Van Halen – 5150 (Expanded Version)
Van Halen – 5150 (Expanded Version)
Rhino
Release Date: 27/03/26
Review by Jon Deaux
8.5 /10
(Call it a sellout if you want. History called it a hit.)
Van Halen’s “5150” was an album of going from 0-120 mph and then hitting the brakes, realizing, to the mild shock and ire of everyone involved, that the mother of all crashes would not automatically spontaneously combust our collective traffic convoy. Four decades later, “5150” is reissued, and the expanded version is plum from under Eddie’s feet, reeking of rack gear, Aqua Net, and fan debates that will continue to rage around the dumpster fire outside the back door of what was the equivalent of the Crack Whores strip club in the 1980s.
When Van Halen plugged in their singer in 1986, it was no longer just an organs-only replacement; it was a high-stakes heart transplant done before a rabid audience with popcorn and knives at the ready. David Lee Roth’s exit signalled a release by a band that oozed nihilistic hedonism, which felt like something they were born to. And when they plugged in Sammy Hagar, they signalled maturity, hard work, and love songs without nudity and theft. “5150” did not implode right away, and it is one of the greatest miracles in the history of Rock ‘n’ Roll, rivalling Keith Richards being alive during the Jimmy Carter regime.
Instead of chaos, the public got handed a glossy synthesizer-heavy juggernaut which shot immediately to the top of the charts, immediately living up to all the fear and nightmares of the purists. Van Halen was indeed growing up, switching whiskey-breath excess for power ballads, but also learning, to their horror, that emotions tended to sell. “5150” seems to be made by a band that knows they can dominate the world of both MTV and radio, and this is good.
‘Good Enough’ is used as an opening statement of intent, just as any mission statement does, loud and fast, though rather well-adjusted for the role perhaps. ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ is where things get really interesting, as it is almost the first time Eddie Van Halen looked down and considered the option of the keyboards on his guitars:
‘Dreams’ is and by all indications, under a statutory obligation to turn up at least once or twice for the slow-motion montage sequence of any ’80s-style sports film out there, with Sammy Hagar singing much like any other plucky motivational expert who discovers cocaine and metaphors of flying for the first time.
The song ‘Love Walks In’ is lovely, dramatic, and smug, sounding like a man who is falling in love, both with the woman and his recording equipment.
The album closer ‘Inside’ has a sense of a curtain call and inside joke, a very strange piece that shows the musicians were very aware, at least at this point, of just how strange this whole thing was in the first place.
It’s remastered for sure, but tastefully and thoughtfully so, without any sappy attempt to make the whole recording sound as modern as possible—no brick walling, no attempt to make their nostalgia a crime scene. Landee clearly knows an album when he works with one, and he lets the whole thing breathe, which only goes to further underscore the total craftsmanship that went into the rather simply named “5150” to begin with. This wasn’t a band that found their way to the top of the heap.
The bonus content is a collection of various single edits and extended versions that are included simply to put the mind at ease over the speed and manner to which the music industry would dismantle art to appease radio programmers who would think three minutes an indulgence. Still, they are fun, being alternate universe versions of songs already dominating this one.
And then there’s the New Haven 1986 live set, and it’s a beast. This is Van Halen as arena rock sated, as a band that tours like a machine that runs on applause and jet fuel. Sammy Hagar owns the stage like a man who knows he won the job interview and gets to redecorate the office. Eddie plays like a man on fire, tossing off solos like lesser guys could build a career on. Alex plays like a man who wants to punch holes through time, and Michael Anthony continues his thankless heroism as a man who plays bass and harmonies that history just plain screws.
Songs such as ‘Panama’ and ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love’ could be seen as a testament to the fact that the old material was not dead simply because of Roth, so much as it was due to improved health insurance. “Wild Thing” could be interpreted as the band’s encore from the gods, a testament to the fact that no matter how refined the band may have become, they were ultimately a bar band with a lot more money.
The Blu-ray version of the “Live Without a Net” recording is the essence of archive excess, and thank God for that. It’s like watching some lost civilization under a glass window, where rock bands this large, loud, bombastic, and all-around over the top were somehow free to be such without the taint of ironic viewings tainting the performance. It is the band at the height of their powers, the crowd going utterly insane, and all the production values screaming “double platinum or die!”
The expanded version of “5150” is more interested in simply being than in trying to alter the course of history, which is probably its greatest asset. It does not attempt to insert some level of phony dénouement on the Roth-Hagar conflict somehow finally coming to an end, where everybody involved was suddenly as happy as a clam to suddenly accept that this was the final version of Van Halen, the only, proper, correct, etc., etc., etc., version, etc., etc. Instead, wallowing in the basic absurdity of the band not being able to stop themselves when they wanted to. Ultimately, what this expanded version is released for is to settle no debates of the day regarding Van Halen and Hagar. Those debates are as perennial as cockroaches and AC radio.
What these songs do show you is that for a brief moment in 1986, Van Halen was not only around during a changing of the guards but were also dominating the decade with synthesizers, arena-friendly hooks, and the unyielding faith they somehow could succeed at anything. Whether they should have is open for debate.
Whether they still do this as resplendently as they once did is not. This body of work is not meant for sceptics. It’s meant for the rest of us to remember “5150” was not a midlife crisis record; it was the hostile takeover of the 80s. Slick, bombastic, emotionally honest, boisterous enough to forget everyone’s complaints about it.
“5150” is the sound of Van Halen getting in front of the firing squad of Rock and Roll lore and looking them in the face and plugging in a synthesizer and going “Why can’t this be love?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9pYywCZrXc
TRACKLISTING:
LP: Original Album Remastered
Side One
01. “Good Enough”
02. “Why Can’t This Be Love”
03. “Get Up”
04. “Dreams”
05. “Summer Nights”
Side Two
01. “Best Of Both Worlds”
02. “Love Walks In”
03. “5150”
04. “Inside”
Disc One: Original Album Remastered
01. “Good Enough”
02. “Why Can’t This Be Love”
03. “Get Up”
04. “Dreams”
05. “Summer Nights”
06. “Best Of Both Worlds”
07. “Love Walks In”
08. “5150”
09. “Inside”
Disc Two
01. “Best Of Both Worlds” (Single Edit)
02. “Dreams” (Single Edit)
03. “Love Walks In” (Single Edit)
04. “Why Can’t This Be Love” (Extended Version)
05. “Dreams” (Extended Version)
06. “Best Of Both Worlds” (Live)
07. “Rock And Roll” (Live)
08. “Love Walks In” (Live)
Disc Three
New Haven Veteran Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT (8/27/86)
01. “There’s Only One Way To Rock”
02. “Summer Nights”
03. “5150”
04. “Panama”
05. “Best Of Both Worlds”
06. “Love Walks In”
07. Guitar Solo
08. “I Can’t Drive 55”
09. “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love”
10. “Wild Thing”
11. “Why Can’t This Be Love”
12. “Rock And Roll”
Blu-ray
Live Without a Net (HD Upgrade)
“Dreams” (Promo Video)
“Why Can’t This Be Love” (Promo Video)
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Jon Deaux and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
