VAN HALEN OU812 CD (1988)

OU812 is the sound of Van Halen deciding that Sammy Hagar was actually staying, Eddie was going to make the keyboards even louder, and anyone who had a problem with that could form their own band. They were not wrong to be confident. The album went to number one.

This is the deep cut of the Van Halen catalogue, the one that gets overlooked between 5150 and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, which is exactly why it belongs in a second-hand bin waiting for someone who knows what they're looking at. Heavy metal radio ruled 1988, and this record was at the centre of it, all arena-ready hooks and production that cost more than your first car. Pure hard rock from the era when hard rock owned the planet.

USA pressing, 1988. Full length CD.

Fans of: Aerosmith, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Skid Row, Mötley Crüe, Cinderella, Poison.