SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE PARK / ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR

Unless you are a hardcore VAN HALEN fan, you probaly are not going to like this one. The band's 1981 album FAIR WARNING was a commercial disappointment, much of blame for that can be attributed to the 'angry' atmosphere of the album, which was in stark contrast to the light hearted pisstake party rock featuring on VAN HALEN the debut and VAN HALEN 2.


The band's third outing WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST is the least impressive of the six albums in the original David Lee Roth era, barring a couple of gems like ROMEOS DELIGHT and IN A SIMPLE RHYME.


The recording of WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST was set against the backdrop of a terminally destructive breakdown in personal and professional compatibility between Roth and the other bands members, especially bass guitarist MICHAEL ANTHONY.


That was in 1980, by the time the band convened in early 1981 to record FAIR WARNING the mood between Roth and Anthony and to a lesser extent Eddie Van Halen had reached the point of being intolerable.


How Van Halen kept it together enough to continue touring and performing live shows in the period between early 1980 and late 1981 with all the bubbling hostility between the band members is quite amazing.


The songs on FAIR WARNING are all flavoured with that simmering tension that had already boiled over during the recording sessions for the album.


The last two songs on FAIR WARNING are weird as, SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE PARK is a brooding distorted keyboard instrumental that defies any melodic definition, either it was an intentional attempt by Eddie Van Halen to flirt with progressive rock or just an excuse for him to record something that didn't need the vocal services of the one person he hated most at that stage - David Lee Roth.


This song plays straight into the final track ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR, Roth does make a vocal appearance on this one but you can just tell his contribution was muted in comparsion to the other songs on FAIR WARNING. SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE PARK/ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR isn't definitive Van Halen but it's one of the most intriguing pieces of music the band ever recorded.