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Fair Warning | 
| Artist: Van Halen
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $0.99 (8%)
Rating:  131 reviews
Sales Rank: 9654
Format: Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 47740
UPC: 093624774020
EAN: 0093624774020
ASIN: B00004Y6O7
Release Date: September 19, 2000
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Mean Street | | • | "Dirty Movies" | | • | Sinner's Swing! | | • | Hear About It Later | | • | Unchained | | • | Push Comes to Shove | | • | So This Is Love? | | • | Sunday Afternoon in the Park | | • | One Foot out the Door |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Japanese pressing. Reissue of 1981 original release has been remastered and comes in a standard jewel case. Warner. 2005.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 126 more reviews...
 Damn, she decommissioned me November 24, 2008
Happy 3itch (Solla Sollew)
And I don't blame her!
I chose a mate, made my play and got rejected.
I told her I was a fXXXup.
Now she knows.
Almost over, except I miss her so much I could chew off my right arm.
But I won't.
I'm a coward.
 Good 'ol rockin' guitar sounds November 19, 2008
Laura E. Rabbeth (currently in Houston TX)
Another excellent release from old Van Halen. The guitars remind me of som of old old Judas Priest sounds. Most songs are great, but a few are just ok. Worth buying if you like to rock!
Prime material November 13, 2008
Silence (Seattle)
This is the one that most musicians seem to love, thanks to its inherent vitality, live feel, and a certain melancholy and darkness to the melodies. There is massive crunch in the riffs and a cultured (as opposed to reckless) wildness to Eddie's solo sections. Very satisfying, but that's hardly all. Diamond Dave needs no further encouragement, he's great as usual and his presence is strong here. But I really think it's the unusually hip nature of the rhythm section, actually derivative of disco (!!) that bakes this cake. Van Halen is a perfect example of a sum greater than its parts, but then its parts have always been mighty great. I suppose that's why they're multi-platinum superstars and your band isn't. Still, they sure have turned into a childish, incoherent sideshow these days. 5150 seems to be their last great album, and I think VH II was their overall best, but Fair Warning is excellent hard rock and required listening for devotees.
Fair Warning September 26, 2008
Harry Brewer (S'port, La.)
Fair Warning was Van Halen's fourth studio album. It peaked at #5 on the album charts & it had four singles that charted! This is simply amazing because Fair Warning is probably the LEAST commercial album they released with Diamond Dave on vocals. Though there were four charting singles from the album it's not quite as obvious to the why. It should be noted that all four singles didn't crack the Pop Singles Chart (Billboard's main chart) but only entered Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. "Mean Street" peaked at #12, "Push Comes to Shove" went to #29, "So This Is Love? went to #15,& "Unchained" peaked at #13. Fair Warning is Van Halen's hardest rocking album & also, without a doubt their most dark & unrelenting album. There's very little party atmosphere present. Women & Children First contained a small seed of this darkness & by the time of Fair Warning it had fully blossomed. Even the album cover was a harbinger of what was inside: hard, relentless % unmerciful.
"Mean Street" is the first salvo of the album. Eddie Van Halen starts off with a sizzling guitar lick that lets you know immediately that there won't be any prisoners taken on this trip. "Mean Street" is a hard rocking song with dark & foreboding lyrics that inspired the title of the album. Diamond Dave isn't trying to be cute with his vocals, he's in the battle too, singing in a style that's menacing. "Dirty Movies" is mellower in tone & less menacing than the previous song but there's still something unusual about it; it's still unrelenting. "Remember when that girl was prom queen?" "Sinner's Swing!" revels in its naughtiness & wallows in the things better left unmentioned. "Hear About It Later" opens with Eddie playing a mellow electric guitar before the band breaks into the body of the song. "Hear About It Later" is the one song on Fair Warning that sounds like it could have come from either of the first two albums. But at about 2;40 of the song there's a change in the sound that harkens back to the main themes of Fair Warning before the band breaks back into the song. "Unchained" was the song that was played the most in the city that I lived in at the time. "Unchained" isn't the darkest song on the album, there's even some of Diamond Dave's humor in the song. With "Push Comes to Shove" the tone of the album really moves into the dark side. "So This Is Love", though not menacing in itself, is covering territory lyrically that's to one side of center. Nothing wrong with it but it does contain a dark presence not normally found in Van Halen songs. "Sunday Afternoon in the Park" is anything but what the title implies. Eddie presents us with his first keyboard instrumental that won't let you nap pleasantly. This is a perfect lead-in to the next song, "One Foot Out the Door". This is another song that fits the terror that lies underneath the surface of the album.
Fair Warning is a very good album. Unlike the previous albums there's not an outstanding song nor any Van Halen classics presented here but... there isn't a bad one either. Many have overlooked this Van Halen near classic but those were ones that might not have been die hard Van Halenites either. As with the other Van Halen albums that have been remastered it's nothing short of excellent. This might have been a great direction for the band to have continued but they didn't. With their next album they would cross back over into their pop side, get us back on the dance floor & have us parting on the patio again.
 The Prime of Roth-Fronted Van Halen! June 12, 2008
Frederick Baptist (Singapore)
I'm assuming as it's not stated by Amazon anywhere on this page to date that this is the Japanese mlps version and if so, this review refers to that version.
This album is the fourth by this seminal rock band and shows a band maturing when compared with their first three albums as the topic and subject matter of their songs become more mature, complex and even dark here. Although all the tracks have been tuned down to E flat tuning for the guitar (so if you've been trying to play along with the cd and have been finding it hard to do so this is the reason) this is done to accommodate David Lee Roth's singing range.
For fans of the David Lee Roth version of Van Halen, this represents the zenith of that version's work and is my personal favourite as it represents the band at its early prime. Although "Diver Down" and especially "1984" after this would be a greater commercial success, ironically artistically and overall album quality wise, the work done on the first 4 albums far surpass their later efforts.
The remastering though is the 2001 version and so if you already have the old cd of this version, I'm struggling to find any extra value that will justify the hefty price tag on this baby when you are essentially paying for cardboard that isn't one of the better mlps designs that I've seen out there. The cardboard is thin and flimsy and looks as if it will come apart once the glue gets old. For examples of good mlps designs, check out The Band and Hall & Oates releases which are simply works of art on good quality thicker and stronger cardboard.
This is essential listening although this mlps version does not represent good value for money and if you already have a 2001 remastered version in the jewel case, you are better off sticking to it as this is no real upgrade to me.
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