Van Halen III

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Van Halen III
Studio album by Van Halen
Released	March 17, 1998
Recorded	1997
Genre	Hard rock
Length	65:10
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Mike Post, Edward Van Halen
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Van Halen chronology
Van Halen Best of, Volume I (1996) Van Halen III (1998) The Best of Both Worlds (2004)

Van Halen III is the eleventh studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1998. It is the only Van Halen album to feature Gary Cherone on lead vocals, and is commonly said to be Van Halen's most unpopular album. No songs from it are featured on The Best of Both Worlds, the band's 2004 greatest hits compilation, and the album itself is not even listed on the band's discography.

The album's only significant radio hit was "Without You", which reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the March 7, 1998 issue of Billboard, and remained at #1 for six weeks. Other songs receiving airplay on rock radio were "Fire in the Hole" (help·info) and "One I Want". The album's final song, "How Many Say I", was an unusual acoustic piano ballad featuring guitarist Eddie Van Halen (mostly) on lead vocals. Also, one particular song, "That's Why I Love You", from the VH3 sessions, was leaked to the public before the album went on sale, but the band's deeper appreciation for another song ("Josephina", named after Gary's mother) caused it to replace the former on the lineup and supposedly was the reason why the album release was postponed three more weeks. This album also contributed the song "Fire in the Hole" to the Lethal Weapon 4 movie soundtrack.

[edit] Title

The album's title was a pun on the fact that this was Van Halen's third recorded line-up, and the band's first two albums having been titled Van Halen and Van Halen II.

[edit] Track listing

All songs credited to Anthony, Cherone, Van Halen and Van Halen. See 'personnel' though for information on Anthony's questionable status within the band.

1. "Neworld" – 1:45
2. "Without You" – 6:30
3. "One I Want" – 5:30
4. "From Afar" – 5:24
5. "Dirty Water Dog" – 5:27
6. "Once" – 7:42
7. "Fire in the Hole" – 5:31
8. "Josephina" – 5:42
9. "Year to the Day" – 8:34
10. "Primary" – 1:27
11. "Ballot or the Bullet" – 5:42
12. "How Many Say I" – 6:04

[edit] Personnel

Band

• Gary Cherone - lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Michael Anthony - bass, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen - percussion, drums

Additional personnel

• Matthew Bruck - guitar
• Mike Post - keyboards

Michael Anthony revealed in an interview that he only played on three tracks (the three released singles: "Without You", "One I Want" and "Fire In The Hole") and that the rest of the album's bass work was performed by Eddie Van Halen. Anthony is still part of the shared songwriting credits however (the band have always shared credits) and appeared on the video to "Without You".

No one has confirmed or denied Anthony's claims about his participation on the album. However, Anthony fell out of favor with the band and was not a part of the 2007 tour with David Lee Roth.

[edit] Production

• Producers: Mike Post, Eddie Van Halen
• Engineers: Erwin Musper, Eddie Van Halen
• Mixing: The Edward, Robbes
• Mastering: The Edward, Robbes, Eddy Schreyer
• Programming: Florian Ammon, Ian Dye, Ed Rogers, Paul Wight
• Art direction: Stine Schyberg
• Photography: Dan Chavkin
• Coloring: F. Scott Schafer

[edit] Charts

[edit] Album

Billboard (North America)

[edit] Singles

Billboard (North America)