VAN HALEN — Women And Children First (review)

VAN HALEN — Women And Children First album cover

Album · 1980 · Hard Rock

5/5 · 2015-09-22
Unitron

Van Halen - Women and Children First

'Women and Children First' is the third studio album by hard rock/heavy metal band Van Halen. When talking about favorite Van Halen albums the debut is probably the first to be mentioned, while 'Women and Children First' seems to be underrated. However, this is when Van Halen got a bit heavier then they already were.

This and the next album is probably Van Halen at their heaviest, with some straight-forward heavy metal moments mixed in with their already hard rocking sound. This album speeds, shreds, and drives itself into the listeners ears beginning with the opening two songs 'And the Cradle Will Rock...' and 'Everybody Wants Some!!' which were the most popular songs from the album. These songs certainly do deserve their popularity, being excellent hard rocking opening tracks. What comes after is one of my favorite Van Halen songs, 'Fools'. This is simply one of the best examples of a driving song, with one of the most addicting riffs I've ever heard. All the instruments fit together so well, making it difficult to not stomp your foot to the thumping bass and driving guitar. 'Romeo Delight' is another awesome hard rock song with some more thumping bass and catchy guitar work. During the middle, Eddie Van Halen gives a solo that wouldn't sound out of place in a heavy metal album.

The short 'Tora! Tora!' sounds like it came right out of a Black Sabbath album, with dark diminished chords before flowing right into 'Loss of Control', which has some killer shredding reminding me of Motorhead. If you want a fast shredding song with some killer bass as well, then this is perfect. 'Take a Whisky Home' is another one of my favorites, starting out with catchy acoustic guitar mixed with some bluesy vocals from Lee Roth. The acoustic guitar transitions nicely into bluesy Aerosmith-esque riffing. Michael Anthony is a pretty underrated bassist, giving some extremely catchy grooves all throughout the album especially in the aforementioned song.

Overall, I know many think the debut is Van Halen's best, I've always thought that it suffered from filler. However, apart from 'Could This be Magic?' this album never stops rocking. This and the next album are my personal favorites from Van Halen. If you want some fun hard rock/metal, you can't go wrong with this album or 'Fair Warning'. Hope you found this review helpful.

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more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I agree. Album number 1 this one and Fair Warning are my faves. The rest have some good tracks but lots of filler IMHO

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Then I'll add it to my list of albums to check out. I really don't remember much from this one.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Fair Warning is probably tied with this one as my favorite VH album. This is certainly worth listening to again if you like Fair Warning.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I should listen to this again. This album is where I stopped buying VH albums. I liked "And the Cradle..." but forgot the rest of the album. You make it sound worthy of picking up again. My personal fav was always "Fair Warning".

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks, I love the debut as well, but I can listen to this and the next one all the way through without getting bored. :)

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review! This is one of my favies of VH as well. Not as good as the debut but a close second :)