David Lee Roth – The Warner Recordings (1985-1994) (2025 Remaster) (2025) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

David Lee Roth – The Warner Recordings (1985-1994) (2025 Remaster) (2025)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:15:57 minutes | 6,22 GB | Genre: Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

This collection charts David Lee Roth’s career as a solo artist on Warner Bros. Records, and although it starts off with the four-song Crazy from the Heat EP, the real meat here is found in the four albums he released between 1986 and 1994. What constitutes the beginning of Roth’s solo career is actually debatable, since the EP is not only the thinnest of affairs—four songs—all corny covers—clocking in at less than 15 minutes—but it was recorded and released while the singer was still in Van Halen (who had just wrapped up the 1984 tour a few weeks prior). As the story goes, Roth was irritated with Edward Van Halen acting as a guitarist-for-hire (e.g. the solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”), so he went in the studio to record the most non-Van Halen thing he could do, fully intent on returning to the band. Of course, that didn’t happen, and a few weeks after Crazy’s release, Roth was fired (or he quit; who knows?).By January 1986, Van Halen released their first album with new singer Sammy Hagar, followed a couple of months later by Roth’s debut solo full-length, Eat ‘Em and Smile. If Crazy from the Heat was as un-Van Halen as possible, Smile was the alternate-universe version of the band. Instead of Edward Van Halen, Roth had the even wilder virtuosity of Steve Vai, while the rhythm section of Gregg Bissonette and Billy Sheehan took the overcrowded percussion and vocal harmonies of Van Halen’s trademark sound and basically doubled down. More importantly, Smile had Ted Templeman, the producer who made Van Halen sound like Van Halen and who, quite pointedly, did not produce the band’s Hagar-fronted debut, 5150.

For all of those fans who were disappointed, confused, or otherwise let down by 5150, Eat ‘Em and Smile provided plenty of succour, as it is thick with superlative hard rock songcraft, a high level of technical proficiency, and, of course, David Lee Roth’s inimitable personality. (If Roth has always been a below-average to mediocre vocalist, he has also always been a consummate frontman, driving the proceedings by sheer showmanship, witty lyricism, and high-watt ego.) The formula was largely continued on Skyscraper, although Templeman was gone (the album was self-produced by Roth and Vai). Of course, time waits for no one, and when Roth followed up Skyscraper with the Bob Rock-produced A Little Ain’t Enough in 1991, the zeitgeist had definitively moved beyond the showy hard rock Roth is so perfect for. Also, Roth’s “band” had essentially fallen apart; Vai was replaced by the extraordinarily talented shredder Jason Becker, and Sheehan was replaced by Bissonette’s brother Matt. To make matters worse, Becker was diagnosed with ALS shortly after joining the band. Although he turned in incredible performances, he was unable to continue playing with Roth afterward. Despite some highlights like the title track and “Tell the Truth” (which obliquely references the Van Halen track “Fools”), most of the record is solid, if unremarkable, while also being wildly out of step with the market.

Incredibly, things got worse commercially for Roth with Your Flithy Little Mouth, on which he installed Nile Rodgers in the producer’s chair and attempted to make an “interesting” album. While it was definitely that, the maddening diversity of the material—a country song? a jazz song? reggae?—obscured the strength of the songwriting; it was almost instantly rejected by longtime hard rock fans and was ignored by everyone else. But of all the albums in this set, it’s the one most worth revisiting, as it is the best example of Roth’s wide field of musical vision. The hi-res remastering does justice to the material throughout, and although it’s disappointing that no non-LP bonus material is included, it’s essential and long overdue that Roth’s often beguiling and occasionally frustrating solo work gets the attention it deserves. – Jason Ferguson

Tracklist:

1-01. David Lee Roth – Easy Street (2025 Remaster) (03:49)
1-02. David Lee Roth – Just a Gigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody (2025 Remaster) (04:48)
1-03. David Lee Roth – California Girls (2025 Remaster) (02:51)
1-04. David Lee Roth – Coconut Grove (2025 Remaster) (02:52)
2-01. David Lee Roth – Yankee Rose (2025 Remaster) (03:54)
2-02. David Lee Roth – Shyboy (2025 Remaster) (03:25)
2-03. David Lee Roth – I’m Easy (2025 Remaster) (02:11)
2-04. David Lee Roth – Ladies’ Nite in Buffalo? (2025 Remaster) (04:08)
2-05. David Lee Roth – Goin’ Crazy! (2025 Remaster) (03:10)
2-06. David Lee Roth – Tobacco Road (2025 Remaster) (02:29)
2-07. David Lee Roth – Elephant Gun (2025 Remaster) (02:26)
2-08. David Lee Roth – Big Trouble (2025 Remaster) (03:59)
2-09. David Lee Roth – Bump and Grind (2025 Remaster) (02:32)
2-10. David Lee Roth – That’s Life (2025 Remaster) (02:46)
3-01. David Lee Roth – Knucklebones (2025 Remaster) (03:18)
3-02. David Lee Roth – Just Like Paradise (2025 Remaster) (04:03)
3-03. David Lee Roth – The Bottom Line (2025 Remaster) (03:38)
3-04. David Lee Roth – Skyscraper (2025 Remaster) (03:40)
3-05. David Lee Roth – Damn Good (2025 Remaster) (05:48)
3-06. David Lee Roth – Hot Dog and a Shake (2025 Remaster) (03:19)
3-07. David Lee Roth – Stand Up (2025 Remaster) (04:40)
3-08. David Lee Roth – Hina (2025 Remaster) (04:41)
3-09. David Lee Roth – Perfect Timing (2025 Remaster) (03:41)
3-10. David Lee Roth – Two Fools a Minute (2025 Remaster) (04:27)
4-01. David Lee Roth – A Lil’ Ain’t Enough (2025 Remaster) (04:41)
4-02. David Lee Roth – Shoot It (2025 Remaster) (04:13)
4-03. David Lee Roth – Lady Luck (2025 Remaster) (04:40)
4-04. David Lee Roth – Hammerhead Shark (2025 Remaster) (03:34)
4-05. David Lee Roth – Tell the Truth (2025 Remaster) (05:18)
4-06. David Lee Roth – Baby’s on Fire (2025 Remaster) (03:22)
4-07. David Lee Roth – 40 Below (2025 Remaster) (04:54)
4-08. David Lee Roth – Sensible Shoes (2025 Remaster) (05:09)
4-09. David Lee Roth – Last Call (2025 Remaster) (03:22)
4-10. David Lee Roth – The Dogtown Shuffle (2025 Remaster) (04:58)
4-11. David Lee Roth – It’s Showtime! (2025 Remaster) (03:46)
4-12. David Lee Roth – Drop in the Bucket (2025 Remaster) (05:06)
5-01. David Lee Roth – She’s My Machine (2025 Remaster) (03:55)
5-02. David Lee Roth – Everybody’s Got the Monkey (2025 Remaster) (03:04)
5-03. David Lee Roth – Big Train (2025 Remaster) (04:16)
5-04. David Lee Roth – Experience (2025 Remaster) (05:54)
5-05. David Lee Roth – A Little Luck (2025 Remaster) (04:41)
5-06. David Lee Roth – Cheatin’ Heart Cafe (2025 Remaster) (04:08)
5-07. David Lee Roth – Hey, You Never Know (2025 Remaster) (02:48)
5-08. David Lee Roth – No Big ‘Ting (2025 Remaster) (04:53)
5-09. David Lee Roth – You’re Breathin’ It (2025 Remaster) (03:50)
5-10. David Lee Roth – Your Filthy Little Mouth (2025 Remaster) (03:04)
5-11. David Lee Roth – Land’s Edge (2025 Remaster) (03:13)
5-12. David Lee Roth – Night Life (2025 Remaster) (03:37)
5-13. David Lee Roth – Sunburn (2025 Remaster) (04:43)
5-14. David Lee Roth – You’re Breathin’ It (Urban NYC Mix) (2025 Remaster) (04:13)

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