Balance (Van Halen album)

Balance is the tenth studio album by the American hard rock band Van Halen. It was released in 1995 and, to date, is the final Van Halen album featuring lead singer Sammy Hagar.

"Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)" was originally, "What Love Can Do". The song was written about the power of universal love. Somewhere along the way, the band decided they didn't want to hear about the healing power of love, and the song took on a new direction.

The song "Can't Stop Lovin' You" pays homage to Ray Charles, who had his own hit song entitled "I Can't Stop Loving You". The Van Halen song references this with the lyric: "Hey, Ray, what you said is true, I can't stop lovin' you".

The Japanese Import also includes the bonus track "Crossing Over", which was the B-side to "Can't Stop Lovin' You".

During the Balance tour show in Pensacola, Florida 1995, Sammy Hagar stated that "Take Me Back (Deja Vu)" was "a true story". The song itself features a then almost 20 year old riff Eddie had previously used on a song entitled "No More Waiting" which the band played on occasion in the pre-Van Halen I era. .

The instrumental "Strung Out" was actually recorded in 1983, prior to the recording of 1984. The actual recording is Eddie "playing" the strings of a Grand Piano with various objects including ping pong balls, D-cell batteries, knives and forks .

Eddie had rented a house 10 years prior that belonged to, Marvin Hamlish. There was a piano in the house that Eddie destroyed while recording himself using the aforementioned objects on the piano's strings. The piece actually comes from 6 hours of recorded noise. Eddie was forced to pay around $15,000 for the damage and Balance producer, Bruce Fairbairn said that a recording that expensive shouldn't go to waste.

The third instrumental, "Baluchitherium", was named after a large extinct land mammal by Eddie's then-wife, Valerie Bertinelli. The song originally had lyrics; the vocal melody which Sammy Hagar developed was then developed for guitar.

The album's cover art was provided by Glen Wexler, which was based on a concept that Alex Van Halen described to him.

Track listing

1. "The Seventh Seal" – 5:18†
2. "Can't Stop Lovin' You" – 4:07†
3. "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)" – 5:56†
4. "Amsterdam" – 4:45†
5. "Big Fat Money" – 3:57
6. "Strung Out" (instrumental) – 1:29
7. "Not Enough" – 5:13†
8. "Aftershock" – 5:29
9. "Doin' Time" (instrumental) – 1:41
10. "Baluchitherium" (instrumental) – 4:05
11. "Take Me Back (Deja Vu)" – 4:43
12. "Feelin'" – 6:36
13. "Crossing Over" (Japanese bonus track) – 4:49

† denotes a single

Personnel

Band

• Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, background vocals, rhythm guitar
• Eddie Van Halen – lead guitar, keyboards, background vocals
• Michael Anthony – bass, background vocals
• Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• The Monks of Gyuro Tantric University – chants on "The Seventh Seal"

Production

• Bruce Fairbairn – production
• Erwin Musper, Mike Plotnikoff – engineering
• Mike Fraser – mixing
• George Marino – mastering
• Jeri Heiden – art direction
• Randee Saint Nicholas, Glen Wexler (front cover) – photography

Charts

Album

Singles

Notes