostitute would have deserved more respect. I have to think that Diamond Dave had better quality "ladies" to choose from in his day - though pop culture seems to want to return to the 80's lately.

Ultimately, there is some good music on the bluegrass cover; and the bluegrass singers do a better job of covering VH and molding it into their own genre than Dave's vocals attempted. But Dave is Dave, and he's had a fulfilling life; he could have become a hermit a long time ago and still enjoyed life more than many or most of us would know.