VAN HALEN COME FACE TO FACE WITH BIG BAD BILL

By the time VAN HALEN recorded the half covers, half originals album DIVER DOWN in 1982, the band was in a death spiral, the toxic chemistry between DAVID LEE ROTH and EDDIE VAN HALEN had for the most part been artistically fruitful up until the recording sessions for the preceding album FAIR WARNING began, but simmering tensions which had always existed between Roth and the other band members from the beginning when the band was playing clubs in Los Angeles under the name MAMMOTH gradually built up and boiled over. DIVER DOWN was essentially a contractual obligation album for the band, what could have been expected to be a rather contrived and stilted album actually turned out to be, especially with the cover songs, a light hearted and feelgood album with a healthy degree of eclecticity and improvisation. DIVER DOWN is not a boring workmanlike filler for the sake of recording an album. The cover of DANCING IN THE STREET is so underated, it certainly has never made the FM play list on any australian radio station, unlike the band's cover of THE KINKS song YOU REALLY GOT ME off the epic debut album in 1978. Besides this radio friendly opener, DIVER DOWN boasts some quite experimental original tunes, like CATHEDRAL and THE FULL BUG. The cover of BIG BAD BILL (IS SWEET WILLIAM NOW) is a funny quirky deviation away from heavy rock guitar for the band. The song has the distinction as being the only Van Halen song featuring JAN VAN HALEN, father of Eddie and Alex, who Roth greatly admired.