ENCARTE: VAN HALEN

O tipo do relato biográfico q acho divertido e na medida certa da nostalgia. Cometido por David Wild, colaborador da Rolling Stone, no intróito de seu release de 3 páginas outras (repletas de detalhes discográficos, das formações e tretas) q deixo pra lá por aqui, na coletânea “The Best Of Both Worlds” (2004):

“A Fan’s Notes

Right now a 14-year-old kid in a basement somewhere is listening to Eddie Van Halen play ‘Eruption’, thinking, How the hell does he do that?

Right now that kid’s dad is upstairs in the living room begging that kid’s mom for the credit card so he can buy Van Halen concert tickets.

Right now Mom’s saying, ‘OK’, because she’s secretly loved Van Halen since the first made out to ‘Dance the Night Away’ during her high school prom.

Right now all of them – and all of us with any taste and disposable income – can finally have the best of Van Halen all gathered in one dingy and smoky place.

Right there.

The Best Of Both Worlds chronicles one of the greatest – and loudest – rock’n’roll stories ever told. Surviving the demanding test of time, Van Halen‘s music continues to endure with transcendent grace and undeniable force.

In short, they really rock.

Revolutionary yet instantly accessible, Van Halen are a true musical powerhouse that forever changed the way that rock music’s played. From the beginning, they raised the wah-wah bar forever in terms of sonic ambition and raging full-throttle musicanship. This is one of the groups that changed the rules of the game, and then kept on winning. They took the energy and craft of great British rock bands like The Kinks, The Who, and Cream and transported them into their own distinctly American hyperspace. In particular, in Eddie’s virtuoso hands, the electric guitar took its single most startling leap forward since Jimi Hendrix turned the world onto a whole new Experience.

But Eddie didn’t do it alone.

Together the members of Van Halen have made rock history, and the music collected here shows exactly how they’re done it. These songs – not the celebrity, not the controversy, not the adorable grins in the videos – are what ultimately set Van Halen apart from the rock’n’roll pack. And now, with the long-awaited release of three powerful new songs here – ‘It’s About Time’, ‘Up For Breakfast’, and ‘Learning to See’, all featuring the returning and resounding Wham of Sam – The Best Of Both Worlds brings the band’s proud and pounding legacy alive and well here in the 21st century.

And as the band hits the road in the summer of 2004, the story isn’t over yet“.