David Lee Roth Jumps Into New Version Of Van Halen Classic
It seems like David Lee Roth has managed to do something that he was always very good at. He has people in rock and roll circles talking about him. When he was doing his Las Vegas residency a couple years ago, there was no shortage of opinions about his voice.
I see it differently with Dave, because I never felt he had one of the best voices in rock and roll to begin with. With him, you got the show and you got the attitude. The voice was probably third on the list, but combined with the whole package, you wanted to see Diamond Dave.
Roth is no dummy. He knows that his voice isn't the best. He knows that the music industry in general isn't what it once was. You don't make money in exactly the same way you did back in those days, but the people who were fans back when Van Halen was rocking hard in the 1980s are still going to listen to the music they love.
I'm not exactly sure why Dave would take another swing at a song like Jump, but that's what he's done. He recently released a new version of the classic, which he recorded from Henson Studios. I know what people are going to say. "Oh God, please Don't do it, Dave."
There's no way he can measure up to the intensity and the quality of that song as it was recorded 40 years ago, and I don't think he was expecting to. I'm not even sure why he tried, other than maybe he's hoping somebody will want to use this version in a movie, TV show or commercial.
Dave steps up to the mic and does his best. He's not talking his way through this song, and he does try to attack the notes. He's not doing it the way he did it 40 years ago, and the reason is he is unable to. However, what he does do is not a bad version considering his age and the fact that this will be compared to the 1984 hit.
I know there will be comparisons, but I'm not going there. It's a business decision for Dave to even re-record songs from that era. However, after listening to this song, I don't think it would be a bad thing if Dave were to return to the studio and try to do some songs in the vein of Van Halen back when he was fronting the band. I'd be curious to see what he could do.
David Lee Roth - Jump (live at Henson Studios) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIjrKVrT1Dw
