Van Halen II (1979)
1. You're No Good
2. Dance the Night Away
3. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
4. Bottoms Up!
5. Outta Love Again
6. Light Up the Sky
7. Spanish Fly
8. D.O.A.
9. Women in Love...
10.Beautiful Girls
If ever there was a perfect title for an album, Van Halen II pretty much nails it. No ambiguity here—it’s exactly what it says on the tin: a straight continuation of everything that made the debut great. Back in the day, record labels still believed in nurturing artists, giving them space to find an audience instead of demanding an instant blockbuster. Truth be told, the first Van Halen album didn’t exactly set the world on fire sales-wise, at least not at first. So the label was perfectly happy to let the band double down on their formula—and that’s precisely what this record does.
They weren’t a household name yet, but Dance the Night Away changed that. It’s the clear centerpiece here, the hit single that actually broke them to a wider audience. It’s slick, catchy, and still somehow manages to sound like a bunch of lunatic California rockers having the time of their lives. It gave the band crucial exposure and turned a lot of heads in their direction. Fair’s fair though: the whole album doesn’t quite hit the heights of the debut, but let’s be real—very few records do, by anyone.
There’s still plenty of prime Van Halen here. Beautiful Girls is all wink and grin, Bottoms Up! is the band in full barroom-boogie mode, and D.O.A. shows off their darker, meaner edge. Eddie even delivers another jaw-dropper in Spanish Fly, a blistering acoustic showcase that proves he wasn’t just a one-trick shred pony. Meanwhile, David Lee Roth is as unhinged and charismatic as ever, yelping, whooping, and leering his way through every track like the world’s greatest bad influence. Michael Anthony deserves his own round of applause too—his backing harmonies add just enough polish to keep the whole thing from collapsing into pure chaos. Without him, Roth’s manic squealing might have been a bit much, even for fans.
There are a couple of moments that fall a bit short. The cover of You’re No Good (yep, the same one Linda Ronstadt did) feels a touch forced, as if they were trying too hard to replicate Runnin’ with the Devil’s sinister vibe without quite pulling it off. But these are minor gripes. The album clocks in at just over half an hour, making it a perfect companion piece to the debut. You can easily spin both back to back without sacrificing much time at all—and why wouldn’t you? Taken together, these two records are lean, mean, and frankly better than most anything their peers were putting out at the time.
Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review