yah been listening to too much kyary :-[

Album Rating: 4.5

Great album and strong debut. Not as good as 1984 though.



No one was close to Eddie in 1978.

except for jimmy page, andrew latimer, steve hackett, richie blackmoore, robert fripp, steve howe, alex lifeson and probably others im forgetting

this is better than 1984 lol

fuck this band

Album Rating: 5.0

Sorry. In 1978, Page, Blackmore, Hackett and Lifeson weren't close, and I'm not familiar with Latimer's work. That leaves only Fripp and Howe.

eddie can shred but his solos aren't even close to that of blackmore's

Album Rating: 5.0

Blackmore is a great guitarist, but he wasn't as inventive and original as EVH in 1978. And the point about solos is debatable. I bore of Blackmore's noodling quickly.

yeah he can shred harder but that's not what truly makes a great guitarist. Don't get me wrong, I think Eddie is fantastic, but he doesn't have the versatility or nack for songwriting that the musicians i mentioned have IMO.

also, Latimer is from Camel, a progressive rock group from the 70's. definitely listen to their stuff if you haven't, especially Mirage.

demi nailed it 100%

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah, I've been meaning to listen to Camel but haven't yet. I rate Howe and Fripp higher because they were the most versatile and unpredictable compared to the rest.



But it's not necessarily about shredding. Eddie wasn't doing progressive rock, so the point about songwriting doesn't REALLY come into play. But on VH and VHII his riffing and soloing is completely unique. He just played the guitar differently from everyone else and made some pretty sweet tunes in the process. His legacy is diluted because of the way everyone and their grandmother copied him in the 80s, but the guy was a singular guitar-playing force in VH's early days.

How does songwriting not come into play? You can write a good hard rock song, you can write a bad hard rock song, just as you can write a good prog rock song and you can write a bad prog rock song.

Album Rating: 5.0

Because they're writing different kinds of songs. One is going for immediacy and party anthems, while the other is attempting something more cerebral. Who would you compare a 3 minute party-rock song with a 10 minute epic?

But we're not comparing the songs, we're comparing the songwriting abilities.

i will say that Eddie was the top of his contemporaries in hard rock music during this period of time (bar Jimmy Page; still think he is better). but when you bring prog into the mix, he has a hard time standing up to some of the players involved in that movement.

Album Rating: 5.0

"But we're not comparing the songs, we're comparing the songwriting abilities."



...



Songwriting results in songs. Songs are the end-product of songwriting. If you're not using songs to compare "songwriting abilities" what ARE you using?

what




you can judge how well written a song is without saying anything about how the song sounds

Album Rating: 5.0

And what constitutes good songwriting. ie what elements go into saying "this is a well-written song"?

If it's cohesive, structured, paced well, etc.

Sorry. In 1978, Page, Blackmore, Hackett and Lifeson weren't close, and I'm not familiar with Latimer's work. That leaves only Fripp and Howe.