Stephen
"5150" is a fruitful output of Eddie's decision to hire Sammy Hagar as Roth's replacement, catapulting Van Halen's name to an even higher sky they never imagined. As many classic VH fans complaint that they went too soft by incorporating a heavy synth sound, I think "5150" is the album that successfully vary the music and beside those three hits, Van Halen still have those heavy metal side as pictured in tracks like "Good Enough" and "Get Up".
The backbone of this album is definitely on that three singles. "Why Can't This Be Love" with its catchy chorus that just can't left your mind forever; "Dreams", a song that I've listened probably thousand times and never got bored, even a second. The uplitfting melody, the soaring harmony, the brilliant solos, everything is in the perfect place. The acoustical rendition of this song is also awesome; and "Love Walks In", a wonderfully-crafted ballad with a very memorable intro, that even a casual fan that never listen to any VH songs before will tell you this one's a good song. The title track is also a blast, I love it.
Hagar VS Roth is always a controversial topic to discuss, both guys have their own followers, and while I'm also a big fan of their debut, I think Van Hagar still have more albums to love than Dave's, not to mention that Hagar is vocally better than him. Despite couple of unnecessary fillers, which became Van Halen's bad habit on almost every album, "5150" is a breakthrough introductory of Van Hagar's era and worth the whole money on that three singles alone, four with the title track.