In a recent conversation with SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation“, bassist Michael Anthony talked about the ”strange time” in Van Halen, during the recordings of “Van Halen III”.
That album is the only Van Halen album with Gary Cherone, which was definitely a strange beast recorded in a strange time.
About this, Anthony said the following:
“I remember Alex (Van Halen) was going through a divorce. And there’d be times where we’d start up in the studio and he … would record for a half hour, then have to leave to meet with his lawyer. […]
“Gary actually moved into the guest house up there by Ed. And Ed would be calling him in the middle of the night, all hours of the day, saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea for this!’ And Gary grew a little old of that, so he finally moved out of the house there.”
Anthony also added that one of the problems behind “Van Halen III” was recruiting Mike Post, who was primarily known for his television work, as the producer. Moreover, the recording process itself was significantly different compared to the band’s previous releases:
“He was trying to influence Ed on certain things, so it was just a really strange, strange, strange time.
“One thing that was really kind of sad for me was that there was not even a handful of songs that the band actually recorded together in the studio. And before that, we used to record everything with everybody in the studio.”
3 comments
Another thing about the record was that it is the only VH record where a decision was made ( by Edward) to erase all of Michael Anthony’s backing vocals. I remember asking Edward why, when he played Me a rough mix of the record, and he said he wanted this record to sound completely different. That record was actually produced by Edward and not Mike Post, although Post was listed as a producer. I remember that the critics immediately went after the lack of Backing harmony vocals.
Mike Anthony background vocals crucial to the VH sound.
Sure you can blame the producer, or the singer that sounded like a mashup of Dave and Sammy (though lacked the character and emotion of either), or blame the fact Eddie took outMichael’s backing vocals.
In the end, Eddie and Alex which formed the foundation of the songwriting team, were both lost, chasing after Top 40 success, losing their souls, dealing with addiction, divorce and health concerns. With no songs, the album was their weakest, and not what we expect from the once Mighty Van Halen.