Featured review by:
UG Team, on december 19, 2007
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Richness of Content: You say you want Van Halen pictures? Lots and lots of Van Halen pictures? Well, this book’s got ‘em -- 350 of them, in fact, color and black-and-white, classics and never-before-seen stills that are bound to thrill any hardcore VH fan. And as an extra enticement, there’s nary a glimpse of Sammy Hagar to be found (talk about your stocking stuffers). As befits any great coffee table photo book, Van Halen: A Visual History operates as a kind of an entertaining time capsule, transporting readers to a place in history when Van Halen were young and brimming with zeal, ready to take on the world (to say nothing of the scores of groupies that came their way). It’s as panoramic as it is intimate: Zlozower was a budding photographer when Van Halen were but mere stars on the Pasadena backyard beer blast and wet t*shirt contest scene. The alliance he formed with the band offered him unlimited access to their rehearsal spaces, private hang-outs, and, eventually, arena and stadium concert stages. This is an insider’s look at a group of fresh-faced upstarts that only an equal could have captured. // 10
Style: Although Diamond Dave offers witty, off-the-cuff opening words, and testimonials from members of Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, and Motley Crue, among others, are interspersed throughout, the pictures tell the real story here. Pages upon pages are devoted to the band, lean and fit, their scythe-like bodies cutting into the air, defying gravity, flipping their middle fingers to convention, musical or otherwise. More interesting, however, are the smaller, more intimate moments, when the group isn’t slaying audiences. Backstage, killing time before a concert, the band is relaxed and smiling -- a friend is in their midst. There is a charming, poetic grandeur to early shots of Eddie, soon-to-be guitar hero, shooting the breeze with his brother Alex near a deli table. They’re the kind of pictures that could have only been captured by a kindred spirit. // 10
Impression: Van Halen: A Visual History is, astonishingly, Swiss-timed to coincide with the rebirth of the mostly reformed, re-invigorated Van Halen. Some may be tempted to glaze over images of nice-guy Michael Anthony and lament what might have been. But one look at Eddie Van Halen’s eyes -- and it’s there in every frame if you’re paying close attention -- reveals a man bound by his destiny, willing to divest himself of his past and everyone associated with it to get where he needs to go. // 10
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