Van Halen III

Van Halen III is the band's 11th album and was the last studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen. It is the only Van Halen album to feature Gary Cherone on lead vocals. A follow-up with Cherone was recorded, but not released.

History

The album's title refers to the fact that it was Van Halen's third recorded line-up, and the band's first two albums having been titled Van Halen and Van Halen II. No songs from it are featured on The Best of Both Worlds, the band's 2004 greatest hits compilation.

The album's only significant radio hit was "Without You", which reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on the March 7, 1998 issue of Billboard, and remained there for six weeks. Other songs receiving airplay on rock radio were "Fire in the Hole" and "One I Want". The album's final song, "How Many Say I", was an unusual acoustic piano ballad featuring Eddie Van Halen on lead vocals with Gary Cherone on backing vocals.

Another song entitled "That's Why I Love You" was dropped at the last minute in favor of "Josephina". This album also contributed the song "Fire in the Hole" to the Lethal Weapon 4 movie soundtrack.

Due to Michael Anthony being replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen when the band reunited in 2006, this is the last album to feature him on bass. Anthony was only featured on three songs: "Without You," "One I Want" and "Fire in the Hole". Edward Van Halen played bass on the rest of the album.

The cover is a still picture from stock footage of Frank "Cannonball" Richards.

Track listing

All songs credited to Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone, and Alex Van Halen.

1. "Neworld" (Instrumental) – 1:51
2. "Without You" – 6:37
3. "One I Want" – 5:35
4. "From Afar" – 5:29
5. "Dirty Water Dog" – 5:33
6. "Once" – 7:51
7. "Fire in the Hole" – 5:37
8. "Josephina" – 5:48
9. "Year to the Day" – 8:47
10. "Primary" (Instrumental) – 1:31
11. "Ballot or the Bullet" – 5:48
12. "How Many Say I" – 6:16

Personnel

• Gary Cherone – lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "How Many Say I"
• Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Mike Post – piano on "Neworld"

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

Certifications

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)

Singles

Billboard (North America)

External links

1. Van Halen III (1998) Album Review at Rockpedia.co

References