“Women and Children First” was the third studio album by the American rock band Van Halen, released on March 26, 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. Generally speaking, the third album of a band it’s crucial, while the first might be an accident and the second a sequel of that, the third generally proves if that band have something to say or they never really had. In the particular case of Van Halen, “Women and Children First” was really a turning point of their career and the moment when the boys grown up and became men. “Women and Children First” rocks your s*it off. Literally. And their both previous albums were hard as a rock!
Kerrang! magazine listed the album at #30 among the “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time”. If you never heard the duo of “Tora! Tora!”/”Loss Of Control” you have definitively wasted your life or you’re in the wrong place! Or if you never had partying on “Could This Be Magic?”. “Tora! Tora!” it’s blacker then Black Sabbath and “Take Your Whiskey Home” bring the blues to a brand new level of… aggression. Not to mention “And The Cradle Will Rock…” which is an absolutely rock classic!
My mom had this one on vinyl, “Loss Of Control” and “Everybody Wants Some!!” were among my favorite songs beside “Rapid Fire” (by Judas Priest) and “Ace of Spades” (by Motorhead) – all of them songs of 1980!! Afterward I bought “Fair Warning” as well. The rest is history!
Must have!
And the newly remastered versions of these classics sounds even more bad-ass!
“Women And Children First” it’s 33 minutes of rockers delight, something – unfortunately – most of the bands nowadays fail to deliver!
“Van Halen reinvented the sound of hard rock in 1978 with its influential and wildly successful eponymous debut album and then achieved even greater success six years later with 1984. Both albums would define a generation while selling more than 10 million copies each in the U.S. alone to earn diamond-certification from the RIAA. The band recently went back to the original analog tapes and remastered both of these landmark albums – Van Halen and 1984 – which are now also set for release on March 31, 2015 through Warner Bros. Records. Pre-Order Van Halen on CD now at Amazon HERE and the LP HERE. Pre-Order 1984 on CD now at Amazon HERE and the LP HERE.
Considered one of the greatest debut albums in rock history, Van Halen took the music world by storm in 1978 with an 11-song manifesto that features some of rock radio’s most played songs of all time and scorching concert staples like “Runnin’ With The Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Jamie’s Cryin’,” the band’s signature cover of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” and Eddie Van Halen’s finger-tapping tour de force, “Eruption.” Six years and five albums later, Van Halen had become one of the biggest bands in world around the release of 1984, which includes a number of the band’s most legendary songs such as the #1 hit, “Jump,” “Panama,” and “Hot For Teacher.”
Mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums for Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA, was enlisted for these new versions. In order to produce the original sound the band intended, Bellman cut straight from the quarter-inch tapes for CD; for 180-gram vinyl; and for the digital version. Newly mastered versions of Diver Down, Women and Children First, Van Halen II and Fair Warning are now being cut for each format and will be available soon.”
(Source – Van Halen press release)
Tracklist:
01. And The Cradle Will Rock… [03:32]
02. Everybody Wants Some!! [05:05]
03. Fools [05:55]
04. Romeo Delight [04:18]
05. Tora! Tora! [00:56]
06. Loss Of Control [02:38]
07. Take Your Whiskey Home [03:09]
08. Could This Be Magic? [03:10]
09. In A Simple Rhyme [04:40]
Playtime: 00:33:27
Producer: Ted Templeman
Engineers: Donn Landee, Gene Meros
Remastering: Chris Bellman
Project coordinator: Jo Motta
Creative consultant and cover art concept: Pete Angelus
Art direction: Richard Seireeni
Poster photo: Helmut Newton
Cover photo: Norman Seeff
Van Halen – Official Site
