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Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar, background vocals); Michael Anthony (bass, background vocals); Alex Van Halen (drums, background vocals).
Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California in 1978.
Among revolutionary rock albums, Van Halen's debut often gets short shrift. Although it altered perceptions of what the guitar could do, it is not spoken of in the same reverential tones as Are You Experienced? and although it set the template for how rock & roll sounded for the next decade or more, it isn't seen as an epochal generational shift, like Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, or Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, which was released just the year before. But make no mistake, Van Halen is as monumental, as seismic as those records, but part of the reason it's never given the same due is that there's no pretension, nothing self-conscious about it. In the best sense, it is an artless record, in the sense that it doesn't seem contrived, but it's also a great work of art because it's an effortless, guileless expression of what the band is all about, and what it would continue to be over the years. The band did get better, tighter, over the years -- peaking with their sleek masterpiece 1984, where there was no fat, nothing untidy -- but everything was in place here, from the robotic pulse of Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen, to the gonzo shtick of David Lee Roth to the astonishing guitar of Eddie Van Halen. There may have been antecedents to this sound -- perhaps you could trace Diamond Dave's shuck-n-jive to Black Oak Arkansas' Jim Dandy, the slippery blues-less riffs hearken back to Aerosmith -- but Van Halen, to this day, sounds utterly unprecedented, as if it was a dispatch from a distant star. Some of the history behind the record has become rock lore: Eddie may have slowed down Cream records to a crawl to learn how Clapton played "Crossroads" -- the very stuff legends are made of -- but it's hard to hear Clapton here. It's hard to hear anybody else really, even with the traces of their influences, or the cover of "You Really Got Me," which doesn't seem as if it were chosen because of any great love of the Kinks, but rather because that riff got the crowd going. And that's true of all 11 songs here: they're songs designed to get a rise out of the audience, designed to get them to have a good time, and the album still crackles with energy because of it.
Sheer visceral force is one thing, but originality is another, and the still-amazing thing about Van Halen is how it sounds like it has no fathers. Plenty other bands followed this template in the '80s, but like all great originals Van Halen doesn't seem to belong to the past and it still sounds like little else, despite generations of copycats. Listen to how "Runnin' with the Devil" opens the record with its mammoth, confident riff and realize that there was no other band that sounded this way -- maybe Montrose or Kiss were this far removed from the blues, but they didn't have the down-and-dirty hedonistic vibe that Van Halen did; Aerosmith certainly had that, but they were fueled by blooze and boogie, concepts that seem alien here. Everything about Van Halen is oversized: the rhythms are primal, often simple, but that gives Dave and Eddie room to run wild, and they do. They are larger than life, whether it's Dave strutting, slyly spinning dirty jokes and come-ons, or Eddie throwing out mind-melting guitar riffs with a smile. And of course, this record belongs to Eddie, just like the band's very name does. There was nothing, nothing like his furious flurry of notes on his solos, showcased on "Eruption," a startling fanfare for his gifts: Steve Howe may have tapped before, but nothing like Eddie's fluid, lightning runs. He makes sounds that were unimagined before this album, and they still sound nearly inconceivable. But, at least at this point, these songs were never vehicles for Van Halen's playing; theyRolling Stone (p.95) - 5 stars out of 5 - "Eddie crammed a whole season of soap-opera plot twists into every solo, making liberal use of the whammy bar but never losing the melody."
Q (8/00, p.127) - Included in Q's "Best Metal Albums Of All Time" - "...Eddie Van Halen reinvented rock guitar on his band's debut....America's favorite party band....this dazzling debut remains their trump card."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "Van Halen combined a dazzling live show with a party-hearty motto..." Van Halen Music Review Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Van Halen is born!!!
With this debute album Eddie Van Halen right off the bat put him self up ther as one of the greatest guirists ever with big names like Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Richie Blackmore, Eric Clapton and so on. Yes, he is the man. If you like rock music and dont own this you need to get it now.
Submitted by ADG (Martinez, CA, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Powerhouse VH debut album!!
One only need to push play and here Eddie tear into "Eruption" and really like this album. It rocks and totally introduced the masses to the Van Halen sound.If you haven't bought this Van Halen album you must have been living under a rock for a long, long time.
Submitted by dave (Cottage Grove,MN) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No I LOVE VAN HALEN MUSIC
I like all kind of rock music, i like play guitar that is the reason for my adiction to van halen way to play guitar.
Submitted by a reviewer (VENEZUELA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Awesome
A very powerfull album of catchy, infectious tunes that really get stuck in your head. Can't stop playing it.
KILLER!!
Submitted by David Watts (Melbourne, Australia)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No VAN HALEN ROCKS
aint talkin´ bout love has worlds best guitar riff ever!!! other songs are good too!
Submitted by aleksi (pori finland)
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Purchase Van Halen CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Van Halen II CD (1979) Remastered
Van Halen
 $8.89   
Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar); Michael Anthony (bass); Alex Van Halen (drums).
Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California in 1979.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Personnel: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar); Michael Anthony (bass guitar); Alex Van Halen (drums).
Audio Remasterer: Gregg Geller.
Recording information: Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, CA.
Photographers: Neil Zlozower; Elliot Gilbert.
It's called Van Halen II not just because it's the band's second album but because it's virtually a carbon copy of their 1978 debut, right down to how the band showcases their prowess via covers and how Eddie Van Halen gets a brief, shining moment to showcase his guitar genius. This time, he does his thing on acoustic guitars on the remarkable "Spanish Fly," but that temporary shift from electrics to acoustics is the only true notable difference in attack here; in every other way, Van Halen II feels like its predecessor, even if there are subtle differences. First, there's only one cover this time around -- Betty Everett's "You're No Good," surely learned from Linda Ronstadt -- and this feels both heavier and lighter than the debut. Heavier in that this sounds big and powerful, driven by mastodon riffs that aim straight of the gut. Lighter in that there's a nimbleness to the attack, in that there are pop hooks to the best songs, in that the group sounds emboldened by their success so they're swaggering with a confidence that's alluring. If the classic ratio is slightly lighter than on the debut, there are no bad songs and the best moments here -- two bona fide party anthems in "Dance the Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls," songs that embody everything the band was about -- are lighter, funnier than anything on the debut, showcases for both Diamond Dave's knowing shuck and jive and Eddie's phenomenal gift, so natural it seems to just flow out of him. At this point, it's hard not
| | Van Halen 5150 CD (1986)
Van Halen
$9.39
Van Halen: Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen (vocals, guitar); Michael Anthony (vocals, bass); Alex Van Halen (drums).
Recorded at 5150 Studios, Hollywood, California.
The power struggle within Van Halen was often painted as David Lee Roth's ego running out of control -- a theory that was easy enough to believe given his outsized charisma -- but in retrospect, it seems evident that Eddie Van Halen wanted respect to go along with his gargantuan fame, and Roth wasn't willing to play. Bizarrely enough, Sammy Hagar -- the former Montrose lead singer who had carved out a successful solo career -- was ready to play, possibly because the Red Rocker was never afraid of being earnest, nor was he afraid of synthesizers, for that matter. There was always the lingering suspicion that, yes, Sammy truly couldn't drive 55, and that's why he wrote the song, and that kind of forthright rocking is evident on the strident anthems of 5150. From the moment the album opens with the crashing "Good Enough," it's clearly the work of the same band -- it's hard to mistake Eddie's guitars, just as it's hard to mistake Alex and Michael Anthony's pulse, or Michael's harmonies -- but the music feels decidedly different. Where Diamond Dave would have strutted through the song with his tongue firmly in cheek, Hagar plays it right down the middle, never winking, never joking. Even when he takes a stab at humor on the closing "Inside" -- joshing around about why the guys chose him as a replacement -- it never feels funny, probably because, unlike Dave, he's not a born comedian. Then again, 5150 wasn't really intended to be funny; it was intended to be a serious album, spiked by a few relentless metallic rockers like "Get Up," but functioning more as a vehicle to showcase Van Halen's -- particularly the guitarist's -- increasing growth and maturity. There are plenty of power ballads, in "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Love Walks In," there's a soaring anthem of inspiration in "Dreams," and even the str
| | Van Halen Diver Down CD (1982) Remastered
Van Halen
$6.49 
Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar); Michael Anthony (bass); Alex Van Halen (drums).
Addtional personnel: Jan Van Halen (clarinet).
Recorded in 1982.
Digitally remastered by Chris Bellman.
Fair Warning was such a dark, intense record that Van Halen almost had no choice but to lighten up on their next album, and 1982's Diver Down is indeed much lighter than its predecessor. In many ways, it's a return to the early albums, heavy on covers and party anthems, but where those records were rough and exuberant -- they felt like the work of the world's best bar band just made good, which is, of course, kind of what they were -- this is undoubtedly the work of a finely honed band who has only grown tighter and heavier since their debut. As a band, they might be tight, but Diver Down is anything but tight. It's a downright mess, barely clocking in at 31 minutes, cobbled together out of five covers, two minute-long instrumentals, and five new songs. By most measures, this should be the kind of slop that's difficult to muddle through, but it's not: it's one of Van Halen's best records, one that's just pure joy to hear. Like the debut, it's a great showcase for all the group's strengths, from Eddie Van Halen's always thrilling guitar to the bedrock foundation of Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony's throbbing pulse to, of course, David Lee Roth's strut. Each member gets places to shine and, in a way, covers showcase their skills in a way none of the originals does, since they get to twist "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Dancing in the Street," and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" inside out, all the better to make them their own. But this isn't complacent; Van Halen is stretching out in different ways, funneling the menace of Fair Warning into the ominous instrumental "Intruder," playing with the whiplash fury of a punk band on "Hang 'Em High," and honing their pop skills on the bright, new wavey rock of "Little Guitars" and the sweet "Secrets," whic
| | Van Halen Women And Children First CD (1980) Remastered
Van Halen
$5.99
Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar); Michael Anthony (bass); Alex Van Halen (drums).
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Also available with "Fair Warning" on 1 cassette.
After two pure party albums, the inevitable had to happen: it was time for Van Halen to mature, or at least get a little serious. And so, Women and Children First, a record where the group started to get heavier, both sonically and, to a lesser extent, thematically, changing the feel of the band ever so slightly. Where the first two records were nothing but nonstop parties, there's a bit of a dark heart beating on this record, most evident on the breakneck metal of "Romeo Delight," but also the pair of opening party anthems, "And the Cradle Will Rock" and "Everybody Wants Some!!," which don't fly quite as high as "Dance the Night Away" or "Runnin' with the Devil" because of the tense, roiling undercurrents in Eddie's riffs, especially the thudding, circular keyboard riff propelling "And the Cradle Will Rock." The very fact that a keyboard drives this song, not a guitar, is a signal of Eddie's burgeoning ambition (which would soon become inseparable from his desire for respectability), and there are already some conflicts between this somber musicality and David Lee Roth's irrepressible hunger for fun. Where that tension would eventually tear the band apart, here it just makes for compelling music, adding richness and depth to this half-hour blast of rock & roll. This is the first Van Halen album to consist entirely of original material and there's some significant growth here to the writing, evident in the winding, cynical neo-boogie "Fools" and also in the manic "Loss of Control," which gallops by with the ferocity of hardcore punk. These, along with all previously mentioned songs, are the heaviest music Van Halen has made (or would ever make), but as the album rushes toward the end Diamond Dave pulls them toward his country-blues jive fixation with "Take Y
| | Van Halen Fair Warning CD (1981) Remastered
Van Halen
$8.69
Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar, background vocals); Michael Anthony (bass, background vocals); Alex Van Halen (drums).
Recorded in 1981.
Digitally remastered by Chris Bellman.
Also available with "Women And Children First" on 1 cassette.
Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Edward Van Halen (guitar); Michael Anthony (electric bass); Alex Van Halen (drums).
Of all the early Van Halen records, Fair Warning often gets overlooked -- partially because it's a dark, strange beast, partially because it lacks any song as purely fun as the hits from the first three records. Because of that, there were no hits from Fair Warning that turned into radio anthems; only "Unchained" and, to a lesser extent, the grinding opener, "Mean Street," rank among the group's best-known songs, and they're not as monumental as "And the Cradle Will Rock," from the preceding album, Women and Children First. There's a reason for that: this album ain't a whole lotta fun. Fair Warning is the first Van Halen album that doesn't feel like a party. This may be a reflection of the band's relentless work schedule, it may be a reflection of the increasing tension between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth -- the cause isn't important, because whatever the reason, Fair Warning winds up as a dark, dirty, nasty piece of work. Gloomy it may be, but dull it is not and Fair Warning contains some of the fiercest, hardest music that Van Halen ever made. There's little question that Eddie Van Halen won whatever internal skirmishes they had, since his guitar dominates this record, even with the lack of a single dedicated instrumental showcase (the first time he lacked one on a VH album). Eddie sounds restless here, pushing and pulling the group toward different rhythms and textures, from the disco beat that pulsates on "Push Comes to Shove" to the swinging rhythms on "So This Is Love?" and, especially, the murky synths that comprise the instrumental "Sunday Afternoon in the
| | Van Halen 1984 CD (1984) Remastered
Van Halen
$8.89
Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie Van Halen (guitar, keyboards); Michael Anthony (bass, background vocals); Alex Van Halen (drums, percussion, background vocals).
Recorded at 5150 Studios, Hollywood, California.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
At the time of its release, much of the fuss surrounding 1984 involved Van Halen's adoption of synthesizers on this, their sixth album -- a hoopla that was a bit of a red herring since the band had been layering in synths since their third album, Women and Children First. Those synths were either buried beneath guitars or used as texture, even on instrumentals where they were the main instrument, but here they were pushed to the forefront on "Jump," the album's first single and one of the chief reasons this became a blockbuster, crossing over to pop audiences Van Halen had flirted with before but had never quite won over. Of course, the mere addition of a synth wasn't enough to rope in fair-weather fans -- they needed pop hooks and pop songs, which 1984 had, most gloriously on the exuberant, timeless "Jump." There, the synths played a circular riff that wouldn't have sounded as overpowering on guitar, but the band didn't dispense with their signature monolithic, pulsating rock. Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony grounded the song, keeping it from floating to pop, and David Lee Roth simply exploded with boundless energy, making this seem rock & roll no matter how close it got to pop. And "Jump" was about as close as 1984 got to pop, as the other seven songs -- with the exception of "I'll Wait," which rides along on a synth riff as chilly as "Jump" is warm -- are heavy rock, capturing the same fiery band that's been performing with a brutal intensity since Women and Children First. But where those albums placed an emphasis on the band's attack, this places an emphasis on the songs, and they're uniformly terrific, the best set of original tunes Van Halen ever had. Surely, the anthems "Panama" and "Hot
| | Cat Power What Would The Community Think CD (1996)
Van Halen
$10.35
Personnel: Chan "Cat Power" Marshall (guitar, piano); Tim Foljahn (guitar); Doug Easley (pedal steel); Davis (Moog); Steve Shelley (drums, xylophone).
Recorded at Easley Studios, Memphis, Tennessee in February 1996.
Personnel: Chan Marshall (guitar, piano); Tim Foljahn (guitar); Davis (Moog synthesizer); Steve Shelley (xylophone, drums).
Recording information: Easley, Memphis (02/1996).
What Would the Community Think was the second album Chan Marshall released in 1996, but its richness suggests a longer period of evolution. From the first warm notes of "In this Hole," it's clear that Marshall's voice -- as a singer and a songwriter -- is not only stronger and more focused, but more empathetic as well. Where her previous works were dense and cathartic, What Would the Community Think gives her voice and lyrics space to unfurl and involve the listener; the title track alone holds an album's worth of eloquence in Marshall's hushed, clear vocals, backed by guitar, feedback, and an eerie, echoing piano. Fortunately, that leaves Marshall 11 other tracks with which to forge a fine balance between angular, angst-ridden punk and her gentler, folk-country tendencies. Different combinations of these extremes make Cat Power's sound more diverse but also more cohesive. Tense, tight songs like "Good Clean Fun" and "Nude as the News" retain the reflective, thoughtful nature of quieter numbers like "King Rides By" and "Water and Air," which turn the power of the album's louder moments into slow-building, implosive tension. Two of What Would the Community Think's finest moments, "They Tell Me" and "Taking People," are unabashedly blues and country-inflected, revealing Marshall not just as a cathartic vocalist, but as a true soul singer. Similarly, her covers of Peter Jefferies' "Fate of the Human Carbine" and Smog's "Bathysphere" show off Marshall's ability to make any song a Cat Power song. An intimate, personal album, What Would the Community Think makes imperfection beautiful and turns vulnerability into musical strength. ~ Heather Phares
1996's WHAT WOULD THE COMMUNITY THINK? Chan (pronounced "Shawn") Marshall's second album under the name Cat Power, finds the North Carolinian at lo-fi maverick Doug Easley's Memphis studio, her soft, engagingly shy voice and delicate acoustic guitar supported by Easley's pedal steel and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley's percussion. Though Easley and Shelley are better known for working with much louder, noisier artists than Marshall, they never overpower her sensitive but sturdy material.
Sounding more self-assured than she did on her debut, 1995's DEAR SIR, Marshall invests more passion and fire in songs like the foreboding "Water and Air" and the obsessive, feedback and piano-laced title track than one expects to find in the slacker-friendly lo-fi genre. Elsewhere, the delicate "King Rides By" is an unvarnished love song that packs an equally powerful emotional wallop. This is an outstanding, underrated album.
| | Scissor Sisters CD (2004) (Import) Bonus DVD; Japan
Van Halen
$47.29
Midway through the 2000s, theft with an artful nod and wink has become quite fashionable, and frilly is the new black. Combos like Chromeo and the Electric Six are finding mileage in long-shuttered, retrospectively laughable genres like synth pop and new romantic, and revisiting disco's most damning elements with a vigor for recombination. The results certainly elicit some snickering, but they can also be too cool -- or, for the insecure, too much of a guilty pleasure -- to ignore. New York's Scissor Sisters access these ideas and more on their debut full-length for Polygram. The eponymous release is a gleaming composite of epic, unabashedly pretty '70s songwriting and fancy-pants disco hedonism, reflecting the decadent dance-pop afterglow of all that George Michael wrought. "Lovers in the Backseat" is powered by the androgynous groove of Michael's "Everything She Wants." "Jealous glances/Now I'm lookin' for another song on the radio," they sing. "I'll take it to a side street/In the shadows you can touch one another/And I'll just watch the show." This flirty, satiny sexuality tingles in every lyrical inch of Scissor Sisters, as the Sisters save their subtlety for the songcraft. Opener "Laura" is a swaggering, absolutely irresistible update of vintage Stevie Wonder, illustrated with piano breaks and a honking sax. "Take Your Mama" chirps in a high register, a honky chateau dreamland of the Beta Band covering Elton John. All of this wackiness occurs before Scissor Sisters drop their dusky dancefloor version of "Comfortably Numb." They're hopped up over a twittering glitterball beat, referencing Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the Bee Gees even as the song functions as a Floyd redux. "I! I! I've become...'fortably numb!" As fun as all of this is (and the lip-smack glam of "Music Is the Victim" is very, very fun), the Sisters' revisionism can also get them in trouble. "It Can't Come Quickly Enough"'s dance-pop is too accurate, getting the bland side way too right, while "Return to Oz" cribs from Pink Floyd without the salve of artful dance club redirection. Still, these missteps are forgivable when pseudonyms like Del Marquis and Paddy Boom populate the band. Like some of their in-the-know peers, Scissor Sisters are happy to raid rock and pop's simpering peony past to soundtrack the parties and prurience of the silvery present day. ~ Johnny Loftus
SCISSOR SISTERS is a case study in albums that are more than the sum of their parts. On paper, the group's combination of 1970s glam, disco, and pop brings to mind Elton John, Supertramp, and a really sweaty night at the disco with a particularly deft DJ on the turntables. In practice, however, the band uses their influences not so much to create a new style as to render up something eerily familiar that isn't quite identifiable. And while the sense of the familiar makes them immediately appealing, it is the unidentified other that keeps you listening.
A trio of dance-floor stompers opens the album, all thunderous bass lines, falsetto vocals, and wah-wah guitar straight out of SUPERFLY, but that's only the beginning. "T*ts on the Radio," is a snarling, swaggering attack on conservatism, recorded before the Janet Jackson/Superbowl debacle, but more relevant since that time. "Better Luck" highlights a gloriously thumping honky-tonk beat. And the closing tracks, both of which use sweeping ambient electronics, end the album on that majestic crash everyone experiences once they leave the heightened reality of a nightclub and return to the drab city streets.
Limited deluxe edition Japanese pressing includes DVD. Details TBA. Sony. 2005.
| | Le Piu Belle Canzoni Di Riccardo Fogli CD (2006) (Import) Australia
Van Halen
$15.59
Track Listing of songs: Mondo; Che Ne Sai; Ti voglio dire; Stella; Malinconia; Io Ti Porto Via; E L'amore; Non Mi Lasciare; Io No; Scene da un amore; L'Amore Che Verrà; Alla Fine Di Un Lavoro; Ti Amo Però...; Storie di tutti i giorni;
| | Dan Oliver Desert Of Exile CD (2005)
Van Halen
$14.79
Track Listing of songs: Bound For Glory; Blind Man; Desert of Exile; As God Is My Savior; I Will Come Again; Wholly Thine; Turn Around; Children of the King; Somewhere Out on That Horizon; Don't Let It Take Time;
| | #1 Super 70S Hits CD (2006) (Import)
Van Halen
$7.79
Track Listing of songs: Me & Bobby McGee; I Can See Clearly Now; I Can Help; Rich Girl; Midnight Train to Georgia; Shining Star; Lady Marmalade; American Woman; Brother Louie; Seasons in the Sun; Brand New Key; Best of My Love;
| | Culp Anthology Of Song, Vol IV - Franz Naval CD (2007)
$11.25 | | Tuscae Gentes Quando Il Merlo Canta CD (2008) (Import)
Van Halen
$23.65
Track Listing of songs: Musa Che Sorgi Da Quell'Aria Fine; Monte Acuto; Quando Il Merlo Canta; Passo Doppio Francese; Il Pecoraio; Come Volete Faccia / Tutti Mi Dicon Maremma; Ballo Dei Gobbi I E II; Quando Lo Pecoraio Va In Maremma; Allegri, Allegri, Disse La Maremma; Lettere Di Tiburzi; La Vita Strapazzata; U Trenu Chi Va In Bastia; Ninna Nanna Corsa; E Voi Caterinella Bella; Giorgina; Che Mangerà La Sposa; Cantilena Delle Saline;
| | Shugo Tokumaru Exit CD (2008) Digipak
Van Halen
$9.79
Shugo Tokumaru is not (as many reviewers have assessed) the Japanese Sufjan Stevens. He may share some of Stevens' fascination with found instruments and eccentric acoustic arrangements, but that's where the similarities end. Tokumaru, in general, seems to go much deeper into his own musical world -- playing with sounds more and taking ideas much further. If comparisons must be made, it would better describe Tokumaru's trajectory to align him with the likes of a less predictable pop experimenters like Lindsey Buckingham. Like Buckingham, Tokumaru's songs can sound deceptively simple on the surface, but closer listening reveals a very sophisticated musician at work. Anyone can layer instruments on top of one another (and, with the advent of digital home recording, often to a ludicrous level), but it takes a real talent to sort out how they should fit together. This is where Tokumaru shines, especially on his album Exit -- a home-recorded affair that flirts with indulgence but rarely succumbs to it. That's an important point because a song like Exit's opener, "Parachute" -- with its multi-layered fingerpicked guitar propulsion and more melody lines than you can shake a stick at -- could have been just a predictable lo-fi mélange had someone else been at the helm. In Tokumaru's hands, indulgence is tempered with taste and taste is augmented by confident individuality and competent musicianship. That individuality and musical prowess are evident enough -- as Tokumaru is clearly at ease on a number of different instruments -- but all of that would amount to beans if you couldn't put it together just as expertly. In the arrangement department, Tokumaru displays both skill and mischievousness. He has a Brian Wilson-like penchant for playing instruments off of each other to achieve a greater result (just listen to the Pet Sounds playfulness of "La La Radio") and is fearless in his use of dissonance (check the gradually twisted interplay between the recorders and melodicas on "Clocca"). Ambitious as some of that may seem, Exit never feels like a show-off record -- just a thoughtfully put-together one. ~ J. Scott McClintock
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