Fair Warning (2015 Remaster) Van Halen

• 1 Mean Street 05:01
• 2 Dirty Movies 04:08
• 3 Sinner's Swing! 03:09
• 4 Hear About It Later 04:32
• 5 Unchained 03:29
• 6 Push Comes To Shove 03:49
• 7 So This Is Love? 03:06
• 8 Sunday Afternoon In The Park 01:59
• 9 One Foot Out The Door 02:01
• Total Runtime 31:14

Info for Fair Warning (2015 Remaster)

33 years ago today, Van Halen released the one album amongst their classic David Lee Roth era output which can reasonably described as “underrated,” inasmuch as you can use the word to describe an album that hit #5 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and went double-platinum.

It’s true, though: Fair Warning may be just as big a deal amongst the diehard VH fans as everything else in their discography, but if you look back at the band’s successes on the singles charts over the course of their career, it’s the only studio album – and we’re talking from their self-titled debut in 1978 all the way through 1995’s Balance, their last effort with Sammy Hagar – that didn’t have any songs hit the Billboard Hot 100.

Oh, sure, four of the album’s tracks did relatively well on the Mainstream Rock charts at the time – those would be “Mean Street,” “Unchained,” “So This Is Love?” and “Push Comes to Shove,” in case you were wondering – but you wouldn’t know it from the band’s two best-of collections: both the single-disc Best of Volume 1 and the double-disc The Best of Both Worlds spotlighted only a single song from Fair Warning…and it was the same song (“Unchained”).

Why all the limited love for Fair Warning? We’re only speculating, of course, but perhaps it’s because history has revealed it to be a transitional album for Van Halen, beginning the incorporation of synths to the band’s sound even as Eddie Van Halen attempted to bring his guitar skill to the forefront even more than it already had been. Obviously, the synths would prove to be far more prominent in the future, as would the pop flamboyance of the aforementioned Mr. Roth, but here it’s darker, harder material, none of which exactly screamed “hit single.” But here’s the thing: because it hasn’t gotten as much airplay over the years, Fair Warning arguably feels fresher than anything else in the early Van Halen catalog.

„Of all the early Van Halen records, Fair Warning often gets overlooked -- partially because it's a dark, strange beast, partially because it lacks any song as purely fun as the hits from the first three records. Because of that, there were no hits from Fair Warning that turned into radio anthems; only 'Unchained' and, to a lesser extent, the grinding opener, 'Mean Street,' rank among the group's best-known songs, and they're not as monumental as 'And the Cradle Will Rock,' from the preceding album, Women and Children First. There's a reason for that: this album ain't a whole lotta fun. Fair Warning is the first Van Halen album that doesn't feel like a party. This may be a reflection of the band's relentless work schedule, it may be a reflection of the increasing tension between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth -- the cause isn't important, because whatever the reason, Fair Warning winds up as a dark, dirty, nasty piece of work. Gloomy it may be, but dull it is not and Fair Warning contains some of the fiercest, hardest music that Van Halen ever made. There's little question that Eddie Van Halen won whatever internal skirmishes they had, since his guitar dominates this record, even with the lack of a single dedicated instrumental showcase (the first time he lacked one on a VH album). Eddie sounds restless here, pushing and pulling the group toward different rhythms and textures, from the disco beat that pulsates on 'Push Comes to Shove' to the swinging rhythms on 'So This Is Love?' and, especially, the murky synths that comprise the instrumental 'Sunday Afternoon in the Park' and the grimy, gunky closing rocker, 'One Foot Out the Door.' Either inspired or spurred on by the gloomy rock Eddie cranked out, David Lee Roth casts his net far wider than his usual litany of girls and good times. He spits and swears, swaggering without his usual joie de vivre, with even his sex songs feeling weary and nasty. Whatever spawned it, that nastiness is the defining characteristic of Fair Warning, which certainly doesn't make it bunches of fun, but it showcases the coiled power of Van Halen better than any other album, which makes it worth visiting on occasion.“ (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

Eddie Van Halen, guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals
David Lee Roth, vocals, guitar
Alex Van Halen, drums
Michael Anthony, bass, backing vocals

Recorded Early March – Early April 1981
Engineered by Donn Landee, Gene Meros
Produced by Ted Templeman

Digitally remastered by Bernie Grundmann

Please Note: we do not offer the 192 kHz version of this album, because there is no audible difference to the 96 kHz version!

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This album contains no booklet.